"We need to bolster the role of parliaments in promoting environmental democracy," BKSAP head Fadli Zon said in a press statement on Thursday.
He made his remarks while speaking as the president of Southeast Asian Parliamentarians Against Corruption (SEAPAC) at the SEAPAC Regional Discussion in Bali on Wednesday.
The promotion of environmental democracy, he said, involves main pillars such as access to information, public participation in decision-making, and justice in environmental issues.
Fadli said that under his leadership, SEAPAC has made a consistent effort to involve members of parliaments in anti-corruption dialogues, including from the perspective of environmental protection and conservation through the handling of corruption in the green sector.
He underlined that SEAPAC is committed to strengthening the role and capacity of parliaments in relation to anti-corruption, including environmental corruption, at the national and global levels.
According to him, one of the important steps taken has been the integration of Principle 10 of the Rio Declaration into the framework of environmental policy and governance.
He noted that ASEAN is currently developing the Environmental Rights Framework, a manifestation of environmental democracy envisaged in the Rio Declaration.
The BKSAP head added that SEAPAC will cooperate with relevant stakeholders in the region, including the Westminster Foundation for Democracy (WFD) and the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly (AIPA), to promote and design follow-up actions for parliaments promoting environmental democracy.
He said that SEAPAC is exploring the potential to hold an audience with the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR), which is responsible for developing environmental rights frameworks.
The SEAPAC regional discussion in Bali on Wednesday aimed to strengthen the commitment of parliaments in Southeast Asia to environmental democracy principles as one of the essential elements of corruption eradication.
The discussion also covered the important role of parliaments in encouraging the achievement of climate commitments and targets, including by evaluating the impact of environmental regulations in the legislative process, green budget analysis, and monitoring with an environmental dimension.
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Translator: Melalusa Susthira, Raka Adji
Editor: Anton Santoso
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