Malaysia has brought less than 19 per cent of its land mass under cultivation.

16/02/2012 (New Strait Times) - He Global Movement of  Moderates (GMM), the brainchild of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, held its inaugural international conference in Kuala Lumpur last month.

Among the issues addressed were democracy,  rule of law, finance, human dignity and social justice. About 350 delegates from 70 countries attended.

The GMM concept was unveiled in Najib’s address to the United Nations General Assembly in September 2010, a response to an increasingly loud shrill against the Muslim world after the Sept 11 attacks. In some

Western quarters, Islam had become synonymous with extremism or, worse, terrorism.

Evils committed by a band of misguided extremists had affected the psyche of the Western world to the detriment of the overwhelming Muslim majority who are moderate, peaceful people, like those of other major world faiths.

Najib said: “The real divide is not between Muslims and non-Muslims or between developed and developing worlds. It is between moderates and extremists.”

He  called for moderates of all countries and all religions to take back the centre, to reclaim the agenda for peace and pragmatism, and to marginalise extremists.

Undoubtedly in the months ahead,  Institute of Wasatiyyah will be busy in addressing  follow-ups to the inaugural conference. There will be numerous views and interpretations of what constitutes “moderation” and in which spheres of our lives it is most relevant.

One aspect of moderation worth a closer look is the issue of sustainable development.  Its very definition — “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” — is itself an epitome of moderation.

The three pillars of sustainable development — economic development, social development and environmental protection — are central concerns of United Nations  member states everywhere, nowhere more so than in developing countries like Malaysia.

Sustainable development-related issues have  come to largely define  international relations in recent times and  are at the core of today’s UN system agenda.

Indeed, the UN is in the midst of convening a major 20th anniversary sequel to the landmark 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro.

This event, from  June 20 to 23 and dubbed Rio+20, is intended to secure a political reaffirmation of world leaders to sustainable development, to assess progress since 1992, identify barriers to implementing the outcomes of Rio and subsequent sustainable development summits, and to address emerging challenges.

“The Future We Want”, a draft Rio+20 document being negotiated by UN member states, notes progress in the last two decades in poverty eradication, in creating pockets of economic dynamism, and in connectivity spurred by information and communications technologies.

However, there have been setbacks caused by interrelated crises:  the financial and economic turmoil and volatile energy and food prices.

While national commitment to sustainable development has deepened (and many governments like Malaysia’s now incorporate environmental and social issues into their economic policies), sustainable development globally remains a distant goal, its achievement slowed by major barriers and systemic gaps in the implementation of internationally agreed agreements.

Malaysia’s efforts in sustainable development have not gone unnoticed.

The latest Environmental Performance Index (EPI), released on the sidelines of the recent World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland,  ranks Malaysia 25th among 132 nations, the best showing among Asean nations, and third best among Asia Pacific nations, after New Zealand and Japan.

The EPI was developed by the United States’ Yale and Columbia Universities, with the cooperation of the European Commission.

Malaysia has been at the forefront in articulating the need for a balance between the environment and development. In the words of Tan Sri Yusof Basiron, CEO of the Malaysian Oil Palm Council: “For any development to be sustainable, it should be economically viable, socially acceptable, environmentally compatible and technologically appropriate.”

Indeed, despite being the world’s second top producer and exporter of palm oil, Malaysia has brought less than 19 per cent of its land mass under agricultural production. Compare this with the United Kingdom, where agricultural land makes up 70 per cent of its total area.

With approximately 60 per cent of its land mass still under forest cover, Malaysia today remains one of earth’s 17 most mega-diverse countries. The government’s policies on sustainable development are mainly pursued through five-year development plans.

Ever since the Third Malaysia Plan of 1976 to 1980, Malaysia has emphasised that the objectives of development and environmental conservation must be balanced so that the benefits of development are not negated by the costs of environmental damage.

Various policies, programmes and measures ensure that the nation’s economic development is sustained long term.

Building on these sound policies and recognising that the time has come for Malaysia to go green, one of Najib’s first acts as prime minister in 2009 was to create the Energy, Green Technology and Water Ministry.

He also launched the National Green Technology policy to ensure that the objective of national development continues to be balanced with environmental consideration.

The policy covers energy, environment, economy and social policies.

And it outlines five  thrusts:  strengthening institutions, fostering green technology development, building up the necessary human resources, intensifying relevant research and innovation, and  promotion and public awareness.

It is no coincidence that one of the three pillars of the New Economic Model launched by Najib is sustainability.

It is about time  the world  acknowledge sustainable development as a manifestation of moderation and for the GMM to take it up as one of its core values.

Rio+20 may just be the next global platform for championing the concept of the Global Movement of  Moderates.