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  Channel NewsAsia 17 Sep 06
Civil society organisations discuss environment, poverty and education
By Neena Mairata

SINGAPORE : Civil society organisations held a fourth day of forums on Sunday, attended by World Bank representatives.

On the agenda were the environment, poverty and education, including one colourful protest.

It is an issue familiar to most of us - the destruction of the world's ecological system - and one that activists are passionate about. Haidy Ear Dupuy, Forum on Cambodia, said:

"Sustainable development is a very complex concept, developing something means you have to give up something else and my fear is sometimes we are giving up too much of what the people are relying on."

Extractive industries such as mining and logging have been identified as the most damaging to the environment. Smita Nakhooda, World Resources Institute, said:

"One only has to think of the devastating impacts that are expected from global climate change to understand that we really need a fundamental shift in the way that we deal with energy infrastructure, for example."

One topic not voiced at the forum was instead played out at Suntec Singapore's official indoor protest space. A coalition of NGOs called the "Global Campaign for Education" drew attention to the fact that more than 100 million children are out of school.

Its report rated leaders from the world's 22 richest nations on their performance in helping poor countries provide free schooling. The United States, Germany, Japan and Italy were placed "bottom of the class".

Whatever the cause, the activists have a common objective during their discussions with representatives from the World Bank - that the opinions of the people affected most by the implementation of its policies must be taken into consideration. - CNA/de
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