The Malaysian government has called for Indonesia to take immediate action in putting out its forest fires in Central Sumatra, which are believed to have caused the latest onset of haze and air pollution in the Peninsula.
Natural Resources and Environment Minister Datuk Seri G Palanivel said the demand was expressed to the Indonesian government via a letter written by Environment director-general Datuk Halimah Hassan to her counterpart at the Indonesian Environment Ministry.
“The letter was to express Malaysia’s concern about the increase in number of hotspots causing the haze in the peninsula since June 22,” he said in a statement today, as reported by The Malay Mail Online.
Palanivel said the Singapore-based Asean Specialised Meteorological Centre (ASMC) had reported the air popllution index (API) readings in Sumatra, Indonesia rose to 143 yesterday, compared to 129 on Monday.
He added that spikes in API readings in Peninsular Malaysia are influenced by the cross border haze moved up by the southwest monsoon winds.
According to him, US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration satellite images issued by the ASMC yesterday showed moderate amounts of haze drifting from burning zones in Riau towards the central and southwest regions of the west coast of Peninsular Malaysia.
He had earlier warned that haze conditions this time around are expected to persist until September.
His ministry had taken measures through the Environment Department to reduce the onset of haze and the El Nino climate phenomenon, including banning open burning since February.
See Also:
Haze: Unhealthy air recorded at eight locations today
Environment Minister: expect haze to stick around until September
