Malaysia has proposed to the United Nations to create a World Environment Organisation WEA), to anchor global efforts for the environment.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said the proposed body should be consultative and facilitative to assist countries to meet the commitments derived from mutual agreements.
He said only with a major overhaul of the governance system would the world be able to address the challenges of environmental sustainability.
“It has become virtually impossible for developing countries to participate meaningfully. The only countries that cope with the system are the richest countries of the world while the developing nations are becoming disenfranchised.
“A new body like the WEA can help facilitate the participation of developing countries in a more realistic and meaningful way,” he said at the First Preparatory Meeting of the World Congress on Justice, Governance and Law for Environmental Sustainability here.
Najib’s speech was read out by Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz.
The prime minister said that over the years, the international community had adopted hundreds of multilateral environmental agreements (MEAS), all with their own secretariats and administration.
Between 1992 to 2007, the 18 major MEAs alone convened some 540 meetings which produced over 5,000 decisions that countries were supposed to act upon through national efforts, he added.
Najib said the World Congress on Justice, Governance and Law for Environmental Sustainability in Brazil on June 4 to 6, next year, would provide a timely opportunity to examine contemporary norms and principles of justice, governance and law in the area of environmental sustainability and the inherent linkages among them.
