Oleh/By : DATO' SERI DR. MAHATHIR BIN MOHAMAD
Tempat/Venue : CROWN PRINCESS HOTEL,
KUALA LUMPUR (K.L)
Tarikh/Date : 27/04/92
Tajuk/Title : THE OFFICIAL OPENING OF THE 2ND
MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE OF
DEVELOPING COUNTRIES ON ENVIRONMENT
AND DEVELOPMENT
I wish you a very warm welcome to Malaysia. My fellow
Malaysians and I are honoured to have this opportunity to
host the Second Ministerial Conference of Developing Coun-
tries on Environment and Development.
2. It is truly regrettable that despite two years of prep-
arations for the UNCED meeting, major issues and problems
have yet to be resolved. I was made to understand that the
fourth and final UNCED Preparatory Committee Meeting, which
ended in New York earlier this month, was not quite satis-
factory in terms of commitment. Though there has been iden-
tifiable progress on some aspects there is, as yet, no
balanced platter on the issues of environment and develop-
ment.
3. The financial issue remains unresolved. The South are
very disappointed that the North is unwilling to respond ei-
ther in terms of quantum or other tangible commitments. If
the rich North expects the poor to foot the bill for a
cleaner environment, Rio would become an exercise in futil-
ity. It must be remembered the UNCED is also about develop-
ment. There will be no development if the poor countries
are not allowed to extract their natural wealth. The only
way for them to develop and yet avoid damage to the environ-
ment is for them to receive substantial material help. To
ask the poor to help the rich is against all human princi-
ples of charity and fairness.
4. Also progress on this issue is compromised by the insis-
tence of the North that the Global Environmental Facility
(GEF) be the sole mechanism for funding environmental
projects within the framework of decisions to be taken at
Rio, as well as for the Conventions on Climate Change and
Biological Diversity. The issue of governance is a critical
area under negotiation. If the GEF is to be another appro-
priate funding mechanism after Rio, there must be a major
transformation of the GEF to make it more democratic with
universal membership encouraged and access and disbursement
provided under agreed criteria.
5. It can be argued perhaps that the UNCED is too ambi-
tious for total meaningful agreements to be achieved by the
time of the Rio Summit. Certainly, the issues involved are
extremely complex and Heads of Government meetings cannot
resolve complex details. They, the Heads, do not normally
negotiate the terms of treaties or agreements. They usually
endorse and formalise what has already been negotiated by
their experts and officials and fine-tuned by their
ministers. The preparatory meetings are therefore more cru-
cial than the ceremonials of a Heads of Government meeting.
Failure at the preparatory stage will endanger the whole ex-
ercise.
6. If we think the success of UNCED is debatable, then why
do we meet here? We meet here because the UNCED can be at
least partially saved if the developing countries are able
to have a clear view of what to expect and what common stand
to take.
7. The basic reference point for the South would be the UN
consensus resolution 44/228 which clearly signposted the ex-
pected global package; a World Charter of high declaratory
import; a global programme of action called Agenda 21; a
specific decision on additional financial resources to fund
Agenda 21; a decision on technology transfer at preferential
rates; a statement of principles governing the management of
all forests and an intergovernmental institutional structure
to monitor the follow-up to the UNCED. There was also
agreement that by the time of Rio, negotiations for con-
ventions on Climate Change and Biodiversity would have been
completed. The success of the Rio Summit can only be meas-
ured given significant achievements in all of these areas,
in the context of a global package, not in terms of the ad-
vancement of one issue and the neglect of another. An
intergovernmental institutional structure under the aegis of
the United Nations would be of no value if there was no real
agreement to all the critical issues above. For that matter
too, what use is there of an Earth Charter if there is no
real advance on the critical issues of finance and technol-
ogy?
8. In essence, the negotiations to prepare for Rio reflect
the continuing attempt by the South to bring the North to
the table to overcome over four decades of neglect on the
growth and development of the South. Fear by the North of
environmental degradation provides the South the leverage
that did not exist before. It is fully justified for us to
approach it this way. Unless there is a sharing of the con-
trols in a broader based and more democratic control struc-
ture and a more supportive economic international
environment, forever the playing field will not be a level
one. Forever will the South be at the bottom of the heap.
9. Whether we like it or not the developed North, having
destroyed their heritage, will want to declare that what is
left intact in the developing countries also belongs to
them. Consequently they are going to insist on having more
than just a say in the management of these remaining ecolog-
ical assets of the world. And when the powerful North
speak, the voice of the individual developing countries will
be drowned. It will be different if they speak together
with one strong voice in Rio.
10. To illustrate this let us take the case of the logging
of tropical timber. The developed countries have no trop-
ical forest but by involving environmental issues they wish
to control the exploitation of forests in developing coun-
tries. We in Malaysia are fully aware of the role that the
tropical forests are playing in preserving the delicate bal-
ance in the environment. We are aware too of the thousands
of species of flora and fauna that are to be found only in
our forests. We are aware that trees absorb carbon dioxide
and give back the precious oxygen without which we will all
drop dead.
11. But we are also acutely conscious that we are a devel-
oping country which needs the wealth afforded by our for-
ests. We do not cut down our trees foolishly. We need
living space, we need space for agriculture, and we need the
money from the sale of our timber. If it is in the interest
of the rich that we do not cut down our trees then they must
compensate us for the loss of income. The democratic North
talk incessantly of fair compensation. They tell our work-
ers to go on strike for "fair" compensation even if it de-
stroys our economy. Well, if we have to service the world's
need for oxygen, for ecological balance, then we must be
fairly compensated. Or else allow us our right to our tim-
ber wealth.
12. But instead what have the North done? They launched a
boycott of our timber. They reason that if they do not buy
we will stop cutting our timber. It is so simple that is,
if you can ignore the hundreds of thousands of people whose
lives depend on the timber industry, and if you can ignore
the loss of Government revenue with which we subsidise and
support our people, particularly the poor. What the North
is doing is not just to preserve the forest but to make
Malaysians pay for it. Is this equitable?
13. Yet the extraction of timber can easily be reduced
without making us pay for it. If the rich will pay twice
the price, logging can be reduced by half. It is as simple
as that.
14. They say most of the money in the timber industry is
made in the rich North. Malaysia gets very little from the
export of raw logs. So why export timber? We agree en-
tirely. But the solution is not to stop logging but to re-
locate the processing industries to Malaysia so that we can
earn more added value. We can then cut down even less trees
without losing income. The boycott of Malaysian timber will
help nothing. Indeed, if our timber is of no value to us,
we might as well cut down the trees for fuel and release
land for agriculture.
15. Once upon a time this planet was almost completely cov-
ered by forests. We are told that the deserts under which
vast reservoirs of petroleum are found were once swamps and
tropical forests. If we sincerely believe in equity and
burden sharing, why not reafforest the deserts of the world
and the vast farms in Europe and America which produce
subsidised food the world does not need? If you can draw up
ground water to build exclusive golf courses in the deserts
of California, if you can create huge lakes in the middle of
the desert on which to build luxury hotels, can you not use
the same technique to water the desert and reafforest it?
New tropical forests can be recreated complete with the
flora and fauna transplanted from our tropical forests. Why
should only the people in the tropics harbour disease-
bearing insects for the world?
16. We do not want to obliterate all our deserts, of
course. One cannot know what disaster will follow if we do
this. But the farms of Europe and America which were hacked
from the hard and soft wood forests of yesteryear and which
today produce food inefficiently, can very well be returned
to their pristine condition. The planting material, the
technology and the experts are all available to make this
project a success.
17. Let it be remembered always that it is not only the
tropical trees which can absorb carbon dioxide and give out
oxygen. All trees, including those in tree estates, do the
job equally well.
18. Many tropical trees possess medicinal properties and
must therefore be preserved. Again it is the rich who bene-
fit because they have the technology to extract and to iso-
late the active substance. Are the poor tropical countries
expected to preserve their forests for the rich to exploit
through their mastery of the science? What compensations
are being considered in return? In the negotiations for a
Convention on Biodiversity, the North have not been forth-
coming on proposals for joint research in gene-rich coun-
tries to benefit from biotechnology. As things stand the
poor may not extract timber and wealth from their own forest
because the North would like to gain financially from the
medical potentials of the tropical trees.
19. Last year vast tracts of forests in Indonesia caught
fire and burned for months. The whole of Malaysia was cov-
ered in haze. More than logging, forest fires destroy ev-
erything. Nothing is left. Trees, animals, insects, and
even humans are exterminated.
20. If the tropical forests are so precious to the
erstwhile environmentalists then the fire should cause
greater alarm among them than the controlled extraction of
timber. Governments and NGOs should have rushed to put out
the fires. But there was not a squeak. The excuse was that
they were not asked. Were they asked to agitate against
logging? Yet they mounted a massive campaign against log-
ging.
21. A lot can be done to prevent and fight forest fires.
The rich have spy satellites to locate the fires precisely.
They have sophisticated and expensive fire-fighthing equip-
ment. They have experts who can put out even the raging
infernoes of Kuwait. But they did nothing to save the for-
ests they claim to love so much. We cannot be blamed if we
think the campaign against tropical timber is because they
compete too successfully with the temperate climate timber.
Tropical timber destroyed by fire pose no threat to the sale
of temperate climate timber but carefully logged timber do.
So the forest fires are ignored while bitter condemnation is
directed at the logging of tropical forests.
22. When the anti-tropical timber campaign did not attract
sufficient attention, a human face was added to it. The
Penans are a gentle law-abiding people numbering about ten
thousand. They are originally shifting cultivators and
hunters. But some nine thousand of them have already set-
tled down on permanent farms or as wage-earners. Only one
thousand are still in the jungle. If they should choose to
stay in the forests, it is a choice which the government
will respect but this choice must be well considered. This
choice must not be a part of the North's anti-tropical tim-
ber campaign.
23. The anti-tropical timber activists see in the Penans an
opportunity to put a human face to their campaign for
temperate timber. And so the gentle Penans are urged to be
militant, to protest, to erect blockades, and defy the au-
thorities.
24. Stop making an issue of the Penans. Promote temperate
timber if you must but accept competition by tropical tim-
ber. You advocate open markets and free trade. Now live up
to your own creed. Stop linking trade and aid to developing
countries with environmental issues. Stop arm twisting.
25. On the other hand let us work together to protect and
resuscitate the environment. Close down inefficient farms
and polluting industries and reafforest the land released.
Move the processing of primary products to developing coun-
tries so as to maximise their development. Help reafforest
the deserts in the rich as well as the poor countries.
Organise and coordinate the prevention and fight against
forest fires worldwide. Pay more for tropical timber.
26. These are all positive things that can be done if there
is sincerity in the campaign to preserve tropical forest.
27. The campaign against tropical trees is a clear case of
an opportunistic use of the environmental issues. If not
for opportunism the energy of the environmentalists can be
rewardingly focused on other pollutants. Take the CFCs and
the spray-cans. There are many non-polluting ways of spray-
ing. Use biodegradable vegetable oil-based plastics instead
of petroleum-based plastics. Reduce the use of fuel oils in
transportation and electric generation. Allow reasonable
hydro-electric projects to go on.
28. Stop the use of nuclear fuels for power. Above all
outlaw the manufacture, storage and use of nuclear weapons.
29. If the environment is going to be cleaned, those most
responsible for polluting it must act. 80 percent of the
pollution is due to activities in the industrially developed
North. They must first clean up their backyard. Their NGOs
should stay at home and apply pressure on their own Govern-
ments, their industrialists and their military leaders.
30. The developing countries must of course do their bit
too. The first thing is for them to come together to debate
on a common stand. Let there be no break in our ranks when
we talk about the environment. We will share the burden
strictly in proportion with our culpability and our capac-
ity. By no means can we accept that we sacrifice our devel-
opment in order that the rich and the powerful can enjoy
ever improving standards of living. Indeed, it is the rich
who must be prepared to sacrifice their progress in the in-
terest of our development.
31. We have a heavy responsibility to ensure that the
South-South cooperation is effective in the area of environ-
ment and development. The South must identify specific
areas of cooperation and interaction, particularly in
forestry, technology transfer and sound environmental man-
agement. The South must set an example of international co-
operation and evenhandedness as its own contribution to
UNCED. It is also important that we continue to consult
with each other in the post Rio period.
32. I sincerely hope that the historic opportunity at Rio
will not be wasted. Rio can be the occasion to take impor-
tant historic steps for a true global partnership. The
South has suffered enough. It is wrong that we should be
made scapegoats for the past sins of the North. The South
cannot remain the repository of the resources for the North
including locking up its forest to serve as the global green
lung and its genetic resource laboratory. The North must
help the South to develop for it is in their environmental,
economic and security interest that they do so.
33. Freedom is a commodity much touted by the North. Woe
betide any country in the developing world which does not
grant freedom to its citizens. Yet the North consider it
right and proper to deprive the people in the developing
countries of their freedom to exploit their own natural
wealth. In campaigning against tropical timber and in boy-
cotting it, they are denying us our freedom to make a liv-
ing, to extract what little wealth we have, and to free
ourselves from hunger, disease and poverty. How can they
still talk of freedom when it is they who deprive us of
freedom? When we achieved independence we thought we would
be free. But the North is still subjecting us to imperial
pressures. The late Indonesian President Sukarno was right
when he talked of Neo-colonialism.
34. Development and economic growth cannot but be accompa-
nied by some undesirable effect on the environment. While
the developed countries had already damaged fully their en-
vironment, this is no reason for preventing developing coun-
tries from seeking to develop. If environmental damage is
to be minimised, then the developed countries must be pre-
pared to subsidise the cost. If the cost of development is
higher because of present environmental considerations then
the developing countries of today are being unfairly
penalised. This is unacceptable.
35. Malaysia would like to propose to the world community a
comprehensive environmentally beneficial programme involving
the greening of the world. As a first step, we call upon
the global community to target at least 30 percent of the
Earth's terrestrial area to be greened by the year 2000.
The world now has 27.6 percent of its land under forest
cover and we need only increase this by 2.4 percent over the
next eight years. This is clearly not an unreasonable tar-
get. All nations must set national greening targets and
those which have no suitable land must contribute adequate
funds to developing countries with available land.
36. The North, in particular, should not find this diffi-
cult because it has the funds, the technology and the re-
sources. They can divert the subsidies for their
inefficient farms towards a massive reafforestration of
these farm lands instead. No new funds are therefore
needed, and yet the result will be a greener and bigger car-
bon sink.
37. As for Malaysia I wish to announce that the Government
of Malaysia undertakes to ensure that at least 50 per cent
of our land area will remain permanently under forest cover.
38. I call upon the world community to urgently establish a
Global Fund to support this global greening target. The
Fund would serve to finance reforestation and afforestation
programmes as well as forest rehabilitation and maintenance.
Contributions to the fund should be based on the population,
wealth, and the ability to meet greening targets as well as
other relevant factors. Countries which have levels of car-
bon dioxide emissions that exceed a defined threshold should
pay on the basis of an agreed schedule. However nothing in
these proposals must compromise the principle of the sover-
eign right to development.
39. The greening of the world will hopefully inspire a new
spirit of international cooperation and partnership in which
global resources are fairly shared. If successful we would
have solved at least partially an important environmental
problem.
40. For our part, Malaysia has undertaken a number of meas-
ures towards ensuring a cleaner and healthier environment.
These include the creation of awareness among the people and
towards this end we have prepared a video film entitled "An
Initiative for the Greening of the World" which reflects
Malaysia's commitment and desire for a greener world. This
video film will be shown to you shortly.
41. I wish you all a successful meeting and I hope that
your stay in green Kuala Lumpur and greener Malaysia will be
a pleasant one.
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