Make Asean Map To Balance Growth With Environment , Urges Indonesian Ngo

By S. Joan Santani KUALA LUMPUR, June 1 (Bernama) -- An organisation representing Indonesia's indigenous people has urged the ASEAN secretariat to make a map of the bloc to facilitate balanced growth. Secretary General of Indonesia's Indigenous Peoples Alliance of the Archipelago (AMAN) Abdon Nababan said the map could educate companies, especially palm oil plantation firms, on how to combat issues such as annually recurring forest fires. "If we keep expanding oil palm plantations, timber concessions and mines, we will lose the forests and we will lose the peat land. "We have to have effective protection for them (indigenous Indonesian people)," Nababan said on the sidelines after a closed-door session on "Balancing Rapid Growth with Environmental Sustainability" at the two-day World Economic Forum on ASEAN 2016 which began here Wednesday. Nababan also said the expropriation of customary forests for timber concessions, mines, plantations and government-backed resettlement schemes violates the people’s rights to a healthy and safe environment. Performance Management and Delivery Unit (PEMANDU) Chief Executive Officer Idris Jala said in order to achieve high growth, ASEAN countries should join hands to invest in not only urban but also rural areas. "Following our discussions, we view that rural populations should be included in the growth of a country, hence ASEAN countries should find a way to lift the bottom 40 per cent of society," he said after the session on "ASEAN in 2026: Are Integration and Inclusiveness Compatible?" -- BERNAMA