Catastrophic forest fires and associated haze problem in Indonesia and South East Asia during 1997-98 resulted profound impact on the bio-physical and socio-economic environments of the ASEAN region. Land clearing practice using fire was one of the underlying reasons behind this transboundary smoke and haze episode. The situation was further aggravated by a long dry season due to the effects of El Nino. Disastrous forest fires could be regular phenomena in every dry season, unless sufficient precautions are being taken well ahead.

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) having the mandate from the United Nations Secretary General to monitor and co-ordinate the global assistance and expertise provided by the international community through the UN System, has been playing a catalytic role in soliciting and mobilizing resources from the donor countries. UNEP through the Global Environment Facility (GEF) funding is implementing a project on "Emergency Response to Combat Forest Fires in Indonesia to Prevent Regional Haze in South East Asia". The main objective of the project is to help combat forest fires in Indonesia and to prevent regional haze in South East Asia. The main activities of the project include, coordination of the international and regional efforts on preventing and combating forest fires, establishment of an effective early warning system, raising national, regional and global public awareness on the profound impacts of forest fires, and dissemination of lessons learned to other countries facing similar environmental disasters.

One of the important aspects of the UNEP-GEF project is to establish a fire early warning detection mechanism including local fire risk assessment, an aerial surveillance regime for Sumatra, and improvement of communication system. With the request from the ASEAN member countries, UNEP supported the "Sumatra Fire Fighting Surveillance Pilot Project- Phase 1" held from 27 July to 8 August 1998 in four districts of Riau province, Sumatra. The main activities performed were early detection of fires using aircraft, near real-time remote and ground based information, photo documentation of fire sites, communication of fire information to ground fire stations, rapid ground checking and fire suppression. Phase 2 of the pilot project is planned to be held during November-December 1998 in which the study area will be expanded to all of the fire prone provinces of Sumatra. UNEP also raised the idea of using high resolution remote sensing data for early fire detection and the project will be implemented through four national agencies in the ASEAN region. UNEP is assisting ASEAN countries in preparing a spatial database consisting of elevation, hydrology, geology, settlements, land use and infrastructure which will be useful in planning fire suppression activities and mobilizing resources.

Another component of the UNEP-GEF project is to raise public awareness by disseminating lessons learned from the past fires, so that the decision makers and common people in the region and outside will take preventive measures to avoid or mitigate forest fires in future. The activities under this component include, identification of best land clearing practices, preparation and dissemination of posters, pamphlets and brochures showing various techniques of fire fighting, prevention and best land clearing practices, dissemination of information related to past forest fires, the underlying causes, and their long-term impacts on the environment and socio-economic development of the affected countries through various multimedia and audio-visual means.