draft please do not cite - HAZE - Academy of Sciences Malaysia

WG1

Task Force Transboundary Haze

MAY 2016

Air Quality & Haze Episodes in Malaysia Academy of Sciences Malaysia

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Haze TF (WG1): Air Quality & Haze Episodes in Malaysia T ABLE OF C ONTENTS

1

Introduction ......................................................................................................... 6

2

Haze History in Malaysia .................................................................................... 7

3

Air Quality Measurement .................................................................................. 12 3.1 Air Quality Monitoring Network ............................................................................. 12 3.2 Different Calculation of Air Quality Indexes ......................................................... 13 3.2.1 Air Quality Index Measurement in Singapore and Indonesia .............................. 14 3.3 Physical and Chemical Properties of Particulate Matter During Haze Episode 16 3.3.1 PM2.5 during Haze Episode ................................................................................. 17 3.3.2 Inorganic Composition of Particulate Matter ....................................................... 19 3.3.3 Composition of Organic as well as Bioindicator of Biomass Burning.................. 19 3.3.4 Humic Substances and Biomass Burning ........................................................... 22 3.3.5 Source Apportionment During Haze and Non Haze Episode ............................. 22 3.3.6 Dustfall during Haze Episode.............................................................................. 23 3.4 Hybrid Single-Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory (HYSPLIT) modelling and Satellite Imagery ....................................................................................................... 24

4

Sources of Haze ................................................................................................ 28 4.1 Land-use Changes .................................................................................................. 28 4.1.1 Slash and burn .................................................................................................... 30 4.1.2 Oil Palm Plantation ............................................................................................. 31 4.1.3 Peat Combustion ................................................................................................ 32 4.2 Non-agriculture Sources ........................................................................................ 33

5

Meteorological Condition ................................................................................. 35 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4

6

Impact of Haze ................................................................................................... 44 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4

7

El Niño - Southern Oscillation (ENSO).................................................................. 35 El Niño and its influence on Haze ......................................................................... 38 Forecastibility.......................................................................................................... 41 Inversion in Upper Air During Haze ...................................................................... 43 Health Impact .......................................................................................................... 44 Economic Impact .................................................................................................... 46 Agricultural Impact ................................................................................................. 47 Biodiversity Impact ................................................................................................. 48

Haze Related Polices ........................................................................................ 49 7.1 National Policy and Administrative Framework................................................... 49 7.1.1 Legislation and Enforcement .............................................................................. 49 7.1.2 National Haze Committee ................................................................................... 49 7.1.3 National Haze Action Plan .................................................................................. 49 7.1.4 Fire Prevention Action Plan ................................................................................ 49 7.1.5 Clean Air Action Plan (CAAP) ............................................................................. 50 7.1.6 Fire Prevention and Peatland Management Programme.................................... 50 7.1.7 The Zero Burning Policy of Oil Palm Cultivation ................................................. 51 7.2 Comparison of local policies with the regional policies ..................................... 51 2 Copyright @ Academy of Sciences Malaysia DRAFT PLEASE DO NOT CITE

Haze TF (WG1): Air Quality & Haze Episodes in Malaysia 7.3 Regional Policy ....................................................................................................... 52 7.3.1 Track 2 Diplomacy Initiatives .............................................................................. 56 7.3.2 The ASEAN Charter............................................................................................ 57 7.4 Constraints .............................................................................................................. 58

8

Way Forward ...................................................................................................... 60 8.1 Science Policy Interface/Intervention ................................................................... 60 8.1.1 Regional Governance ......................................................................................... 63 8.2 Conclusion .............................................................................................................. 63

9

References ......................................................................................................... 65

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Haze TF (WG1): Air Quality & Haze Episodes in Malaysia B ACKGROUND Working Group 1 (WG1) on Air Quality and Haze Episodes is tasked to examine the problem of transboundary haze, that is, amongst others, to identify any existing and current policies, studies and/or initiatives relating to transboundary haze; to identify the gaps in knowledge, action and related issues. While the main purpose of the study initiated by the Academy of Sciences Malaysia (ASM) is to present a viable solution to all relevant stakeholders, there seems to be a strong emphasis throughout the Steering Group discussions to also push for an economic solution and promote the conversion of biomass into energy or some useful material in order to eliminate the use of fire for land preparation and thereby transform palm oil production or shift towards sustainable production practices. Much has been documented and debated on the transboundary haze. This study by WG1 will not deal with issues of deforestation, draining of peatlands, Indonesia’s lack of capacity or detailing ASEAN’s limitations to address the issue, or diagnosing cronyism and corruption as the problem or even analyzing the legal implications as possible solutions. This study instead will focus first on our perception on the nature of the problem. Framing the problem will then help us to shape our response. ‘Haze’ was used by ASEAN to play down the impact of the Indonesian fires. First, this paper will address the misconception that transboundary haze is a ‘natural’ event and will only pose a problem to the region during the months of an El Niño phenomenon. To this end, WG1, based on the review process, will indicate the scientific evidence to what extent the intensity of the haze is influenced by the El Niño, the correlation and hence the importance of forecastibility of the El Niño in order to provide information to the decision-makers and thereby initiate the science-policy intervention at the national and ASEAN level. Second, WG1 will also indicate whether the current scientific knowledge could provide enough information on source apportionment of the transboundary haze as this will also impact on policy decisions. Changing our perception and moving forward to achieve a viable solution will require some serious assessments. This study will also suggest the inclusion of other parameters for air quality measurement, a better understanding of the meteorological conditions and the wideranging impacts of haze on human and the environment to help us think preventively. Addressing the transboundary haze lies in reducing forest and plantation burning in Indonesia; but unfortunately this is a task Indonesia is still trying to prioritize. Overcoming the formidable financial incentives that lie behind the burning is crucial for effecting changes. The effort taken by WGI, based on the review process, aims to push forward some issues as well as measures and at the same time to gain the support of the government, the business and civil society to complement one another to help in strengthening the research, predicting and monitoring capacity, to improve on the technology as well as to explore collaborative possibilities to address the problem of transboundary haze


Haze TF (WG1): Air Quality & Haze Episodes in Malaysia M ETHODOLOGY The methodology involves a rapid scan for documents on the definition and history of the haze. The study quickly traces the causes of transboundary haze in terms of land use and abuse as well as the influence of climatic factors. The gaps in terms of measurement of the air quality index, the nature of the El Niño phenomenon as well as the gaps in determining the association between the haze and the El Niño will be highlighted. As national documents, journals, reports, and data-sets are collected, they will be assessed for relevance and breath of content. This will be followed with discussions and analyses for the science-policy interventions and calls for an action plan. C HAPTER L AYOUT The final report is organized into eight chapters; from initial conceptualization of the problem; haze episodes; a review of the air quality measurements and meteorological conditions; the El Niño phenomenon; a snapshot of the impacts and policy framing to the eventual emergence of science-policy interventions and plans of action. CHAPTER 1 opens with a background on the nature of transboundary haze, problem framing and the attempts to address the misconception. CHAPTER 2 provides a historical background on the transboundary haze and delves into the air pollutant index to indicate the severity and duration of the problem. This is followed by describing the contribution of particulates from local and external sources as well as the increasing emissions from external sources during the haze. CHAPTER 3 discusses the air quality measurement and explains the characteristics of air pollutants during the haze. Different parameters analyzed in a number of studies to provide the knowledge gap in terms of biomass burning are also discussed. It finally touches on the satellite imagery to provide the accuracy of fire detection. CHAPTER 4 traces the sources of transboundary haze and highlights land-use changes as well as the slash-and-burn technique. CHAPTER 5 analyzes the meteorological conditions and ENSO as a major contributing factor that induces a drier than normal condition. Of significance is the forecastibility of ENSO and the policy implications. CHAPTER 6 outlines the wide-ranging impacts of fires and associated transboundary haze on public health, tourism, biodiversity and the national economy CHAPTER 7 extracts policy directions at the national and ASEAN level. The information is then briefly analyzed to indicate whether the policy measures instituted have tackled the transboundary haze and supported zero-burning. CHAPTER 8 is where all the findings from the previous chapters are gathered and proposes the science-policy interventions. It includes an action plan for moving forward.


Haze TF (WG1): Air Quality & Haze Episodes in Malaysia

1 Introduction Transboundary haze (or ’haze’ for the purpose of this study) is one of the major environmental issues in Southeast Asia for the last three decades. The haze not only affects the countries within the region but even beyond because of the impacts on environmental concerns with greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and biodiversity thus challenging international attempts to address these issues. According to the ASEAN Haze Action Online, ‘haze’ consists of sufficient smoke, dust, moisture, and vapour suspended in air to impair visibility and haze pollution can be considered ‘transboundary’ if its density and extent is so great at source that it remains at measureable levels after crossing into another country’s air space. The use of the term ‘haze’ as opposed to ‘transboundary atmospheric pollution’ in ASEAN is to play down the impact of Indonesian fires even though the fires and associated haze could pose risks to human health and the environment. The usage of ‘haze’ is a diplomatic way to avoid having to confront the State that causes the problem by linking it with principles of state responsibility under international law. The perception or the term ‘haze’ therefore takes the attention away from the fires that cause the transboundary pollution. ‘Haze’ suggests that if winds change direction or the strength and duration of the El Niño phenomenon that induces a drier than normal condition is absent, there will be no problem. But perceptible haze from local pollutant emission, particularly during adverse weather conditions, does occur especially in the Klang Valley following rapid urbanization and industrialization. However, the times when transboundary haze is blanketing parts of Malaysia and the neighbouring countries, the composition as well as the concentration level of the pollutants is different as confirmed in many of the studies, Studies by several researchers such as Emmanuel (2000), Abas et al. (2004), Aouizerats et al. (2015) and Behera et al. (2015) indicated that the concentration of particulate matter with aerodynamic size below 10 micrometers (PM10) increased significantly and that visibility was reduced to 0.5 km during the haze. Dominick et al (2012) and Azmi et al. (2010) also observed that the level of air pollutants was high during the haze particularly between June and September. High concentrations of fine particulate matter particularly from biomass burning will reduce visibility as well as affect human health. Haze events are further accentuated during the dry seasons as air pollution clouds take longer to dissipate (Nobre et al. 2016). A study by Forsyth (2014) reported that severe haze occurred in Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia as a result of forest fires in 1997, 2005 and 2013. The haze, spreading to other countries, is predominantly caused by forest and peat fires in Sumatra and Kalimatan as highlighted by several researchers including Mayer (2006), Khan et al. (2015a, 2015b), and Amil et al. (2016). But it is misleading to think of ‘fires’ as the problem because complex socioeconomic, ecological and governance factors are involved. In addition, contributory and influencing factors such as climate variations do play a significant role. Framing the problem from a new angle and finding an innovative solution is the next step forward.



2 Haze History in Malaysia The chronology of haze in Malaysia may go back to year 1983 as the first record of haze considered disrupting the daily life in Malaysia. Subsequently, in year 1991, the forest fires in Sumatra was said to cause very hazy weather condition in the country. Three years later, a more severe haze than 1991 occurred during the month of September and lasted for over a month. The main cause of the problem was identified as forest fires in Kalimantan and Southern Sumatra. Haze in Malaysia occurred again in 1997 and the dry weather and stable atmospheric conditions coupled with emissions from local pollution sources such as from motor vehicles, industries, and open burning of wastes also aggravated the situation (Keywood et al. 2003). This haze episode was considered one of the worst situations due to co-occurrence of El Niño, which prolonged the dry condition in that year. The air quality worsened at several places in Sarawak to such an extent that between 19 September and 28 September 1997 (10 days), a ‘Haze Emergency’ had to be declared in Sarawak when the Air Pollutant Index (API) reached above the 500 value. The air quality returned to normal in November 1997 coinciding with the arrival of the northeast monsoon season. The summary of haze history in Malaysia from year 1983 to 2015 shows in Table 1. The association of API value and its impact to human health threshold has been summarized in Table 2. Table 1. Year

Summary of haze history in Malaysia

1983

Highest API Value (Venue) No data

El Niño year

Notes

Yes

•

First record of haze in Malaysia

1990

No data

No

•

Total Suspended Particulate Matter (TSP) exceeding 500 µg/m3 at certain places Delayed in aircraft departure Visibility up to 1.6 km

• • 1991

No data

Yes

•

Transboundary haze cause by forest fire in Kalimantan Visibility impairment in October 1991

•

1994

No data

No

•

Visibility impairment in September 1994

1997

839 (Kuching)

Yes

• • • •

Worsened by El Niño Haze emergency declared in Sarawak Caused by forest and peat fires 29 Continuous Air Quality Monitoring Stations (CAQMS) had PM10 concentration exceeding the Malaysian Ambient Air Quality Guidelines (MAAQG) Visibility below 0.5 km in Kuching

• 1998

459 (Kota Kinabalu)

No

•

Only several places recorded high concentration of PM10 and API value for example Kota Kinabalu, Bintulu and Klang


Haze TF (WG1): Air Quality & Haze Episodes in Malaysia Year 2005 2006

Highest API Value (Venue) 541 (Kuala Selangor) 222 (Sri Aman)

El Niño year

Notes

No

• •

Haze emergency was declared in 11 August Few flight was suspended

No

•

Moderate haze episodes in mid-July, mid-August and late September to October 2006 20 stations in Peninsular Malaysia recorded API value 101-200

• 2009

299 (Sibu)

No

• •

2010

432 (Muar)

Yes

Haze began in early June 2009 and progressively became worse toward July Primary cause of this event was the slash and burn practices used to clear land for agricultural purposes in Sumatra, Indonesia

• •

Short period of haze episode from 19 to 23 October Occurred in southern part of Peninsular Malaysia 170 schools were closed in Muar on 21 October

•

2011

165 (Tanjung Malim)

No

•

Short period of haze

2012

305 (Miri)

No

•

Short period of haze

2013

762 (Muar)

No

•

Short period of severe haze episode from 15 to 27 June 2013 due to transboundary pollution There were 437 hotspots detected in Sumatra on 21 June 2013 The most affected areas were Johor, Melaka and Negeri Sembilan More than 600 schools closed in areas of Johor where the API readings had exceeded the hazardous point Haze Emergency was on 23 June 2013 in Muar and Ledang Districts, Johor. The Haze Emergency was lifted on 24 June 2013

• • •

•

2014

358 (Klang)

No

• • •

•

2015

308 (Shah Alam)

Yes

•

Short moderate haze episode Affected areas and states were the Klang Valley, Perak, Melaka, Negeri Sembilan and Johor Caused by forest and peatland fires in several states namely in Selangor, Perak, Pahang, Johor, Kedah, Kelantan and Terengganu. 203 schools in the Klang and Kuala Langat Districts in Selangor were closed as the API reached very unhealthy levels of more than 200 Deterioration of air quality from August to September due to massive land and forest fires in Sumatra and Kalimantan 8

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Haze TF (WG1): Air Quality & Haze Episodes in Malaysia Year

Highest API Value (Venue)

El Niño year

Notes

•

•

All schools in the states of Putrajaya, Kuala Lumpur, Selangor, Negeri Sembilan, Sarawak and Melaka were closed when API reached 200 This haze episode is considered as the worst after 1997 due to the prolonged haze duration, which is more than 2 months.

Table 2.

Value of Air Pollutant Index (API) and its relation with health effect

API

Status

Health Effect

0-50

Good

• Low pollution without any bad effect on health.

51-100

Moderate

•

101-200

Unhealthy

•

201-300

Very unhealthy

•

>300

Hazardous

•

Health Advice

• No restriction for outdoor activities to the public. Maintain healthy lifestyle. Moderate pollution that • No restriction for outdoor does not pose any bad activities to the public. Maintain effect on health. healthy lifestyle. Worsen the health • Limited outdoor activities for the condition of high risk high risk people. Public need to people who is the people reduce the extreme outdoor with heart and lung activities. complications Worsen the health • Old and high risk people are condition and low advised to stay indoor and reduce tolerance of physical physical activities. People with exercises to people with health complications are advised heart and lung to see doctor. complications. Affect public health. Hazardous to high risk • Old and high risk people are people and public health. prohibited for outdoor activities. Public are advised to prevent from outdoor activities.

An empirical model developed (Azman & Abdullah 1993) to quantify the contribution of particulates from external and local sources had indicated that emissions from external sources (largely forest fires) became more dominant during the haze and virtually insignificant during the non-haze period. Evidently, the increase in particulate emission was a result of an increase in a number of acres of land burned from wildfires and also due to exhaust emissions and from construction sources which have increased over the last few years, particularly in the Klang Valley. According to Afroz et al. (2003), during extreme haze episode, the visibility can be limited to only 500 meter and particulate concentration mainly the aerodynamic size of 10 µm (e.g. PM10) up to 500 µg/m3. Generally, the visibility 9 Copyright @ Academy of Sciences Malaysia DRAFT PLEASE DO NOT CITE

Haze TF (WG1): Air Quality & Haze Episodes in Malaysia impairment increased greatly particularly in October 1991, September 1994 and July to October 1997 (Awang 1998). Based on air quality data in Malaysia from year 1996 to 2015, the concentration of PM10 was monitored in several monitoring stations that was located in few regions that were Background (Jerantut), Central (Petaling Jaya), East (Kuantan), North (Pulau Pinang), South (Johor Bharu), Sabah (Kota Kinabalu) and Sarawak (Kuching) regions. Jerantut station was considered as Background station established by Malaysian Department of Environment. The trend of daily mean concentration of PM10 from year 1996 to 2015 and juxtaposed of El Niño period was shown in Figure 1 where the data with the missing value more than 20% was excluded.

µg/m

3

a) Background: Jerantut

µg/m

3

b) Central: Petaling Jaya

µg/m

3

c) South: Johor Bahru

µg/m

3

d) North: Pulau Pinang

µg/m

3

e) East: Kuantan

µg/m

3

e) Sabah: Kota Kinabalu



µg/m

3

f) Sarawak: Kuching

Figure 1.

Trends of PM10 daily mean concentration from year 1996 to 2015 and juxtaposed of El Niño period (in red lines) for several stations according to the regions in Malaysia

For Background monitoring station, the highest peak was recorded in few months for year 1997 particularly at the end of the year. Several peaks were also observed in year 2005, 2013 and 2015 where the concentration of PM10 exceeded 150 µg/m3. For Central region, highest peak of PM10 concentration was recorded in year 2005 that exceeded 400 µg/m3 while in year 2013, 2014 and 2015, the highest concentration was reached nearly 300 µg/m3 compared to other year. The concentration of PM10 for Southern region was relatively lower than 100 µg/m3 except for year 1997, 2006, 2013 and 2015 where the concentration was above 150 µg/m3. North region had the highest PM10 concentration in year 2015 while year 2005 also recorded high concentration with concentration above 150 µg/m3. For Sabah region, highest peak of PM10 trend concentration was found at year 1998 while for Sarawak region, in year 1997, the PM10 concentration was above 800 µg/m3 which one of the highest PM10 concentration was recorded in our country. East region had minimal concentration of PM10 which was below 150 µg/m3 for almost every year except for year 1997, 2013 and 2015. The trend of PM10 concentration shows that the highest concentration of PM10 was found in year that severe haze episode was recorded which was 1997, 1998 and 2015. Moreover, haze episode that related to land clearing activities and biomass burning is the cause of high concentration of PM10, taking the example of Sarawak region which was badly affected during the haze episode in year 1997.



3 Air Quality Measurement 3.1

Air Quality Monitoring Network

The Malaysian Department of Environment (DOE) monitors the country’s ambient air quality through a network of 52 stations. These monitoring stations are strategically located in residential, business and industrial areas to detect any significant change in the air quality which may be harmful to human health and the environment. Five criteria pollutants namely PM10, SO2, nitrogen dioxide (NO2), carbon monoxide (CO) and ground level ozone (O3) are measured and used to calculate the API. The API is an indicator of the air quality including the haze and was developed based on scientific assessment to indicate, in an easily understood manner, the presence of pollutants in air and its impact on health. Particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter less than 10 micrometer (PM10), particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter less than 2.5 micrometer (PM2.5) and several heavy metals such as lead (Pb) are measured once in every six days. The major gaseous and particle-phase air pollutants monitored using in-situ measurement include O3, SO2, oxides of nitrogen (NOx), CO, PM10 and PM2.5. In the case of Malaysian Meteorological Department (MMD) stations, parameters monitored include rainwater acidity and aerosols (total suspended particulate, TSP and PM10), but the Petaling Jaya station also monitored atmospheric O3 (monitoring of vertical O3-profile and total column O3). Most of these air stations are co-located with climatological stations (where wind speed, wind direction, temperature, relative humidity, solar radiation etc. are measured) so that simultaneous and continuous observation of both meteorological and air pollution parameters can be carried out. This ensures that a comprehensive data set comprising of both air quality and meteorological data would be available for assessment of any air pollution event. In addition, there are also several other academic institutions which involves in the investigation of air quality, chemical speciations, characterisation, source apportionment and their health and ecotoxicological concerns. The major air pollutants e.g. TSP, PM10, PM2.5, O3, SO2, NOx, CO, methane (CH4) and nonmethane hydrocarbon (NmHC) are measured by in-site monitoring instruments in Malaysia. The TSP, PM10 and trace gases along with other meteorology related variables e.g. wind speed and direction, temperature, relative humidity, solar radiation etc. are monitored by DOE. The details of the methods and instruments used are shown in Table 3. As part of the monitoring and management of the air quality, the Government of Malaysian formulated the Recommended Malaysian Air Quality Guidelines (RMAQG) as shown in Table 4. Moreover, the DOE introduced a revised API, an indicator of the concentration of air pollutant to human health. DOE practises API to represent the air quality status at any particular area. API is calculated based on the six criteria air pollutants which are SO2, NO2, CO, PM10, PM2.5 and ground level O3.


Haze TF (WG1): Air Quality & Haze Episodes in Malaysia Table 3. Variables

Lists of instruments used by DOE in the air quality monitoring network in Malaysia Instrument (Teledyne, USA) Analyzer 400A

Measurement principal

Precision

Chemi-luminescence

0.5% (