The ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution is an environmental agreement signed in 2002 between all ASEAN nations to reduce haze pollution in Southeast Asia
The agreement is a reaction to an environmental crisis that hit Southeast Asia in the late 1990s. The crisis was mainly caused by land clearing via open burning in the Indonesian island of Sumatra. Satellite images confirmed the presence of hot spots throughout Borneo, Sumatra, the Malay Peninsula and several other places. Malaysia, Singapore and to a certain extent, Thailand and Brunei were particularly badly affected.
From Sumatra, monsoon winds blew the smoke eastward and hence creating negative environmental effects (externalities) on other Southeast Asian nations. Thick haze covered much of Southeast Asia for weeks and caused noticeable and widespread human health problems.
As of June 2007, eight countries have ratified the agreement.
Read more about ASEAN Agreement On Transboundary Haze Pollution: Parties To The Agreement
Famous quotes containing the words agreement, haze and/or pollution:
“Now I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you be in agreement and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same purpose.”
—Bible: New Testament, 1 Corinthians 1:10.
“Here is what sometimes happened to me: after spending the first part of the night at my desk—that part when night trudges heavily uphill—I would emerge from the trance of my task at the exact moment when night had reached the summit and was teetering on that crest, ready to roll down into the haze of dawn....”
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“Like the effects of industrial pollution ... the AIDS crisis is evidence of a world in which nothing important is regional, local, limited; in which everything that can circulate does, and every problem is, or is destined to become, worldwide.”
—Susan Sontag (b. 1933)