Prof Mohd Talib Latif Pakar of Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia said the air pollution problem from haze recurring annually between June and September was typically due to unregulated open burning, usually from slash and burn farming, as well as forest fires this year in Kalimantan and Sumatera.
He called for strict enforcement of a standardised regional law to penalise persons or plantation companies that conduct burning activities in sensitive areas.
“Asean countries need to work together on this because these open burning contributes to transboundary haze,” he said.
In addition to more stringent control over open burning, regional cooperation should also cover joint research and the use of a standardised surveillance system and air quality index.
Last week the environment minister, Yeo Bee Yin, said that her ministry was awaiting the green light from the Cabinet to draft a Transboundary Haze Pollution Act.
The government has also been urged by politicians and others to provide for extra-territorial powers in order to punish offenders for open burning taking place beyond Malaysia’s borders.
Talib also lamented that a “lackadaisical attitude” towards seeking a solution to haze pollution had led to a failure in taking pre-emptive measures to prevent or at least regulate open burning, even though open burning had been reported since earlier this year.
The authorities should have focused on curbing burning during the hot and dry season. “This should have been done prior to the dry season in Malaysia, when hotspots can be located through satellite images. “If the preventive measures had been taken earlier, it would have prevented not only the burning but the spreading of the fire to a wider region,” he said.
Talib also called for farming methods to be developed that did not rely on open burning.
Haze comprises a high volume of organic and inorganic particulate matter that are hazardous to health. These include polyaromatic hydrocarbons and metals like lead, chromium, cadmium, zinc and ferum. They are not only harmful to the respiratory system and can also cost an economy millions of ringgit.
Talib said it was common practice to burn peatland for fertilisation. However, biomass from peatland could be an alternative and renewable source of energy.
He said biochar technology could be developed as another way to reduce open burning for farming.
Biochar is a charcoal obtained when biomass, such as wood, manure, or leaves, are heated at relatively low temperature in a container with little to no air and is used as a soil amendment.