KUALA LUMPUR -Malaysia has dropped a plan to draft legislation to stop transboundary air pollution, its environment ministry said, citing difficulties in obtaining information for prosecution.
Almost every dry season, smoke from fires set to clear land for palm oil and pulp and paper plantations in Indonesia blankets much of the region, causing public health concerns and disrupting travel and tourism.
Environmental groups say countries should pass laws to prosecute foreign plantation companies suspected of causing the pollution.
Singapore passed such a law in 2014, which aims to hold those responsible for the haze criminally and civilly liable, but Malaysia’s environment ministry said in a written response to parliament on Monday that it would not proceed with a law, citing difficulties in enforcing it.
“To enable the enforcement of a law on transboundary haze pollution, clear evidence that transboundary haze is coming from neighbouring countries must be supported by sufficient data such as location maps, coordinates, landowner information and companies operating in the area of the fires,” the ministry said.
Such information is difficult to obtain because it involves issues of confidentiality, security and national sovereignty, the ministry said.
It said a diplomatic approach through negotiations was a better way to “collectively address” the haze coming across borders.
Indonesia, which is regularly criticised by its neighbours and environmental groups for failing to stop the fires, promises action, but the pollution returns almost every dry season.
Malaysia last month again urged Indonesia to stop the fires and called on the regional Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), of which it and Indonesia are both members, to take up the issue.
Environmental group Greenpeace has campaigned for transboundary haze laws, saying they are important as a deterrent and can help identify which companies are setting fires.
“Learning from Singapore’s experience, no one has been fined or sued yet, but that does not mean the transboundary haze law has been ineffective as some companies have been investigated under the law for links to forest fires,” Heng Kiah Chun, regional campaign strategist for Greenpeace Southeast Asia, said in a statement.