TNAG-0925-FCO40-1143-Commonwealth-Parliamentary-Association-(CPA)-annual-conferen-1980 — Page 42

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Twenty-fifth Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference

Mention was made of the problems associated with increased urbanisation, particularly in Fiji, where children who were transplanted from a rural to an urban environment lost touch with their native communities, customs, and traditions. The effect on the child of t’ changing status of marrige as an institution, and the added responsibilities imposed on parent as a result of the increasing incidence of drug abuse, were also noted.

PANEL B

POLLUTION AND PROTECTION OF THE ENVIRONMENT

Panel members: Hon. Datin Puan Rafidah Aziz, MP, Deputy Minister of Finance,

Malaysia (Chairman)

Mr Cyril E. Cox, JP, MP, Bermuda

Hon. Gordon M. Bryant, ED, MP, Australia

Concern at the spread of pollution in many forms throughout the world, to the extent that, without early check, the world might ultimately become unfit to live in, was expressed when the subject was introduced for discussion. Governments would, in the future, have to legislate and to have policies on development strategy, it was stated, and this development would have to be carefully programmed so that the environment, which in the broadest sense covered the amenities for living, was not destroyed.

Discussion developed on what suggestions could be made, for delegates to take back to their own countries, on how co-operation could be achieved; for instance, in introducing internationally recognised levels of tolerance, at present absent, for pollution such as that from nuclear effluent or oil spills.

Four ways in which pollution that damaged the environment could arise were defined as the extravagant use of resources, the careless destruction of the environment, the pollution of the natural environment, and alteration to the ecology. Pollution could be internally generated, and this could lead to ideas about how each government could control it, but there was also the problem of externally generated pollution.

In a wide-ranging discussion on the many forms of pollution that were identified it was mentioned that, to prevent them, there was a need for pressure on governments, and a need for pressure on parliamentarians by voluntary groups. The means were available to deal with many problems, but governments failed to make use of them. Parliamentarians should press the United Nations and other appropriate international bodies to ratify proposals.

Material progress and development, and a higher standard of living, went hand in hand with the conservation of the natural environment, through lessening pollution and in other ways.

Cases of pollution threatening the economy of some countries were mentioned. Oil spillages from tankers had posed such a threat to countries heavily dependent on tourism, such as Guernsey and small island States in the Caribbean. Some countries had contingency plans to meet such an emergency and would share them with others.

Pollution respected no boundaries. The possibility of nuclear contamination was a cause for concern, especially to countries near countries with nuclear installations, and there was the problem of disposal of nuclear waste.

On the French coast, only 15 miles from the Channel Islands, was the largest nuclear processing plant in the world. The Cook Islands, a country in which it was claimed there was no nuclear problem, regarded the nuclear testing station in French Polynesia as a potential threat and a source of pollution. As a small country such as the Cook Islands could not exert much pressure on a country the size of France, it considered that this was a matter in which Commonwealth countries could help. It was agreed that solutions to problems that had been discussed could not be accomplished by individual countries, because they entered an international or Commonwealth sphere. Governments could be encouraged, through Commonwealth and other organisations, to set up programmes to monitor standards and levels, and promote model legislation to control pollution.

Public attention, starting with school children, could be drawn to some of the problems concerning pollution of the environment.

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