2 April 2014, IISD news - Environment Ministers from Brunei  Darussalam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand have called for the  sharing of land use maps and information on "hotspots" contributing to forest  fires and smoke haze, to enable monitoring and management of transboundary haze  pollution in the sub-region.

The 16th Meeting of the Sub-regional Ministerial Steering Committee  (MSC) on Transboundary Haze Pollution took place in Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei  Darussalam, on 2 April 2014.

The MSC acknowledged that the recommendation of the 23rd Association of  Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit in 2013 to establish an ASEAN Subregional  Haze Monitoring System (HMS) has not been operationalized, due to difficulties  in the sharing of land use and concession maps among countries. In its outcome  statement, the MSC recognized the HMS as a useful tool for monitoring and  internally enforcing actions against 'irresponsible parties' contributing to  forest and peat fires, and urged countries to take the necessary action to  operationalize the HMS. They further encouraged countries to share information  on "hotspots" that may contribute to transboundary haze on a  government-to-government basis.

Ministers noted the progress of implementation of the Project on  Rehabilitation and Sustainable Use of Peatland Forests in Southeast Asia, funded  by the Global Environment Facility (GEF), and the SEApeat Project, funded by the  European Union (EU). The projects include pilot activities in Indonesia,  Malaysia, the Philippines and Viet Nam. They emphasized that sustainable  management of fire-prone areas, especially peatlands, remains a high priority  for fire and smoke haze prevention, as well as for mitigation of climate change  impacts. They renewed their commitment to implementing the ASEAN Programme on  Sustainable Management of Peatland Ecosystems 2014-2020.

Source: http://forests-l.iisd.org/news/asean-ministers-call-for-sharing-of-land-use-maps-to-combat-forest-fire-haze/