SATURDAY, JUNE 23, 2001
Mother Earth cries for help
By Arlena
KOTA KINABALU - We know now that biodiversity is the womb of Mother Earth. But, prior to the decade of the 1980s, biodiversity was not a well-known term, much less a subject of advocacy the world over.
Trees are being logged to obtain money to develop the countries. The question of sustainability does not arise because we believe we still have plenty of the resources. Photos: Arlena
The construction of roads across rural areas affect the livelihood of the traditional communities and the natural resources.
We rely on mangrove forests as spawning grounds for fish and the wetlands as "shock absorbers" for floods.
We take advantage of the unspoilt beauty of attractions, such as Sipadan Island.
The birds' natural habitats are getting smaller because of encroachment by humans, such as the construction of houses and other facilities.
It took a global summit in Rio de Janerio in June 1992 to bring together more than 100 countries to sign a pact called Convention of Biological Diversity that would try to save global biodiversity through local actions. The slogan "Think Globally, Act Locally" then became popular.
The convention was an effort of the nations of the world to tackle the serious biodiversity deterioration problems facing the global level. The conservation movement has come up with a new approach, charaterised by the word, "Biodiversity".
The convention initiated the concept of biodiversity conservation and sustainable use for a country's sustainable development.
It is a comprehensive way of approaching conservation, bringing information, awareness, and ethics into a complex mixture of protected areas, agriculture, economics, forestry, and so forth. The world now recognises that biodiversity is an important issue.
Many countries were convinced how important biodiversity was, so the approach of natural resources and environmental management of the world changed to biodiversity conservation. It has enabled countries to break out of their old approaches.
It is a fact that, even in developed countries, natural resources and environmental management in the past resulted in biodiversity loss.
The situation in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand presents both similarities and contrasts in their biodiversity policy and its implementation problems, Executive Director of Centre for Environment, Technology & Development, Malaysia (CETDEM) Gurmit Singh K S said in seminar here, (Tuesday 15th May).
Gurmit in his talk entitled "Making Mega Biodiversity Meaningful" based on a CETDEM Report he compiled of a recent convention held in Petaling Jaya on Biodiversity Policy and its Implementation said that while all 4 had large mega biodiversity - the Philippines has lost much of it with Thailand following close behind. In both Indonesia and Malaysia, losses are underway. Except for Thailand, all the other nations have ratified the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). Indonesia and the Philippines drafted their policies and strategies in the early 90s while the other 2 did so in the late 90s.
Jurisdiction over the biodiversity resource base varies among countries. In Thailand, there is a strong central government which controls the base through departments of governors. In Malaysia, the Federal Government has direct control over only international waters while State Governments decide on how land, inland waters and coastal areas -are managed. In Indonesia, control until recently, was from Jakarta, despite its scattered islands. But this may change soon. In the Philippines, it is still Presidential decrees and Congressional edicts that hold sway over the barangays and islands.
Despite all these difference, the problems at the ground, water and sea levels are almost identical. Very little of the policies have percolated down. Lack of awareness is compounded by bureaucratic inefficiencies & bungling, short-term political expediency, financial stresses caused by greed & poverty, and a general failure to allow local communities to be effectively involved in sustainable management of genetic pools.
None of these countries have allocated enough resources to safeguard adequately their so-called "megabiodiversity" and even the mapping of the gene pools cannot be said to be satisfactory. Instead, there seems to be more interest in how and who can make more money through bioprospecting and the like. In the meantime, measures against biopiracy are, at best, weak!
In a keynote address in the convention, Ng Kam Chiu, Secretary General Ministry of Science, Technology and the Environment (M'sia) deliberated on the subject. He asserted that Biodiversity as defined under the Convention on Biological Diversity means the variability among living organisms from all sources, including inter alia, terrestrial, marine and other aquatic ecosystems and the ecological complexes of which they are a part; this includes diversity within species, between species and of ecosystems.
"In this regard, the three main objectives of the convention are; the conservation of biological resources; the sharing of benefits accrued from the utilisation of these biological resources and the sustainable utilisation of these resources. Therefore, the concern on biodiversity is no longer confined to very simplistic notion of conservation but also to include sustainable development and economic perspective. Hence, national biodiversity policy must address these complex issues, not only to keep abreast with the - international concern but also to protect our national interest.
The forests, the wetlands, the oceans and other ecosystems are very pertinent for our survival on this planet. They provide food and raw materials for our survival and comfort; and also to ensure the proper functioning of our life support system. The loss of forest, which serves as catchment's areas will deprive us of our precious water and polluted rivers will deprive us of clean water; as well as our important source of protein.
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