National Initiatives
With regard to anti-pollution legislation, the Malaysian example is still
the best with respect to pollution control. The Environmental Quality Act
(EQA) authorizes the regulation of most forms of pollution and is effected
through the licensing of polluting activities and certain prescribed premises.
Examples of the various regulations include Environmental Quality (Control
of Lead Concentration in Motor Vehicles), guidelines for air pollution
control measures from palm oil mills and the Motor Vehicles (Control of
Smoke and Gas Emission) Rules (Malaysia, 1992 and 1993).
The Singapore Green Plan of 1992 envisages Singapore with high standards
of public health and with clean air, clean water and clean land, etc. by
the year 2000. In addition, six new areas have been identified for action:
environmental education, environmental technology, resource conservation,
clean technology, nature conservation and environmental noise. Action programmes
had been formulated for these six new areas and are in progress. The Singapore
master plan for the year 2000 calls for reducing CO2 emissions,
improving energy efficiency and keeping daily garbage production at one
kilogram per person (Singapore, 1992 and 1993).
Commercial companies in India have taken steps to phase out the use
of ozone-depleting chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) in refrigerators, air conditioners
and bottle coolers. Kirloskar Ltd has launched a new compressor which uses
the non-CFC, R-134a, refrigerant instead of the traditional R-12 refrigerant.
The government of India has also been trying to introduce the compulsory
use of unleaded petrol in vehicles in its major cities.
The Ebra Corporation in Japan specializes in developing technology to
combat air pollution. One of its breakthroughs is a new method to remove
up to 95 per cent sulphur oxide and 80 per cent nitrogen oxide from the
combustion emissions of flue gas (ESCAP, 1995).
Regional Initiatives
In a 1993 seminar on climate change co-sponsored by the ADB and the Environment
Agency of Japan, ESCAP outlined the elements of a regional strategy for
combating climate change. The strategy includes the establishment of a
Regional Network on Climate Change.
The ADB funded a pioneering regional study on Global Environmental Issues
which produced an integrated assessment of climate change impacts and an
analysis of policy options for their mitigation and for adaptation in Bangladesh,
India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Pakistan, the Philippines, Indonesia and Viet
Nam. The ADB and the UNDP are jointly implementing a region-wide, Global
Environment Facility (GEF) assisted project named Asia Least-Cost Greenhouse
Gas Abatement Strategy (ALGAS), to help 12 developing states to formulate
least-cost greenhouse gas (GHG) abatement strategies and to develop capabilities
for GHG inventories including the scientific infrastructure to develop
emission factors necessary in the inventory methodologies.
A climate change programme has also been developed and implemented by
SPREP, with bilateral and multilateral support. This programme focuses
mainly on the assessment of sea level rise, climate monitoring and development
of national response strategies. |
