The harmful impact on the ecology, economy and the general health of populations in Malaysia and South East Asia caused by forest and peat fires points to the necessity of having a comprehensive monitoring and intervention mechanism. Recent occurrences of forest fire disasters and smog/haze alerts underlines this need.

Effective monitoring and timely intervention can only be achieved with an efficient system for data collection, processing and dissemination. With the right implementation, monitoring and enforcement agencies will be able to function more effectively to prevent and contain fires and to evaluate the damage.