by Piyaporn Hawiset
23 August 2002
The term `sustainable development' might not mean much to some people, but this has not prevented them pursuing its goals.
Chaerudin gave a blank stare when asked what the term "sustainable development" meant. But the Jakarta banana grower could provide an apt answer when asked what his working philosophy was.
"Nature is not an inheritance from our forefathers," he replied. "It is something that our grandchildren have entrusted us to take care of."
Chaerudin, 48, said he would ensure that his grandchildren could also enjoy the bananas he grows and the birds he hears singing.
Sustainable development is a big term that equates to Chaerudin's philosophy. The 1987 Report of the World Commission on Environment and Development, or the Brundtland Report, stated that "sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs". In other words, it calls for improving human life now and in the future without increasing the use of our natural resources beyond the Earth's carrying capacity.
In 1992, the world's nations held the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, the Earth Summit, in Rio de Janeiro. It issued Agenda 21, an ambitious global plan for sustainable development with a long to-do list for all nations on entering the new century. It covers action by governments, international organisations and major groups in every area in which human activity has an impact on the environment.
Ten years on, Rio II convened from August 26-September 4 under the name of the World Summit on Sustainable Development. World leaders gathered in Johannesburg to review Agenda 21, hopefully improve upon it, and move on.
The United Nations, the summit organiser, admitted that many of the aims of Agenda 21 were off target. The UN Commission on Sustainable Development acknowledged that progress towards the goals of Rio "has been slower than anticipated, and in some respects conditions are actually worse than they were 10 years ago".
The 10 countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, for their part, envisage "a clean and green ASEAN" by 2020. By that year, ASEAN wants "fully established mechanisms for sustainable development to ensure the protection of the region's environment, the sustainability of its natural resources and the high quality of life of its peoples".
The ASEAN State of the Environment Report 2000 cited three constraints to sustainable development in Southeast Asia: institutional limitations, inadequate manpower and technological capacities, financial constraints and corruption.
Hira Jhamtani, an Indonesian environment advocate who followed work on Agenda 21 closely since Rio, disagreed.
"No. The main challenges to sustainable development are the lack of public participation in decision-making processes and the non-existence of a clean and accountable government accompanied with too much corruption. Law enforcement is another important issue," said Mr Jhamtani, a board member of Komphailindo, the National Consortium for Forest and Nature Conservation in Indonesia.
To move Agenda 21 forward, ASEAN environment ministers, in a joint statement to the Johannesburg Summit, believed the gathering "should set in place targeted, time-bound, practical and implementable actions for achieving specific sustainable development goals". One time-bound goal on world poverty, for instance, specified at the 2000 Millennium Summit in New York, was halving by 2015 the number of people living on less than a US dollar a day. For its part, ASEAN managed to more than halve the number of people on less than a dollar a day for the period 1987 (24%) to 1998 (11%). However, the cost of living has increased by about 25% so in fact there have been little real gains.
In a 59-page report to the Summit, ASEAN emphasised regional governance mechanisms to achieve its sustainable development goals. The Summit was to lay out a specific plan, an update of Agenda 21, required to achieve those goals. But four preliminary meetings, the last in Bali, ending on June 8, failed to produce a 10-year action plan to have been known as the Bali Commitment. The unfinished document, for further work in Johannesburg, was supposed to contain definite time-bound targets with clear commitments. Still unresolved was action on contentious issues in corruption, in trade and finance and setting new targets in areas like reducing the use of toxic chemicals and restoring fish stocks.
ASEAN participation in the Johannesburg Summit process has primarily been in sharing its experience and vision for sustainable development in the region. It can do more, a Malaysia-based sustainable development NGO believes.
"ASEAN as an association does not take an active part in the WSSD [World Summit on Sustainable Development], and only minimally so in UN processes. Member countries of course pursue their interest to greater or lesser degrees. It is less cohesive than EU and even some associations of African countries," according to Yin Shao Loong, researcher of the Third World Network in Penang who, like Mr Jhamtani, attended the Bali meet.
On means of implementation, the ASEAN environment ministers in their joint statement welcomed partnerships as a mechanism for action. One recent ASEAN partnership initiative was the signing of an agreement on trans-boundary haze pollution in Kuala Lumpur in June 2002. Member states were committed to cooperate in controlling sources of land and forest fires. A country in which trans-boundary haze pollution originates was obliged to respond promptly to a request to information or consultations by a state that could be affected by the pollution, said ASEAN secretary-general Rodolfo Severino.
There is a second kind of partnership that does not require full negotiation by governments but could be initiated from the local level up by interested parties--be they businesses, cooperatives, farmers or other major groups. On these partnerships, ASEAN already had a catalogue of results credited to the civil society of individual member countries. These partnerships showed what committed action, participation, and knowledge and cost sharing by a citizens' group could do to make a difference towards a sustainable future.
In the Philippines, for example, private companies conduct anti-smoke belching activities. San Miguel Brewery Corp requires all vehicles, particularly large diesel-fuel trucks, entering its plant to be certified clean. The rule was easily implemented as it became a clause in the service contract of the beer maker's haulers. In less than a year, the air quality in the plant's area improved and absenteeism among brewery staff dropped. Organisations like the Philippine Business for the Environment then persuaded other companies to adopt San Miguel's action. Soon enough, over 80 firms nationwide required their suppliers and haulers to have their vehicles clean.
In Thailand, one partnership model involved small businesses joined in a cooperative. A group of 80 Bangkok tanneries set up their own treatment plant to reduce environmental hazards of toxic, chromium-filled waste-water. The plant can treat 2,500 cubic metres of waste-water a day. A uniform rate for water treatment was figured into operating costs. The treatment fee was based on the weight of raw hides brought by each tannery: $20 per tonne.
In Indonesia, Chaerudin the fruit farmer set up his own group. Some 70 small growers and traders of bananas in the south of Jakarta joined in the Sangga Buana (Pillar of the World) self-help group. They help each other not only in cultivating and marketing their produce but also in protecting their environment.
Chaerudin has been at the vanguard to protect the banks of the Pesanggrahan, one of 13 rivers that flow into Jakarta Bay. Over a 5km stretch, he and his fellow farmers cleaned the river of floating waste. They also replanted both its banks with reportedly 8,000 fruit trees and herbal plants to prevent erosion and yield extra income.
With or without a deal in Johannesburg for an official plan of action, one thing is sure: On-going, replicable ASEAN acts in partnership are already on track for sustainable 21st century. The sum of small acts can change and move things.