KUCHING: Open burning permits for commercial purposes will not be issued after 2020, said Sarawak Natural Resources and Environment Board (NREB) Controller Peter Sawal.
“This is our policy,” he said yesterday after a press conference on the Better Air Quality (BAQ) Conference which is being held at Borneo Convention Centre Kuching (BCCK) from November 14 to 16.
However, the board would still allow plantations to issue open burning permits for plantations, he added.
“For the local agriculture activities, we still allow them but if there is any commercial element involved, they are subjected to the law,” he said.
Peter said Sarawak, or the country as a whole, needed to learn from the developed countries how to manage the air pollution.
He said the conference was attended by international participants from all over the world.
“They are sharing their technology and findings on air pollution and also solutions to address it.”
Peter said in developed countries, the air pollution was caused by industrial and transportation activities but in Sarawak, it was caused by open burning from the local agriculture activities and also from a neighbouring country.
“What we need is to learn what are the policies and regulations available in the developed countries in handing this matter,” he said.
Peter pointed out that although there were lots of technologies that could help to address air pollution problems, not all could be applied locally.
“We can adopt and modify the available technologies for local use and this is where this conference is useful, with the sharing of technologies and information for the benefit of everybody and also for our people to interact and collaborate and learn from others,” he said.
The BAQ Conference is jointly organised by Clean Air Asia together, Clean Air Forum Society of Malaysia (MyCAS), State and Malaysia NREB.
The conference focuses on the transformative actions and technological innovations in Asia for clean air and livable cities.
