Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer (Philippines)
Source type: Others
Published on: 26 Aug 2010
MANILA, Philippines—European countries must decrease their carbon emission and civil society groups that will participate in the Asia-Europe People’s Forum (AEPF) want the heads of state and government from the two continents to come out with a strong statement for the environment.
Dorothy Guerrero, China program coordinator and member of the AEPF International Organizing Committee, said that while the Asia-Europe Meeting (Asem) is not binding, the issues of climate change, natural resources, and the environment in must be raised Brussels (site of Asem summit this October).
“Most transnational corporations are based in Brussels,” Guerrero pointed out.
Many civil society groups, particularly those in Thailand which just finished their preparatory meeting for the AEPF/Asem, have already engaged multilateral organizations like the World Trade Organization, the United Nations, and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, Guerrero told INQUIRER.net.
“They have not engaged Asem” on these issues, she said.
Civil society groups know that the European Union naturally wants to protect their pharmaceutical industries.
Given the limitations of Asem, civil society groups, particularly those from Asia where big Europe-based transnational corporations build polluting factories, are not too hopeful about this particular engagement with European leaders.
“Asem does not have mandatory power. It can recommend to governments, but there are no mechanisms similar to the WTO that would bind states [to agreements],” Guerrero said.
The AEPF is a cross-regional network of activist academicians and parliamentarians, people’s and grassroots organizations, and other civil society groups in both Asia and Europe. It promotes a alternative development paradigm where people and community—not profit and market—are the priority. It engages ASEM, the gathering of world leaders representing 58 percent of the world’s population and 60 percent of the world’s trade.
On the other hand, ASEM’s 48 members with the prospective accession of the Russian Federation, Australia, and New Zealand represent most of the world’s powers except for the United States.
by Veronica Uy
