- The Twelfth Meeting of the Sub-Regional Ministerial Steering Committee on Transboundary Haze Pollution in the Mekong Sub-Region (12th MSC Mekong) was held on 30 November 2023 in Nha Trang, Viet Nam. The Meeting was attended by Ministers, senior officials and/or representatives for land, forest fires and haze from Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Thailand, and Viet Nam, and the Deputy Secretary-General of ASEAN for ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community, under the Chairpersonship of H.E. Dr. Nguyen Quoc Tri, Vice Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Viet Nam. The Eighteenth Meeting of the Technical Working Group on Transboundary Haze Pollution in the Mekong Sub-Region (18th TWG Mekong) preceded the Meeting.
- The Meeting noted the ASEAN Specialised Meteorological Centre’s (ASMC’s) review and outlook of the weather and smoke haze situation in the Mekong sub-region. The Mekong sub-region experienced prolonged dry weather conditions during the dry season between December 2022 and May 2023. The hotspot and haze situation reached a peak in March and April 2023, as widespread moderate to dense transboundary haze was observed to affect large parts of Lao PDR, Myanmar and northern Thailand on many days. Alert Level 3 was issued for the sub-region on 2 March 2023 as the situation worsened. The onset of the upcoming dry season is likely in end 2023. Current El Niño conditions are forecast to weaken from January 2024 and continue at least until February/March 2024. The Meeting noted the first run of ASMC’s new attachment programme was conducted for participants from Lao PDR and Myanmar in March-April 2023, and upcoming programme focusing on improving subseasonal-to-seasonal predictions for the region will be held early next year. Under its Capability-Building Programme (ACaP), five workshops/forums had been conducted this year.
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