MANILA, Philippines - Business and industry leaders in Southeast Asia can help raise the public’s environmental consciousness by incorporating sustainable practices from the purchase of supplies down to the manufacturing and marketing of their products.
The call for the business sector to go green was made at the 3rd ASEAN Plus Three Leadership Program on Sustainable Production and Consumption held last week at the Bayview Park Hotel in Manila.
The forum was held in line with declaration of the United Nations of 2005-2014 as the Decade of Education for Sustainable Development.
At a media briefing, Rodrigo Fuentes, executive director of the ASEAN Centre for Biodiversity (ACB), highlighted the role of the business sector in adopting measures that would use and produce goods and services with less environmental impact.
“Businesses should practice sustainable production and consumption through their own initiative and not as mere compliance to government regulations,” he said.
Dr. Raman Letchumanan, Environment Division head of the ASEAN Secretariat explained that “developing countries are in a position to reduce their carbon footprint by being more sustainable in using their rich biodiversity while they are on the path to economic growth.”
He stressed the need to put in place market mechanisms that would “compel businesses to put their own initiatives to educate consumers.”
In the Philippines, such mechanisms include certifications from the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), green or eco-labeling, and recognition of local industries who demonstrate environmental initiatives.
Ironically, however, it was observed that products from companies with such mechanisms in place were more expensive compared with other [more] mass-produced or commercial products, prompting Professor Govindan Parayil, director of the United Nations University Institute of Advanced Studies, to suggest that the public must be acquainted with responsibilities that are usually attached to the supply and production processes.
“Organic and other environmentally-friendly products require more extensive research on biodiversity, which is the source of almost all raw materials used by humans,” Parayil explained.