CANSEA Advocacy and the Emerging Regional Situation

This article is taken from the archives of the Climate Action Network Southeast Asia (CANSEA), SeaNews Issue No. 8,  Third Quarter, 1994.

Among the files of any CANSEA member, one document is considered a classic: the Statement of Southeast Asian and Papua New Guinea NGOs at the Second Regional Consultation held in Megamendung in 1992, which contains unities on a comprehensive set of climate issues. The position statements related to the Climate Convention have since moved along with developments in the UN negotiations, although revolving around the same themes of global equity and the “polluter pays” principle. In this paper we devote time to expand on the issues raised.  What factors in the regional situation should be considered in developing strategies for action?

1. Sustainable energy development. On a global scale, the principle behind all NGO campaigns on energy concerns is that industrialized countries should be the first to cut down energy use simply because it is their consumption patterns for the past century which have led to disastrous changes in the global climate. This must remain an important premise for all our future energy work. However, there are also lessons on sustainable energy management which can be applied to our development situation. These include cost savings from energy efficiency, and the long-term benefits of small-scale, renewable and environmentally cleaner energy sources.

Among the three countries where CANSEA is based, development directions towards the next century reflect the dream of industrialization: The Philippines Medium Term Development Plan (Philippines 2000), Indonesia’s Repelita (V), Malaysia’s New Development Policy (Vision 2020). From the production end, we need to examine the energy resource mix of these development visions and how dependent these will be on dirty sources like coal and nuclear energy vs. renewable and small scale sources.

From the consumption end, what measures exist for demand-side management, or for increasing efficiency among major users such as transportation and industry? Finally, how much control will we have on the true owners of the industrial sector, given the tendency to attract foreign investments at all cost? This is closely related to trade and financing discussed in 4 and 5.

2. Natural resource management. Most countries of the region share the same environmental characteristics. Concerns are common to nearly all, particularly in relation to climate change. Majority of the populations are economically dependent on fisheries, mangroves, coral reefs, on both upland and lowland agriculture and on tropical forest resources. Many major cities are situated in low-lying coastal areas. Many of these already have severe problems which may be aggravated by sea level rise and changes in seasonal patterns such as delayed and lesser rainfall or intense and more frequent tropical cyclones. The specific strategies CANSEA identified are a) to retain of build-up natural forest cover to 50% of the total national land area b) preventing further conversion and destruction of mangrove forests; and c) investigating further the impacts of climate change on coral reefs and coastal areas. Much of the work will have to be based on specific national situations and policies, but it will also be helpful to examine what can be done at the regional level. For instance, sharing management problems for protection and rehabilitation of forest and coastal resources could help us understand both the role and vulnerability of our major ecological systems in a changing climate cycle. Regional level research could yield more trends and patterns which may otherwise be overlooked. It is also timely to ask: to what extent could the adoption of common environmental standards for the region help protect us from dumping of dirty industries, technology and wastes?

3. Technology development and exchange. This is an important concern because of its role in actualizing many of the “should” and “musts” of addressing climate change issues. In developing criteria on the type of technology to be propagated, we must first be sure of what work needs the most technological support. For instance, although many think that the application of technology in climate problems is for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, our experiences in the past 2 years indicate that what we may immediately need is technology to monitor, understand and respond to impacts such a sea level rise or changing weather patters. We also have to decide what standards of technology we are willing to accept. Will we be happy with any “Hi-tech”-looking relics delivered to us? Technology development (like many other things) occurs in a context of global inequality. Most developing countries are disadvantaged in terms of access to appropriate technologies and in the development of their own technologies. We must therefore continue to promote our 1992 views that technology is not something that is merely transferred, as if intelligence were the monopoly of certain regions, but should be developed in both industrialized and developing countries. This should include the propagation of existing appropriate technologies and of mechanisms to transfer them, the enhancement of skills and the provision of resources to enable developing countries to undertake necessary research and development.

4. Internatonal trade agreements. While everyone’s attention was on the UNCED, negotiators for the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade were laying down the groundwork for new global economic relations. Unfortunately they were more successful, and the full implications of a new trade liberalization and intellectual property rights regime are only recently being confronted. Although many arguments against the GATT are environmental, it’s relationships to climate issues is less obvious. It’s direct influence on many basic aspects of economic development merit a closer look. Some questions which we could ask include: how will changes in global trade affect production and in turn, energy sources and consumption patterns in the region? How will trade liberalization affect proposed regulatory schemes such as carbon taxes? How will we balance “protectionism” with the enforcement of national environmental standards on foreign activities? What about regional economic arrangments? Aside from already developed nations such as Japan and Australia, the rapid growth of the Asia-Pacific region is being led by the Newly Industrialized coutrirs (NICS): The Republic of Korea, Taiwan and HongKong. Among the socialist economies, the People’s Republic of China’s economic performance for the past decade was particularly impressive. Trends towards regional economic integration are also emerging. The heads of APEC member countries are earnestly securing support from the US because of concerns that NAFTA may close up vital markets in North America. Another arrangement, the East Asia Economic Grouping (EAEG) is being proposed by Malaysia, which in effect would give a greater role to Japan as a trading partner. ASEAN has initiated moves towards the Asean Tree Trade Area (AFTA) over the next 15 years. These key players and merging economic arrangements will undoubtedly shape the local contest of global trade’s influence.

5.  Financing. Under the “polluter pays” principle of the Climate Convention, NGOs have strongly insisted on criteria and conditions for financial assistance for climate projects. This is why schemes like Joint Implementation (JI) as well as the GEF (Global Environment Facility) are continually being questioned by many groups. Multilateral development banks (MDBs) and private financing also play an important role in determining the type of projects which are implemented. CANSEA’s member countries area all heavy borrowers, with Indonesia leading at 87.8B, followed by the Philippines with $33.9B and Malaysia with $18.* B (The Bottomline, Asiaweek Sept 28, 1994). Private investments are increasing especially in Malaysia. The pattern of direct foreign investment has been dominated for many decades by investments by colonial powers in their existing and former colonies. The strategies determined by CANSEA are basic enough: for foreign aid, to review MDBs track records in relation to the Climate Convention and to lobby for a redirection of lending portfolios to climate-friendly projects. For private investments, governments will be lobbied to set guidelines for private investments, and the implications of these on climate issues will also be monitored. The trickier question would be: How do we reconcile “climate-friendly with the development goals of our governments?

General Recommendations.  CANSEA members have varied interests and strengths, which for the past three years have allowed them to succeed in the areas of research, institutional development and advocacy in the climate convention negotiations. As a regional network, the more difficult task that remains is establishing our presence and airing our positions within the structures that eventually determine the development directions of the region. Among the factors which should be considered, economic trends are the most important. While addressing development questions we must continue to look for the centers of decision-making which will be most in need of our particular environmental inputs. A political constituency is needed for this, and we know that this can only be developed if we share common concerns with the citizenry. Climate change’s impacts provide a rich basis for unity, not just in terms of which ecosystems are affected, but on the nature of the root problems.

References:

Climate Change and Sea-Level rise ; Implications on Coastal Area Utilization and Management in Southeast Asia. James N. Paw and Chua Thia-Eng. Ocean and Shoreline Management, Elsevier Science Publications, FEngland, 1991.

The State of the Evnironment in Asia and the Pacific. 1990 UN-ESCAP Bangkok 1990.

Towards the Pacific Century: Integration and Disintegration in the Pacific Basin. Dean Forbes In: The Far East and Australasia yearbook. 25th Edition, Europa Publications Ltd. London, 1994.

Current Economic Trends in Asia and The Pacific. Chris Edwards. In: The Far East and Australasia Yearbook. 25th Edition, Europa Publications Ltd. London, 1994