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Indonesian Haze Chokes Neighbors, Legal Recourse Limited
Confirmed
In Short: However, neighboring countries have few options for legal recourse, as the International Court of Justice generally requires the consent of both states.
Toxic haze has shrouded parts of Indonesia and Malaysia for weeks as Jakarta struggles to contain fires that have scorched large tracts of Borneo and Sumatra, with plumes drifting into neighboring Malaysia, Singapore, and Brunei.
Indonesia alone has recorded 50,000 cases of respiratory infections linked to land and forest fires between July and August this year, according to data from its health ministry.
Experts say the El Niño weather phenomenon has contributed to creating drier conditions in Indonesia, making it easier for fires to spread.
Malaysian authorities launched cloud seeding operations in three southern states on Monday to help clear some of the haze, while Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto expressed readiness to accept help from Malaysia.
However, neighboring countries have few options for legal recourse, as the International Court of Justice generally requires the consent of both states.
One option could be for Malaysians or Singaporeans to try to sue companies linked to the fires in an Indonesian court, but claimants would need to show a link between the company’s activities, the haze that reached them, and their losses.
Singapore will likely wait for Indonesia to finger certain companies first before taking action against them under the Act.
Experts agree Indonesia would be unlikely to willingly accept ICJ jurisdiction on the issue.
The Asean Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution, a legally binding regional treaty, has no clause on litigation before the ICJ.
Legal analysts say ASEAN’s emphasis on consensus, sovereignty, and non-interference puts the brakes on how much diplomatic pressure can be applied to member states over domestic land management and fire enforcement.
What this adds
Indonesia has recorded its highest August total estimated fire emissions in the past 24 years, resulting in large-scale transboundary haze.
Background
According to Professor Mohd Hazmi Mohd Rusli of Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia, neighboring countries have few options for legal recourse. 'The main issue is jurisdiction, as the ICJ generally requires the consent of both states,' he said.
In the town of Serian, Malaysia, residents navigated an air-quality emergency as smoke seeped into homes and cloaked roadside stalls. The smoke was particularly heavy, even 10 kilometers from Indonesia’s Kalimantan province where the fires were raging.
What's confirmed
- Toxic haze has shrouded parts of Indonesia and Malaysia for weeks as Jakarta struggles to contain fires that have scorched large tracts of Borneo and Sumatra, with plumes drifting into neighboring Malaysia, Singapore, and Brunei.
- Indonesia alone has recorded 50,000 cases of respiratory infections linked to land and forest fires between July and August this year, according to data from its health ministry.
- Experts say the El Niño weather phenomenon has contributed to creating drier conditions in Indonesia, making it easier for fires to spread.
- Malaysian authorities launched cloud seeding operations in three southern states on Monday to help clear some of the haze, while Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto expressed readiness to accept help from Malaysia.
- However, neighboring countries have few options for legal recourse, as the International Court of Justice generally requires the consent of both states.
- One option could be for Malaysians or Singaporeans to try to sue companies linked to the fires in an Indonesian court, but claimants would need to show a link between the company’s activities, the haze that reached them, and their losses.
- Singapore will likely wait for Indonesia to finger certain companies first before taking action against them under the Act.
- Experts agree Indonesia would be unlikely to willingly accept ICJ jurisdiction on the issue.
- The Asean Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution, a legally binding regional treaty, has no clause on litigation before the ICJ.
- Legal analysts say ASEAN’s emphasis on consensus, sovereignty, and non-interference puts the brakes on how much diplomatic pressure can be applied to member states over domestic land management and fire enforcement.
What's still developing
- But the smoke was difficult to escape even at home, a mere 10 kilometers (six miles) from Indonesia’s Kalimantan province where the fires were raging.
- SERIAN, Malaysia — Acrid smoke hung heavily over the Malaysian town of Serian, seeping into homes and cloaking roadside stalls, as residents navigated an air‑quality emergency fueled by transboundary haze from Indonesia’s raging fires.
- “It is legally binding, but it does not provide a mechanism for one member state to simply sue another,” said Hazmi.
- “There must still be sufficient evidence to establish the link between activities in Indonesia and the harm suffered in Malaysia or Singapore,” he said.
- Tan said, “Regrettably, not much has changed by way of how the root causes of fires remain unaddressed in Indonesia”.
- Get the latest news and updates from Dawn Haze from Indonesian wildfires has blanketed neighbouring Malaysia and Singapore for more than a month, closing schools and sending respiratory complaints skyrocketing.
- Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore are neither signatories nor parties to the 1979 Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution, a European-centred treaty framework intended to curb cross-border air pollution.
- So far this year, nearly 300,000 hectares of land have burned in Indonesia, according to an independent estimate from the Nusantara Atlas portal.
- Indonesia saw an uptick in carbon emissions since late July, and by the end of last month the levels were comparable to previous El Nino years of 2015 and 2019, Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS) senior scientist Mark Parrington told AFP.
- Most of the fires are concentrated on Borneo island, home to vast tropical jungle that Indonesia shares with Brunei and Malaysia, as well as Sumatra.
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- “Indonesia has experienced a particularly intense start to its seasonal fires, with the number of fires and their emissions increasing rapidly since late July. This is unfolding against the backdrop of strong El Niño conditions, which can influence rainfall and intensify conditions across the region,” said Mark Parrington, Senior Scientist at Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS).