Singapore moves to ratify ASEAN haze center pact amid smog row
What's next: The Indonesia-based center can start only after six ASEAN states ratify the pact, which Singapore plans to do within days.
Singapore plans to ratify within days an agreement to establish an ASEAN coordinating center for transboundary haze control, as regional anger grows over smoke from fires in Indonesia. Sustainability and Environment Minister Grace Fu told Parliament on Nov. 3 that the center, to be based in Indonesia, would help coordinate responses to land and forest fires and the cross-border haze they cause. The pact takes effect only after six ASEAN members ratify it. Fu said Singapore will press other member states to follow and use its 2027 ASEAN chairmanship to advance broader measures, including sustainable peatland management and crop-burning guidelines. The latest haze episode, driven by fires in Sumatra, Kalimantan and Papua, pushed air pollution in Singapore into unhealthy ranges for weeks.