Transboundary Air Pollution: A Challenge To Southeast Asia – Analysis
By Shwetaungthagathu Reform Initiative Centre
By Thuta Aung
Transboundary air pollution in Southeast Asia has become a serious issue for each country in the region, and the current efforts still cannot bring an obvious result to the area, threatening its goodwill.
Key Takeaways:
- Transboundary air pollution became a major topic among the Southeast Asian countries, affecting the region’s well-being.
- Each nation has its source of air pollution while acting as both the contributor and the recipient of the transboundary haze.
- Although the international conventions were done since the mid-90s, ASEAN adopted its own in the late 90s, but it still has a conflict of interest.
Air pollution has recently become an eye-catching topic in world news, especially among developing nations in Southeast Asia. Although the countries are divided geographically, the atmosphere has no boundary. Starting the transboundary haze problem in ASEAN almost 50 years ago, the peatland fire problems in Malaysia and Indonesia began. Thus, the pollutants from each country threaten the well-being of the people in the region, regardless of their nationality.
Air pollution, especially PM2.5(Particulate Matter with a diameter of less than or equal to 2.5 μm in ambient air) pollution, has been linked to several million deaths yearly, along with other pollutants, like black carbon, that threaten different regions seasonally. Additionally, contaminants such as SOx, NOx, and VOCs can contribute to climate change and exacerbate ocean acidification, eutrophication, and ozone depletion.
As each nation in the region had expanded agricultural practice, both in quantity and quality, and industrialization to boost the economy, especially in a cost-effective way, along with intense climate phenomena like El Niño and increased bushfires, it brought the inevitable environmental issues, not only limited to each nation, but also threatened the region. Among them, air pollution became a challenging topic in most ASEAN countries.
Thailand
Thailand is one of the most heavily affected by air pollution in Southeast Asian countries. The Bangkok area and northern Thailand were the most affected during the summer months. Particulate matter during these months was mainly composed of biomass burning. Hitting the world’s top-most polluted cities annually. In Bangkok, the primary cause of air pollution was transportation, as the ratio of car ownership increased, and the public transportation gap widened.
However, there is another story in northern Thailand: the reason for most pollution is biomass burning. In the summer of 2024, 6,897 hotspots were found in Thailand, while 14,828 hotspots were detected in Myanmar. The transboundary haze came to the country’s northern part, where the capital of Thailand north is located. Impacting the city’s social and economic. The combined haze is caused by crop burning, especially the maize, used in the livestock industry. Additionally, cash crops like corn, sugarcane, and rice cultivation need seasonal burning, producing pollutants that cloud almost all of Thailand during the summer.
Myanmar
Myanmar also suffered from air pollution in its economic capital city, Yangon, which worsens during the summer. Also, in Shan state, it triggers transboundary air pollution in its neighbouring countries, especially Thailand. But on the other hand, after the Ayeyawady-Chao Phraya-Mekong Economic Cooperation Strategy (ACMECS) in 2003, foreign investments, especially from the CP group, the largest livestock feed producer, based in Thailand, came into the region to farm hectares of land to grow the maize under a contract farming style, to fulfill the growing demand for livestock food from China.
Indonesia
According to its geographical location, Indonesia contributes air pollutants to its neighboring countries like Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam, and occasionally Thailand from its forest fires and agricultural biomass burning. But vice versa, it is also the recipient of pollutants. Indonesia’s diverse landscape and activities reflectits complex air pollution nature. In urban areas like Jakarta, the contaminants are from transportation and industry, while in regions like Sumatra and Kalimantan, the forest and agricultural fires generate pollutants. Anthropogenic fires are fueled by climate change, like El Niño or the Indian Ocean Dipole, which worsens the situation.
Vietnam
Vietnam is calm primarily from the transboundary pollution. However, it sufferedfrom air pollutants, especially PM2.5, during 2013 and 2015. In the case of the first event, the pollutants came from East Asia anthropogenic sources, revealed by satellite imagery. In contrast, the second one was generated from the forest fire of Indonesia, and the contaminants were fed by the westward propagating stored wind resulting from the El Niño event. As climate change has reached an alarming point, the potential of the El Niño events is at high risk. The possibility of pollutants traveling transboundary will become frequent and threaten the country.
Malaysia
A southeast asian country, with haze issues mainly due to its power plant, accounting for up to 85% of pollutants, contributes to peatland fire that emits pollutants, and receives pollutants from other countries, with several air pollution episodes originating from Indonesia. And now the El Niño events exacerbate the issues, as the Malaysian geography is in the middle of the main pathway of the Southeast Asian pollution outflow.
Singapore
Singapore is one of the countries that has suffered a lot from its neighbor’s transboundary pollutants. Especially during the monsoon months, ranging from August to October. The intense peatland and forest fire from Indonesia during October 2015, brought by the nocturnal low-level jet, significantly impacted the country’s social and economic factors.
Current effort and issues
The transboundary haze problem has been affecting Southeast Asia since 1960. In Europe, scientists investigated the root causes of rain acidification, which disrupts the ecosystem in the northern hemisphere, and found the primary source was from thousands of miles away. To address this, the pan-European countries signed the “1979 Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution’’ to prevent this issue. The convention shows distinct results, such as reducing 80% of harmful gas emissions. Apart from international efforts, regional development has been on its track since the 90s, like the Acid Deposition Monitoring Network in East Asia (EANET).
However, ASEAN hasn’t adopted its dedicated convention or agreement, although the region has experienced it since the 1970s. As the region has suffered haze problems since 1990, citing 1991, 1994, and 1994 haze problems across the countries in the region, ASEAN ministers of environment agreed to co-operation on the transboundary haze problem in 1995. They adopted the 1997 REGIONAL HAZE ACTION PLAN in Singapore. But, in 5 years, after much effort, ASEAN’s first legal agreement on the issues was in 2002 when it signed the “ASEAN AGREEMENT ON TRANSBOUNDARY HAZE POLLUTION-AAHTP”.
Although many efforts were made at the national and international levels, the transboundary problem and the region’s rising economic trend are still ongoing. And still, the AATHP is the only agreement on transboundary air pollution, without penalties.
Apart from the convention, each nation develops its law or acts as a voice to address its specific regional issues with relevant spatial countries. The most recent one is Thailand’s lead joint plan, ‘CLEAN Sky strategy,’ bringing Myanmar and Lao PDR to the table to address the mainland SEA air pollution issue. At the national level, Singapore is the first country in the region to adopt the ‘Transboundary Haze Pollution Act-2014‘, which adds extraterritorial liabilities for those who have caused the activity that creates haze pollution in Singapore. Rather than Singapore, other countries in the region haven’t seen distinct progress in addressing domestic law to prevent transboundary haze due to their internal affairs.
Still, the nations’ interests pose obstacles to addressing the issue. Even though Thailand faces severe pollution from transboundary haze, it still has unclear boundaries between the government and the private sector, making them gently avoid discussing during ministerial meetings in ASEAN. In Myanmar, the internal conflict is getting more intense and complex, and addressing the air pollution at the international level can be tricky. Some hotspots that generate haze in Thailand from Myanmar are controlled by EAOs(Ethnic Armed Organizations), pushing Thailand to work with responsible EAOs from Myanmar, highlighting Thailand’s unrealistic government-to-government approach in addressing the haze problem.
Although the countries accused Indonesia of its transboundary haze in maritime Southeast Asia, Indonesia has still firmly refused to allow any pollutants to pass through its territory. From another point of view, Singapore-based businesses are involved in those pollutant-generating agricultural businesses in Indonesia, making the affected countries a pull factor in handling the problem.
Conclusion
Transboundary air pollution had increased since 1970 and gradually grew at an alarming rate in the region as the nations improved their economy. Each country has witnessed the effect of transboundary haze pollution and has tried to address the issue since the 90s. However, the nation’s interest is a pull factor in these efforts and still demands complete solidarity on this issue. Controlling factors like conventions with penalties and region-specific treaties would be a possible solution. And if not adequately addressed, the air pollution problem would remain and threaten the quality of life and the ecosystem in the region, regardless of the border.
- About the author: Thuta Aung is a Research Assistant at the Sustainability Lab of the Shwetaungthagathu Reform Initiative Centre (SRIc), holds a B.Sc. in Geology, and is currently pursuing Environmental Science at Chiang Mai University, Thailand.
- Source: This article was published at The Sabai Times
Shwetaungthagathu Reform Initiative Centre
The Shwetaungthagathu Reform Initiative Centre (SRIc) is a hybrid think tank and consultancy firm committed to advancing sustainable development and promoting sustainability literacy in Myanmar. Through its Sustainability Lab, SRIc conducts public policy research and analysis to promote Sustainable Development in Myanmar and guide the country toward a sustainable future. SRIc also offers consultation, CSR strategy development, and Sustainability roadmaps focused on Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG). SRIc equips individuals and organizations with actionable strategies for sustainable growth through capacity-building programs, customized training, publications like Sabai Times, and outreach initiatives such as webinars and podcasts. By merging research insights with practical consultancy, SRIc fosters responsible business practices, develops CSR strategies, and creates sustainability roadmaps, contributing to local and global sustainability efforts.
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