THE World Resources Institute (WRI) celebrates its 41st anniversary this year. The organisation was founded by Gus Speth in 1982 in Washington, DC with a mission to “move society to provide for the needs and aspirations of current and future generations”. 

In its early years, WRI was one of the first organisations to recognise that human beings had to be taken into account to resolve environmental problems. “You have to harmonise the interests of man and nature in order for either to succeed,” said the former head of the Environmental Protection Agency and WRI Board chairman Bill Ruckelshaus. 

Over the years, WRI made overtures to the corporate world to explore ways of harnessing market forces to protect natural resources. Recognising that to be a truly global organisation, it needed to be on the ground in countries at the frontlines of natural resource constraints, WRI established offices in China, India, Europe, Brazil, Indonesia, Mexico, and Africa. 

By 2014, the organisation was already providing ongoing analysis and data on wildfires through Global Forest Watch-Fires, an online platform for monitoring and responding to forest and land fires in Southeast Asia using near real-time information. 

When Singapore’s parliament passed the Transboundary Haze Pollution Act 2014, which allows regulators to prosecute companies and individuals that cause severe air pollution in Singapore by burning forests and peatlands in neighbouring countries, WRI’s Global Director of the Forests Program, Dr Nigel Sizer, issued the following statement: 

“Singapore’s transboundary haze law marks a new way of doing business for governments and companies seeking to address forest and peat fires. It sends a powerful message that those who burn land and forests illegally will be held accountable. In particular, any company caught using fire illegally now face the massive reputational risk of being dragged into court in Singapore as soon as their executives step foot on the island. Their customers, bankers, and insurers will surely shy away from doing business with them. 

“The causes of fires and haze in Southeast Asia are complex and difficult to address. For many decades, these fires have been used to clear land for agricultural expansion into forests and peatlands, and as a tool in conflict between companies and communities over land. Over the past two years, especially high concentrations of fires in Riau Province, Indonesia, have taken a deep toll, in terms of human health, environmental degradation, and economic damage. 

“Although the new law alone will not address all the deep-rooted causes of the fires, it contributes to a larger positive trend in the way governments and companies are dealing with the fires. The Indonesian government, for example, has made serious investments in their national Karhutla (Land and Forest Fires) Monitoring System. This includes a ‘situation room’ where fires and weather conditions are monitored in real time using tools like Global Forest Watch-Fires. Ultra high-resolution satellites are documenting individual fires and gathering high-quality evidence of possible wrongdoing. As a result, oil palm, timber, and pulpwood companies are making significant no-fires and no-deforestation commitments. 

“The message is becoming increasingly clear for individuals and companies that burn land illegally – playing with fire has serious consequences.”  

So, it is shocking that Natural Resources, Environment and Climate Change Minister Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad could find it difficult to enact a transboundary smog act.

As acknowledged by WRI, such a law could positively shape how governments and companies deal with the issue.  

More importantly, the law sends a powerful message that individuals or companies responsible for illegally burning land and forests will be held accountable for their actions. – October 13, 2023.  

* Hafiz Hassan reads The Malaysian Insight.  

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.