Working together to protect environs
By M. Krishnamoorthy
KUALA LUMPUR, Sat. —Mankind should work together to face the challenges posed by destruction of the ecosystem, global warming, and nuclear and toxic wastes, former Foreign Minister Tan Sri Ghazali Shafie said today.
He said these challenges would cause mankind to suffer unless a concerted effort was made to overcome them.
"The destruction of the ecosystem, earth warming, nuclear and toxic wastes will surely affect mankind unless humans, irrespective of colour or creed, with resoluteness hold hands to face the challenges.
"Each nation-state whether old or new, will perforce have to make peace with its environment and together with others battle to save the planet."
In his keynote address The Changing World at the Symposium Towards Peaceful World organized by the International Islamic University (UIA), he said the globalization trend was distorted by industrialized nations showing tendencies to fortify their short term economic interest to the exclusion of others through bloc building.
"Industrialization has been blamed for the degradation of the earth’s ecological system threatening the very life on planet earth."
He said one of the primary problems faced at the moment was the wrong relationship among men. "This wrong relationship makes him blind to the greater danger of the degeneration of the ecosystem that will destroy mankind."
"Unless we remove the cobwebs in our own hearts we may end up ourselves being specks of dust," Ghazali said.
Ghazali said the new world leadership would be the ones who could provide a planetary responsibility for the protection of the future.
The new leadership, he said, would emerge from among the people who not only possess but assist to promote affordable clean industries which will reverse the ecological and ethical degradation brought about by the industrial age.
"Malaysians are committed to continue to make every effort to maintain a sustainable governance in order to provide the ambience of stability for development," Ghazali added.
Source : January 10 1993
Recycling Point Dot Com
(C) 2000 All Rights Reserved