Malaysia’s natural resources minister says he has already struck a deal with his Indonesian counterpart: more joint work against haze, and more people on the ground to stop open burning.
Datuk Seri Arthur Joseph Kurup spoke to reporters in Kota Kinabalu after opening the International Conference on Tropical Forestry 2026. He had met his ASEAN counterparts, he said, including Indonesia’s environment minister. “We’ve already agreed to increase our collaboration,” Arthur said. That means sharing hotspot monitoring and putting more enforcement agencies in the field. Both countries also agreed to look at cross-border cloud seeding. “We can also share our airspace in case we need to do any cloud seeding operations, maybe share our assets too,” he said.
The timing is not accidental. Arthur said Malaysia is entering a “super El Niño” phase, which should bring a long dry spell, less rain and a higher risk of forest fires. “And that will cause more haze,” he said.
For families in the region, that usually means weeks of grey skies and stinging air. Arthur put the problem plainly: “It is a regional issue. What happens in our neighboring countries will also affect us.”
Malaysia will keep pressing the matter at ASEAN meetings, he said, to strengthen regional mechanisms against haze and what causes it. “This is a concerted effort needed at the regional level because this is a regional problem.”
Sources
Sources
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