Oleh/By : DATO' SERI DR. MAHATHIR BIN MOHAMAD
Tempat/Venue : THE PAN PACIFIC GLENMARIE RESORT,
SHAH ALAM, SELANGOR
Tarikh/Date : 08/11/94
Tajuk/Title : THE ASIAN PARLIAMENTARIAN CONFERENCE
ON ENVIRONMENT AND
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
May I extend to you a very warm welcome to Malaysia and
thank you for your presence at this Asian Parliamentarian
Conference on Environment and Sustainable Development,
organised by the Malaysian Asian Forum of Parliamentarians
on Population and Development (AFPPD).
2. The theme of this Conference "Environment and
Sustainable Development" underscores the importance of the
Implementation of the Agenda 21 of the 1992 United Nations
Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED). At the
Rio Earth Summit, my colleagues, both from the developing
and the developed countries, had agreed to work together to
achieve sustainable development on the recognition that
people cannot have a healthy society nor a vibrant economy
in a world steeped in abject poverty, unsustainable
lifestyles and environmental degradation. Economic
development should not cease but must, however, adjust its
course, given the increasing signals at various levels of
society for an environmentally sound development process.
3. Rio gave rise to hopes for a new global partnership
where both the South and the North, as well as the peoples
of the world, would collectively work towards halting
environmental degradation and promoting sustainable
development. It also appreciates the need of developing
countries to catch up with the rest of the world to achieve
our common objective for global sustainable development.
4. The transition towards sustainable development requires
international partnership based on such considerations as
common but differentiated responsibilities, a supportive
external economic environment and taking into account the
specific social and economic conditions of individual
countries and their sustainable development priorities.
5. Yet, regrettably two years and 4 months after the
historic UNCED in Rio, the global community is running the
risk of inaction. The fundamental problem currently
confronting the implementation of the Rio decisions revolves
around the issues of means of implementation, i.e. new and
additional financial resources and technology transfer. The
global partnership that was agreed to at Rio was the
explicit understanding and commitment that the developed
countries would assist the developing countries in making
the transition towards sustainable development with the
provision of new and additional resources. A great cause
for concern for the developing countries is that the
commitment of substantial new and additional financial
resources made have not been translated into reality. UNCED
had estimated that about US$625 billion per year was needed
by developing countries to finance activities related to
Agenda 21. Of this amount, about US$500 billion per year
would have to come from domestic resources generated within
developing countries while the estimated external flows from
the developed to the developing countries was US$125 billion
per year.
6. We would be less than honest if we do not discern the
prevailing general sense of disappointment among the
developing countries vis-a-vis the commitment towards
implementing the decisions we took at Rio in 1992. Agenda
21 remains far from being implemented.
7. At Rio, the industrialised countries reaffirmed
their commitments to reach the accepted target of 0.7 per
cent of Gross National Product for Official Development
Assistance (ODA). I observe with great disappointment that
the resources under ODA are falling instead of increasing.
In fact the OECD countries' development assistance to
developing countries fell sharply in 1993, from US$60.8
billion in 1992 to US$54.8 billion in 1993. The overall
ratio of development assistance to GNP fell from 0.33 per
cent to 0.29 percent.
8. The only new money available is in the restructured
Global Environment Facility (GEF). The new GEF has been
replenished with pledges from 26 countries, totalling US$2
billion to cover programmes under the scope of GEF as well
as the Conventions on Climate Change and Biodiversity. US$2
billion is but a drop in the ocean in comparison to the
requirements estimated at Rio. Regrettably, the situation
is made worse in the sense that the release of funds for
project implementation is subject to conditionalities.
9. Matters related to the implementation of financial
commitments contained in Agenda 21, include those related to
terms of trade, commodity prices, market access, debt
relief, Official Development Assistance and other measures.
The issue of financial resources and mechanism was reviewed
by the Commission on Sustainable Development at its second
session held in New York in May 1994. I am greatly
disappointed that discussions on finance have not led to
tangible advancement on this issue.
10. It has become fashionable at recent international
meetings and conferences for developed countries to state
that the onus of identifying and mobilising resources is at
the national level, thus shifting their share of the burden
by pushing for internally generated resources in the
developing countries through restructuring budget
priorities, national level policy changes, reordering of
priorities and reduction in military spending. While I
believe in the importance of national governments to
implement plans of action, this would be incomplete without
the concomitant role of the international community. I call
upon the developed countries not to backtrack on their
existing commitments.
11. Malaysia shares the concerns of other developing
countries in other issues relating to sustainable
development, especially in the areas of international trade,
transboundary movement of toxic, hazardous and radio-active
wastes, forestry and biodiversity.
12. The share of the developing countries in world trade is
small. Many developing countries are not competitive in the
international market place as they are mainly dependent on
the export of raw materials and low technology goods.
13. Cheaper labour cost is still a form of competitive
advantage most developing countries are relying on out of
necessity. But in the quest to seek and develop markets in
which they can be internationally competitive, the
developing countries face fresh and unjustified impediments
such as the linking of non-trade issues like eco-labelling,
imposition of social clauses, global minimum wage and
perceived human rights violations in order to wipe out what
remains of the trade prospects of the developing countries.
As it is, the developed countries already possess
competitive advantages in proprietary technology, access to
rich domestic markets, capital, management skills, credits
extended specifically for the purchase of their own exports,
and grants by their Government conditional upon projects
being given to their companies or purchases of their
exports. Developing countries have none of these
advantages. I see the continued attempts by certain
developed countries to introduce more conditionalities in
the international trade regime as disguised protectionism to
erode further not only the insignificant competitive
advantage of the developing countries but also to impose an
unbearable burden on the developing countries. In fact,
some academics in developed countries are already arguing
that trade between developed and developing countries is
damaging to the economy of the developed.
14. Developing countries must strongly resist all these
moves which will have very negative impacts on their
economic development and may result in more unemployment and
deterioration of the living conditions of their people.
15. Malaysia shares the growing concerns of the developing
countries regarding the transboundary movement of toxic and
hazardous waste. The discussions by the Parties to the
Basel Convention in Geneva on 24-25 March, 1994 are
certainly going in the right direction. Malaysia supported
the ban on the export of hazardous wastes from the OECD to
the non-OECD countries. The position taken by Malaysia is
based on our strong belief that to knowingly pollute your
neighbour's land and to cause harm to his family is an
environmental crime that violates human rights. Malaysia
will certainly support any call for international
cooperation in the strengthening of institutions to assist
governments and industries in the adoption of clean
technologies as well as for the prevention of pollution and
in the handling, treatment and disposal of hazardous wastes.
16. I would also like to highlight the possible damage
inflicted by foreign ships carrying toxic and radio-active
materials through their seas, especially through narrow
straits. Such disposal of toxic, hazardous and radio-active
wastes as well as oil spills and desludging activities on
the high seas have serious and negative impacts on both
marine and land resources. As a littoral state faced with a
situation where more than 360 vessels daily ply the Straits
of Malacca and the South China Sea, there is an urgent need
to take all the necessary precautionary measures to prevent
risks involving the disposal of tanker sludge. The interest
of littoral states must be safeguarded. In this respect,
the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) should
seriously address these problems.
17. On forestry, the developing countries, especially the
tropical timber producers, are victims of misguided
campaigns. These impact negatively on tropical timber.
Their timber exports are increasingly subjected to new and
arbitrary requirements and conditionalities related to
certification and labelling and new interpretations for
sustainability of forest management. These conditionalities
have resulted in the rejection of tropical timber products
by municipalities of some European countries without giving
fair assessment to the source of timber. Even the
Do-It-Yourself people have been pressured to drop tropical
timber products for their use.
18. If the developed countries are genuinely concerned
about the sustainability of forest utilisation and
management, the standards and criteria imposed on tropical
timber should be applied fairly and equally on all timber
products, including those from temperate and boreal forests.
19. On biodiversity, the developed countries have been
utilising freely the rich biodiversity resources of the
developing countries with no benefits accruing to the
resource owners. In developing biodiversity for the benefit
of mankind, there must be fair and equitable returns to
resource owners, e.g. in developing pharmaceutical products
by the Western Trans National Corporation. Certainly
developing countries would not want to see a repeat of the
"Periwinkle" case of Madagascar where two drugs derived from
this plant are reported to earn for its multinational
company US$100 million annually, but no appropriate and
equitable financial benefits given to the resource owners.
I would urge the developing countries which own the largest
share of the world genetic resources to develop a strong and
common stand pertaining to the modes of collaboration with
foreign partners.
20. To achieve sustainable development requires the
participation of all players, including law makers like
yourself. What is most urgent at this stage is to focus on
the means of implementation of the various agreements. The
present approach to sustainable development and the
implementation of conventions relating to environment is
seriously flawed. It has lost its focus and this has
unfortunately come about because the developing countries
require financial assistance and technology transfer to
fulfill the objectives of the conventions. This need has
subjected them to conditionalities set by the developed
countries. I get the impression that during discussions on
the implementation of the various environment-related
conventions, the developing countries are treated like
beggars for aid. I have also observed with great
disappointment the undesirable tendency of the developed
countries to treat the environment- related conventions as
an ODA exercise with all its obnoxious and patronising
undertones.
21. It is my sincere hope that during this conference all
of you could establish procedures and arrangements to
monitor and assess the performance of the developed
countries in honouring their commitments to existing
conventions and indeed their own performance with regard to
sustainable development in their countries. Your initiative
in this matter would contribute usefully to the
deliberations at the Commission on Sustainable Development
which was established to monitor the implementation of UNCED
decisions.
22. With these remarks, I now have the pleasure of
declaring this Asian Parliamentarians Conference on
Environment and Sustainable Development officially open.
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