Malaysia and Indonesia Coordinate Cloud Seeding to Combat Haze

The Government of Indonesia has granted Malaysian agencies official permission to enter its airspace to conduct cloud seeding operations to combat regional haze caused by forest and peatland fires. Natural Resources and Environmental Sustainability Minister Arthur Joseph Kurup announced that the Malaysian Meteorological Department and the national disaster management agency are coordinating schedules with the Indonesian military to target shared border locations.

The cooperation follows intense wildfires in Kalimantan and Sumatra driven by El Nino-induced dry conditions. The resulting haze has reduced visibility to one meter in parts of Kalimantan and reached unhealthy levels in Sarawak, Malaysia, where nearly 600 schools closed, affecting approximately 200,000 students. In Sarawak's Serian district, the Air Pollutant Index reached a nationwide high of 193.

Beyond immediate cloud seeding, Malaysia and Indonesia have agreed to escalate preventive firefighting measures as El Nino is expected to intensify toward October 2026. Simultaneously, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim and Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah of Brunei agreed to utilize the Association of Southeast Asian Nations mechanism to address the recurring pollution. Malaysian Foreign Minister Mohamad Hasan is preparing an official letter to the ASEAN Secretariat to invoke regional agreements on transboundary haze pollution.