KUALA LUMPUR, Aug. 5 (Xinhua) -- Malaysian government said on Monday that it would raise the issue of transboundary haze during a two-day meeting with neighbouring countries.
The Technical Working Group (TWG) and Sub-Regional Ministerial Steering Committee on Transboundary Haze Pollution which will be held between Aug. 5 and Aug. 6 in Brunei, would see Malaysia urge fellow Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) members to keep forest and heat fires under control, Malaysia's Ministry of Energy, Technology, Science, Climate Change and Environment said in a statement.
"The annual meeting will include five countries: Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand, to monitor and detail steps that must be taken to overcome transboundary haze in accordance with the ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution.
"Through this meeting, Malaysia will report on all steps it has taken to ensure incidents of open burning and haze are avoided including the updating of its national haze action plan and the activation of its open burning action plan," it said.
The agreement is a legally binding environmental agreement signed in 2002 by all ten member states of ASEAN to reduce haze pollution in the region.
The ministry added that the ASEAN Specialised Meteorological Centre (ASMC) had to date identified 23 hotspots in Sumatra, Indonesia and two more in Malaysia's Sabah state.
Malaysian authorities have been mobilizing resources and personnel to combat open burning activities locally after poor air quality levels were detected in several areas last Thursday, following forest fires in neighboring Indonesia.
Air quality across the country were rated "moderate" with an Air Pollution Index (API) rating of 50-100 on Monday.
According to the country's air quality rating, an API reading of zero to 50 is "good", 51 to 100 "moderate", 101 to 200 "unhealthy", 201 to 300 "very unhealthy", and 301 and above is "hazardous".
