Public apathy and political misdirection are among the main issues to be tackled at an upcoming conference as environmental experts, practitioners, industrial figures, decision-makers and members of the public are brought together to take stock of the state and future of the environment.

Organised by a coalition of 18 Malaysian environmental non-governmental organisations (Mengo), the conference is supported by the Danish Development Fund as well as the Malaysian natural resources and environment ministry and the energy, water and communications ministry.

According to Mengo chairperson Dr Sundari Ramakrishna, the conference taking place on June 6-8 will address a myriad of topics ranging from ethics, cultural attitudes and public values to environmental economics and management as well as the latest innovations and technologies.

"Many things from philosophy and religion to health and built-versus-natural environment will be looked as the whole gamut of the environment is taken stock here," she said.

The focus of the conference, titled Sustainability Malaysia 2005, is to simultaneously address the issue of 'Natural Resources and Environment Management' together with 'Human Needs and Development' and reconcile the two, said Sundari, who also heads the Malaysian chapter of the Wetlands International.

Results of the conference, she added, will feed into discussions on the environmental dimension of the 9th Malaysia Plan (2006-2010).

Wake-up the public

Mengo vice-chairperson Dr Loh Chi Leong said that one of the main goals of the conference is to wake up the public and decision-makers to the deterioration of the environment in the country's 'march' towards development.

"We need to ask ourselves who the development is for. Why are we doing it? It should be in order to have a better quality of life for our children as well as for future generations," he added.

Citing the example of the Republic of Nauru, which had previously enjoyed one of the highest per capita income among Pacific Ocean countries from its mining activities, Loh said the country was now desolate and completely lacking in natural resources.

Expressing fears that Malaysia could follow a similar path, he noted that water shortages at various times and places throughout Malaysia should signal that the comparative abundance of the country's resources are alarmingly out of sync with the management of those resources.

"These things should sound the warning bell if we don't manage our environment now," he stressed.

Similarly, Mengo co-operating committee member Jenny Tan Suat Eam said the conference will also raise the unaccounted costs of development that are often overlooked by economists but usually borne by nature.

Thousands of tonnes of water are used to produce a single microchip, for example, but these aspects of development is rarely known or grasped by decision-makers and lay people alike, said Tan, who heads the Environmental Management and Research Association of Malaysia.

"These are some of the things that have to be brought to people's attention. We are basically very wasteful creatures, but they should know that every waste that we 'excrete' into the environment is loss of a dollar value," she added.

The conference will be held at the Putra World Trade Centre (PWTC) in Kuala Lumpur.