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Kuala Lumpur Declaration roundup

Third World to focus on new funding in Rio summit

By Chapal Bashar
The Kuala Lumpur Decla ration adopted by the Ministerial Conference of Develo ping Countries on Environment and Development in the Malaysian capital will focus on new funding arrangements for environment that may benefit countries like Bangladesh.
The call for a new funding arrangement was the strongest element that emerges out of the three-day conference which ended April 29. The conference was attended by 55 developing countries where
’.he host country Malaysia played a leadership role.
This leadership role will get a new boost when Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammad attends the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro and places the KL Declaration before the conference.
The summit, formally known as the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), will be held from June 3 to 14.
At one stage, there was strong possibility that
Mahathir may not attend the summit to show his, dlsen chantment with the position of United States at KL conference and the campaign by Western environmentalists against Malaysia.
At the KL conference 11 developed countries were pre sent and US had disapproved the creation of a new fund for environment at Rio Summit. Some western non-governmental organisations (NGOs) have also been campaigning against Malaysia » fogging In the rainforest of Its biggest state Sarawak which made Mahathir annoyed
Malaysian premier’s annoy ance was clearly exposed In his Inaugural speech al the KL Conference. In the speech Mahathir blamed the rich North for polluting the environment and said that eighty percent of the pollution was due to the activities 1n the in dustrially developed countries
Mahathir urged the rich North to clean up their own backyards first and close down their inefficient farm and pol luting Industries. He asked them to join developing coun tries to plant more trees for "Greening of the World "
The Malaysian Prime Minister called upon the global community to target at least 30 per cent of the earth s ter restrial area to be greened by the year 2000. The world now has 27.6 per cent of its land under forest cover
Mahathir urged the world community to urgently establish a global fund to support the greening target.
The speech was highly commended by the dek-gates at the KL conference who de scribed it as reflecting the aspirations of the South.
Diplomatic observers in KL believe that Mahathir's changed decision to attend the Earth Summit was due to Malaysia s success tn mobills Ing developing countries for taking a common stand on en-
vironmental Issues
Explaining the reasons for his decision to attend the Earth Summit. Mahathir said "because of our commitment Io the KL Declaration. we have to present and defend It tn Rio although we are still not satisfied with certain NGOs which are out to criticise developing countries over environmental
The KL Declaration which was adopted unanimously one day ahead of schedule, urged the developed nations to change their production, consumption and distribution patterns If sustainable devel opmenl is to be achieved The declaration stressed that de vefopment was the fundamental right of all countries and that It was urgent to eradicate poverty. It said that a supportive International economic environment must be created to achieve environmentally-sound development. This would include the transfer of environmentally-sound tech-nofoQ- as well as new and addl tional financial resources to developing countries through specific mechanism
"The funding mechanism must be transparent, accountable and the decision making must have equal represents tion" the declaration satd adding, "developed countries should not impose restrictions on International trade based on environmental grounds."
The declaration hints of a cooperative stance as it does not discount the possibility of
the Global Environment Facility (GEF) being the funding mechanism so long It is modified, reformed and re structured to meet the set cri-
The GEF was created by the developed nations to finance sustainable development In Third World countries through the World Bank China and de vefoping nations under the G 77 umbrella contend that the existing mechanism under the Work! Bank are dominated by developed countries and are undemocratic and not trans parent
Developed countries look al the Kuala Lumpur Declaration with some reservations. Director of US UNCED Robert Ryan believed that the strong stand taken at the KL meeting would not hurt further negotta tion between developing and developed countries on environment and development Issues. He however said that Washignton would maintain Its stand of not favouring a sepa nite fund to finance sustainable development other than using the existing mechanism In eluding OEF.
Most experts look at the KL conference with mixed feelings. While it has certainly put the focus on the demands of developing world, it has failed to create a broad based consensus on the complex linkage between environment and development Whether the Rio | Conference can achieve this remains to be seen.
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