Channel NewsAsia 22 Nov 07
SINGAPORE: Outgoing ASEAN Secretary-General Ong Keng Yong said ASEAN needs a specialised institution to deal with environmental concerns and to fight climate change in the region.
The 10 member countries signed on Wednesday a declaration to reduce energy use and extend forested areas in ASEAN.
Mr Ong was speaking on Thursday at an environment conference organised by the European Union on the sidelines of the 13th ASEAN Summit.
He told participants that ASEAN currently has a fixed mechanism to handle the haze issue.
Environment ministers meet regularly with individual countries to follow up on action plans, and he hopes to see this translated into a format to combat climate change.
Mr Ong said: "We need to have adequate personnel in an institutionalised environment, where year-to-year things change, but the basic policy pursued will be in accordant with the plan laid down. So it may be necessary for our leaders to think through how we should do more in this respect."
He added that the other challenge in ASEAN's green efforts is the rapid migration of people from the villages to ASEAN cities to seek a better life.
According to Mr Ong, ASEAN cities like Jakarta see an average of 3 percent growth in population from rural-urban transmigration alone each year.
He said this persisting trend can hollow out the countryside and affect farming. To counter this, he said ASEAN can look into further developing a profitable cottage industry for farmers and handicraft makers.
Countries like Laos, the Philippines and Thailand are already doing this. Mr Ong said this industry can be made more lucrative with a more integrated ASEAN.
He said: "Now, multiple agencies and sectors can cross each other and be coordinated. In the old days, we have trade and economic ministers doing what we call the trade agenda; cultural heritage ministries doing heritage, and agriculture doing their own agriculture thing, so now we're all integrated.
"I think we have a chance to develop this and make it quite a good, positive strategy. At least we should try to reduce the inflow of rural population into the urbanised area."- CNA/so
Going out on a green note
Nazry Bahrawi Today Online 23 Nov 07;
In one of his last major duties before stepping down as Secretary-General of Asean, Mr Ong Keng Yong (picture) said the grouping needs a specialised institution to tackle environmental issues in the region.
Speaking yesterday at a conference organised by the European Union, Mr Ong noted that Asean has a fixed mechanism to handle the haze issue, with environment ministers meeting regularly – and he hopes to see this translated into a format to combat climate change, reported Channel NewsAsia.
Mr Ong will return to the Singapore Ministry of Foreign Affairs as an ambassador-at-large, when he hands over the Asean reins come Jan 1. He told Today he plans to clear leave and take a sabbatical to study for five months.
He described his five years at the grouping's helm as "exciting because Asean was always in the news in one way or another". There was Sars in 2003, the devastating tsunami in 2004, avian flu and the East Asia Summit in 2005, for example.
"I was constantly on the move and on my toes. The challenge for us was to keep pace with these unforeseen disasters and events … And in each of these circumstances, I believe we were able to do it," he said, adding that Asean's visibility was enhanced as a result.
With Asean now "on the threshold of a new era" because of the Charter and new instruments in place, "it is a good time to hand over to my successor", he added.
