Southeast Asian Ministers to Meet as Haze Returns
8/21/99
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Title: Southeast Asian Ministers to Meet as Haze Returns
Source: Reuters
Status: Copyright 1999, contact source for permission to reprint
Date: August 21, 1999
SINGAPORE, Aug 21 (Reuters) - Southeast Asian environment ministers
gather in Singapore on Thursday to discuss the return of regional
haze from forest fires in Indonesia, the Singapore government said on
Saturday.
The eighth meeting of ministers from the Association of South East
Asian Nations (ASEAN) was previously scheduled for October, but was
moved forward by two months after smoke began to shroud parts of
Indonesia and Malaysia and briefly Singapore.
Widespread smog from Indonesian forest fires choked the region in
1997, costing billions of dollars in agricultural damage, lost
tourism and health costs.
Environmentalists have noted the continued illegal burning of forests
in Indonesia, where torching of scrubland is commonly used to prepare
land for agriculture.
The recent fires have spotted remote parts of the islands of Sumatra
and Borneo, and have been exacerbated by the ongoing dry season.
ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar,
the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.