ASEAN Ministers see North-South Confrontation in Rio

singapore, feb 22 1992 (ips/surya gangadharan) -- the association of south-east asian nations (asean) sees a potentially ugly north-south confrontation shaping up in the u.n. conference on environment and development (unced) in brazil next june over the west's criticism of ecological abuse by developing countries.

meeting in singapore this week to hammer out a 'common stand' before the earth summit, asean environment ministers said the group's position is that industrialised countries must provide the money and expertise to encourage developing countries to preserve their environment while pursuing development.

it is unfair for the developed world to force developing countries to preserve the environment by sacrificing economic growth, they said.

powerful environmental pressure groups in the west have targetted the region's tropical timber exports for boycott, accusing south- east asian countries of sacrificing their environment in the pursuit of economic growth.

asean -- which groups the countries of indonesia, singapore, the philippines, thailand, malaysia and brunei -- contains some of the richest tropical rainforests in the world. but preservationist groups say the pursuit of economic development in one of the fastest growing regions in the world has wreaked havoc on the environment.

much of the forests of the philippines and thailand are gone while those of malaysia and indonesia -- the two countries most dependent on exports of tropical timber -- are fast disappearing. more than a million hectares of forest is lost every year in indonesia alone.

malaysia, which has borne much of the criticism, is unlikely to attend the brazil summit unless it is a ''meaningful one'', said a malaysian representative at the meeting.

kuala lumpur has threatened to turn the ministerial conference on environment and development, slated to take place in april, into an alternative summit to discuss environmental problems from a third world perspective.

last november, malaysian prime minister mahathir mohamad said bluntly: ''rich nations must share the environment burden if malaysia is to go to rio.''

in singapore, the ministers said the earth summit should not focus solely on developing countries but should also take up the developed world's insatiable appetite for the natural resources of poorer regions.

they have called on the developed west to reduce its consumption of timber and other forest resources and to fund more programmes that would enable the region to manage its forests on a sustainable basis.

the environment ministers urged the quick implementation of the montreal protocol interim multilateral fund, which calls for transfer of environmentally sound technologies to developing countries.

they also want a control put on gas emissions from industrialised regions which contribute to the 'greenhouse effect.'

asean meanwhile is zeroing in on pollution in the straits of malacca. dr emil salim, indonesian population and environment minister, is working on a project that would get countries that use the straits to work together in solving the problem.

''we have to ensure that the straits remain pollution-free to safeguard the livelihood of our fishermen,'' he says.

target donors for the needed financial and technological support are japan, taiwan, south korea, and the united states.

the united states has already taken the lead in the preservation of the region's environment with a slew of plans for conservation programmes and infrastructure projects. the us-asia environmental partnership is supposed to bring off technology cooperation andtraining programmes in environmental protection.

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