Marine pollution was also a major topic of discussion at
an informal
summit yesterday. The ministers said there was a need
for TUmore
action-oriented programmes" to address problems caused
by both
land-based and sea-based pollution sources.
Yingphan Manasikarn, Thailand's minister of science, technology
and
environment, said that the laws in each country will first
have to be
studied to see, for instance, who has responsibility for
controlling
the impact from oil spills.
"In the future, we will also raise
the issue of mercury pollution in
the Gulf of Thailand, once we have gathered more information
about
it," said Yingphan, who noted that the toxic heavy metal
is a
contaminant in the natural gas produced in the Gulf of
Thailand.
Asean has already agreed that water quality standards should
be
harmonised, according to a Thai official present at the
talks, but
enforcement is only voluntary. The standards may be made
legally
binding in the future, he said.
The environment ministers are now looking to harmonise
air quality
standards as well, but this is a more difficult issue
because of the
diversity of pollutants and their impacts, the official
added.
An index may therefore be set up, with each type of pollutant
given a
certain weight. Countries will then be given an air quality
rating
based on how much and what type of air pollution they
have.
A more specific problem raised at yesterdayUs meeting was
the haze
which is caused by forest fires and post-harvest burning
in
Indonesia, and which is then often blown by prevailing
winds to affect Singapore
and Malaysia.
The ministers expressed their appreciation [for] IndonesiaUs
efforts
on the issue of trans-boundary haze pollution and pledged
their
continued support for these efforts," said a statement
produced at
the end of the informal summit.
The ministers also agreed to expand the role of the Asean
Specialised
Meteorological Centre to include research, monitoring
and an early
warning system for all climate-related events such as
haze plumes and
tropical storms.
In addition, they expressed support for the establishment
of an Asean
Regional Centre for Biodiversity Conservation, almost
certainly to be
sited in the Philippines, as a "flagship project".
A proposal by Thailand to improve cooperation in the use
of green
technology, greener production methods and waste minimisation
techniques also gained approval. The Thai official hinted
that this
may eventually result in the establishment of a research
centre in
Thailand, perhaps linked with the environmental technology
centre set
up following the Asia-Europe Summit last year.
Another topic raised at the meeting yesterday, and one
which may
prove to be the most controversial, was the "emerging
issues on trade and
the environment".
Datuk Law Hieng Ding, minister of science, technology and
environment
for Malaysia, which raised the issue, said the issues
were not
discussed in detail, but the ministers agreed they would
have a big
impact on Asean countries and "would not go away".
At the World Trade Organisation's (WTO) ministerial conference
held
last month in Singapore, Asean in general, and Malaysia
in
particular, were among the most ardent opponents
of linking trade with other
issues such as labour and the environmental standards.
"We endorse the stand made by our trade ministers at the
WTO," he
said.
Linkages can grow out of the multilateral environmental
agreements
or private-sector standards such as ISO 14000," said Indonesia's
state minister for the environment, Sarwano Kusumaatmadja.
"So there is no
need for linkages in the WTO."
The Asean environment ministers, however, seemed unaware
that trade
ministers at the WTO had refused to recognise the trade
rules written
into multilateral environmental agreements such as the
Convention on
International Trade in Endangered Species and the Montreal
Protocol.
The environment ministers promised to look into the issue.
Yingphan ended the informal summit by noting that, "We
know the
environment is in bad shape in all our countries and we
need to see
how we can improve it".
A formal meeting of the ministers will take place in Indonesia
in
September.