Questioning UN body's environmental award

Kornelius Purba ,  The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Wed, 05/07/2008 9:38 AM

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)'s decision to honor Prince Albert II of Monaco and former Barbados minister of energy and environment Liz Thompson as the winners of the Champions of the Earth Awards 2008 might raise eyebrows in the international community.

The ceremony was held in Singapore recently, where international businesspeople also gathered for a business summit for the environment. But again, very few Indonesian businesspeople -- if any -- came to speak at the meeting.

Why Monaco and Barbados? And how about Indonesia, one of the world's top environment troublemakers? Hasn't the UNEP ever considered using a carrot-and-stick approach with problematic countries like Indonesia? To add to the irony, a private company whose business activities are concentrated in Indonesia has been one of the largest financial contributors for the UNEP summit in the last three years.

Both Prince Albert II and Liz Thompson fully deserve the honor for their achievements in creating better environments in their countries, but they just represent two tiny territories with far fewer environmental problems compared to much bigger states.

According to the UNEP, the Monaco prince has shown remarkable commitment to sustainable development on his home turf of Monaco. While Liz Thompson has become a key voice in raising awareness of global warming in Barbados -- a country where the challenges of climate change and conservation are of particular relevance.

Other award recipients -- there are seven every year -- this year were Balgis Osman-Elasha, a researcher from Sudan; Bangladeshi scholar Atiq Rahman; Abdul-Qader Ba-Jammal, the secretary-general of the Yemen's People General Congress; former U.S. senator Timothy E. Wirth; and New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark. According to the UN body, they represent each region of the world.

"*T*hese inspirational individuals demonstrate not only that action and different development paths are possible but also the abundant opportunities arising as a result of a transformation toward a green economy," said Achim Steiner, the UNEP executive director, in explaining the reasons for honoring these seven champions of environment.

In 2006, Singaporean senior diplomat Tommy Koh won the award and former U.S. vice president Al Gore was also a recipient. Several months later, Al Gore was declared the co-laureate for the Nobel Peace Prize, along with the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (UNIPCC). The UN agency hosted an international forum on climate change in Bali in December.

Another recipient in 2006 was former Soviet Union president Michael Gorbachev. Neither Gorbachev or Gore came to Singapore to receive the award.

Although the annual meeting has been held in Singapore since 2006, it seems that neighboring countries, especially Indonesia, pay little attention on the UN program, or UNEP pays little attention to the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), which is also facing major environmental challenges.

Only Singapore fully supports the event, although the island-state itself faces relatively fewer environmental dilemmas compared to its larger neighbors.

UNEP launched the award in 2004, and since 2006 it has organized an annual commemoration of Earth Day, which falls on April 22, in Singapore.

A major private company whose business activities are mostly in Indonesia is one of the three largest private-sector sponsors of the UNEP's annual events. The Singapore-based company, Asia Pacific Resources International Holdings Limited (APRIL), whose subsidiary Riau Pulp is one of Indonesia's largest pulp and paper producers, is described by UNEP as a strategic partner. Dow Chemical Company and lamp manufacturer OSRAM are described as its corporate partners.

UNEP, of course, has its own priorities. But the Indonesian government, especially the ministry of the environment needs to be much more proactive in international forums on the environment. Singapore is near Jakarta, so how come Indonesian State Minister for the Environment Rachmat Witoelar did not try to make his own show at the UNEP gathering?

Winning an environmental prize would be very meaningful to encourage Indonesians to be more active in preserving our environment. The ministry annually honors environmental workers with the Kalpataru Awards. For Indonesians, many of the Kalpataru winners are more impressive than the winners of this year's Champions of the Earth Awards.

APRIL has become a generous partner of the UNEP to boost its international image and, of course, to penetrate more international markets. It has the right to do so. But how about our own government? Singapore has effectively used the annual event to promote itself. The Indonesian government apparently is only interested in taking part in mega international events like the Bali environment conference to glorify itself. But in this case at least, the Singaporean government is more effective than our government.

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