(Press-News.org) Contact information: Terry Collins
tc@tca.tc
416-878-8712
Mastura Ishak
mastura@might.org.my
60-14-665-1303
Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services
As world sets new development goals, Malaysia calls for poverty relief within green agenda
Prime Minister Najib addresses new UN biodiversity organization
KUALA LUMPUR - The Prime Minister of Malaysia today outlined his country's position on the United Nations' next set of global development goals, saying they need to address the relief of poverty within a green agenda reflecting deep environmental concerns.
Prime Minister Najib Razak commended the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs, http://bit.ly/HpIK1V), a set of eight objectives agreed by nations in 2000 for completion in 2015, which focussed on ending extreme poverty, hunger, and preventable disease, and noted that Malaysia has met its MDG targets.
To advance the successes achieved under that development blueprint, he said, the replacement Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) under negotiation through the UN need to represent "a unified, people-centered agenda for the post-2015 period, with sustainable development at its core and under the umbrella of world peace."
Poverty eradication, he added, should remain "an overarching purpose of sustainable development."
Recalling the original sustainable development agenda -- Agenda 21 -- universally agreed at the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Prime Minister Najib said that "21 years on, it is abundantly clear that problems related to water, energy, health, agriculture and biodiversity remain the greatest global challenges facing the world today. And obviously, the strength of the words written in 1992 was not matched by the strength of subsequent actions and effort. Little islands of success cannot help us achieve our broader global objectives."
The Prime Minister noted that major geo-political differences have evolved in recent decades, including far greater global interconnections, deepening "both opportunities and risks: opportunities to be influenced and risks to be spread."
In particular, he pointed to risks and challenges posed by climate change, which include "the limitations of quick solutions to guard against climate change and variability, and the need to ensure equity in embracing solutions."
"The resilience of socio-economic and environmental systems is now being tested against the demands of a rapidly growing global population and sustainable economic growth. Malaysia is no exception: we are also actively trying to strike a balance between environmental conservation and development."
"This has not been an easy path for a developing nation," he said. "After all, if we look around the world, many high-income countries achieved prosperity at the expense of the environment, not in concert with it. Nevertheless we take lessons from the experience of others, and striking that delicate balance between development and environmental conservation we must."
Over the past three decades, Malaysia's economy has increased more than a hundredfold, with Gross Domestic Product growth averaging nearly 7% per year. Poverty rates have fallen from 49% to less than 4%. Per-capita GDP has risen from US$370 to more than US$10,000.
At the same time, the country made lower carbon emissions and environment-friendly technologies central planks in Malaysia's sustainable development strategies, foremost among them the New Economic Model.
With help from developed countries in technology transfer and funding, Malaysia is committed to a 40 per cent reduction in the intensity of emissions per unit of gross domestic product by 2020, using 2005 levels as a baseline.
"I am also happy to note that during the Earth Summit in Rio 20 years ago, we pledged to the world to keep at least 50% of our country under forest and tree covers in perpetuity. Today, our green cover is at 74% and 56.4% of our landmass is forested."
"For us, this is the crux of sustainable development: to achieve such goals as relieving poverty by availing ourselves of our natural resources without compromising the ability of future generations to do likewise."
In 1992, the world adopted the principle of "common but differentiated responsibilities," he noted, recognizing that developed countries need to provide resources to support sustainable development in measures relative to the pressures their societies place on the global environment and to the technologies and financial resources they command.
"Malaysia is ready to play its role to realize the spirit of this important principle," the prime minister said, "but we will also expect other countries in particular the developed and industrialized nations to meet their roles and obligations. We must work together if any effort is to have global impact."
"With a majority of the world's biodiversity residing in developing countries, it is essential that any global development agenda renews commitments to coordinated effort and mobilizes resources adequate to effect genuine progress," he said.
The Prime Minister made the remarks at the opening of a week-long series of meetings focussed on priority setting for the early work of a new UN biodiversity organization - the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES).
Often likened to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and chaired by the PM's Science Advisor, Malaysian Zakri Abdul Hamid, the new Bonn-based IPBES was inaugurated this year to serve as a source of authoritative biodiversity science to guide policy making decisions.
Dr. Zakri, recently appointed also to the UN Secretary-General's new Science Advisory Board, acknowledged with thanks the contributions of his nation to the work of the IPBES and pointed to "encouraging signs that the message is getting through and protections are being instituted in many places."
"We must mainstream biodiversity protection in the policies of countries throughout the world, however, and both the IPBES and the global post-2015 development agenda offer rare opportunities to make a deep and lasting impact."
INFORMATION:
As world sets new development goals, Malaysia calls for poverty relief within green agenda
Prime Minister Najib addresses new UN biodiversity organization
2013-11-04
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
Is clinicians' decision making affected by 'precious baby' phenomenon?
2013-11-04
Is clinicians' decision making affected by 'precious baby' phenomenon?
Study suggests clinicians' decision making could be affected by method of conception
Parents who conceive through assisted reproductive technologies (ART) are likely to receive different ...
Quantum 'sealed envelope' system enables 'perfectly secure' information storage
2013-11-04
Quantum 'sealed envelope' system enables 'perfectly secure' information storage
A breakthrough in quantum cryptography demonstrates that information can be encrypted and then decrypted with complete security using the combined power of quantum theory and relativity ...
Why tumor cells go on dangerous tours
2013-11-04
Why tumor cells go on dangerous tours
Tumors become highly malignant when they acquire the ability to colonize other tissues and form metastases. Researchers at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitaet (LMU) in Munich have identified a factor that promotes ...
Gravity and the robot satellite attitude problem
2013-11-04
Gravity and the robot satellite attitude problem
Using an in-orbit robot to capturing a malfunctioning satellite that is tumbling out of control is currently just a theoretical idea. However, research inspired by nature to be published in the forthcoming issue of International ...
Leicester scientists map structure of key complex in the immune system
2013-11-04
Leicester scientists map structure of key complex in the immune system
New study reveals the structure of complement component C1 – a target for complement-mediated diseases including strokes and heart attacks
Leicester scientists have mapped the "bouquet-like" ...
Transmitting stress response patterns across generations
2013-11-04
Transmitting stress response patterns across generations
From a new study in Biological Psychiatry
Philadelphia, PA, November 4, 2013 – Children of survivors of extremely stressful life events face adjustment challenges of their own, as has been most carefully studied ...
Researchers warn of the 'myths' of global medical tourism
2013-11-04
Researchers warn of the 'myths' of global medical tourism
A team of British researchers, led by the University of York, is warning governments and healthcare decision makers across the globe to be wary of the myths and hype surrounding medical tourism.
In an article, ...
New chemistry: Drawing and writing in liquid with light
2013-11-04
New chemistry: Drawing and writing in liquid with light
University of Helsinki researchers have manufactured photochemically active polymers which can be dissolved in water or certain alcohols. The new soluble, photosensitive polymer was created by doctoral ...
Population Council to present more than 40 studies at International Conference on Family Planning
2013-11-04
Population Council to present more than 40 studies at International Conference on Family Planning
Research will highlight development of new contraceptive technologies, strategies for expanding access to family planning, and efforts to promote gender equity
NEW YORK ...
Global change: Stowaways threaten fisheries in the Arctic
2013-11-04
Global change: Stowaways threaten fisheries in the Arctic
New study predicts a sixfold increase in the number of potential invaders by 2100
Just think of the warty comb jelly or sea walnut, as it is also known. It has caused tremendous damage to fisheries in the Black Sea ...
LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:
Einstein Probe releases its Science White Paper
Music-based therapy may improve depressive symptoms in people with dementia
No evidence that substituting NHS doctors with physician associates is necessarily safe
At-home brain speed tests bridge cognitive data gaps
CRF appoints Josep Rodés-Cabau, M.D., Ph.D., as editor-in-chief of structural heart: the journal of the heart team
Violent crime is indeed a root cause of migration, according to new study
Customized smartphone app shows promise in preventing further cognitive decline among older adults diagnosed with mild impairment
Impact of COVID-19 on education not going away, UM study finds
School of Public Health researchers receive National Academies grant to assess environmental conditions in two Houston neighborhoods
Three Speculum articles recognized with prizes
ACM A.M. Turing Award honors two researchers who led the development of cornerstone AI technology
Incarcerated people are disproportionately impacted by climate change, CU doctors say
ESA 2025 Graduate Student Policy Award Cohort Named
Insomnia, lack of sleep linked to high blood pressure in teens
Heart & stroke risks vary among Asian American, Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander adults
Levels of select vitamins & minerals in pregnancy may be linked to lower midlife BP risk
Large study of dietary habits suggests more plant oils, less butter could lead to better health
Butter and plant-based oils intake and mortality
20% of butterflies in the U.S. have disappeared since 2000
Bacterial ‘jumping genes’ can target and control chromosome ends
Scientists identify genes that make humans and Labradors more likely to become obese
Early-life gut microbes may protect against diabetes, research in mice suggests
Study raises the possibility of a country without butterflies
Study reveals obesity gene in dogs that is relevant to human obesity studies
A rapid decline in US butterfly populations
Indigenous farming practices have shaped manioc’s genetic diversity for millennia
Controlling electrons in molecules at ultrafast timescales
Tropical forests in the Americas are struggling to keep pace with climate change
Brain mapping unlocks key Alzheimer’s insights
Clinical trial tests novel stem-cell treatment for Parkinson’s disease
[Press-News.org] As world sets new development goals, Malaysia calls for poverty relief within green agendaPrime Minister Najib addresses new UN biodiversity organization