Seameo Voctech Organises Seminar On Environmental Management System
By Yusrin Junaidi & Sonia K

Bandar Seri Begawan - An opening ceremony for the Environmental Management System EMSISO 14001 Seminar was held yesterday at the Seameo Voctech building in Gadong.

Present as the guest of honour was Hj Mohd Zin bin Hj Salleh, Deputy Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Development.

"The challenge ahead is for us to pursue and manage growth on a path that is environmentally sound and sustainable. This requires a shift from reactive or responsive to proactive to address the environmental problem at its source rather than at the end of the pipe. The conventional approach which focused more on controlling environmental pollution and degradation impacts from production process proved to be damaging and expensive," said Hj Mohd Zin in his speech.

He also said that in today's global business landscape, environmental credibility has become a competitive advantage. "Green credential is now a factor that influences the outsourcing choices of global outsourcing decision makers."

He also highlighted that 'The Millennium Assessment' reported that the total number of organisation standard (ISO) 14001-Environmental Management Standard was 90,569 in 2004 of which Europe and Asia-Pacific regions account for 88 per cent of the world's figures. The average increase is from 50 per cent to 70 per cent.

"However, Brunei Darussalam has a very high per capita C02 emission level. Based on the UN statistics on the list of countries by Carbon Dioxide Emission per capita for 2004, Brunei Darussalam is ranked sixth in the world with a per capita C02 emission of 24.1 metric tonnes," he said.

He also said that is in accordance with Brunei Darussalam's considerably very high per capita consumption of energy.

"According to statistics, we consume 8,842 kilowatt-hours of electricity per person. Developed countries like Japan consumes 8,459 KW-Hr of electricity per person while Germany consumes 7,442 KW-hr of electricity. France meanwhile consumes 8,231 KW-hr of electricity per person and Republic of Korea has a lower consumption of electricity per person than us in Brunei with 7,710 KW-hr," he said.

The Director of Seameo Voctech Regional Centre Mohamad Abu Bakar in his speech said that this was the third programme organised by Seameo Voctech.

The centre will conduct an ICT workshop tomorrow and on Friday, spearheaded by the SEAMEO Secretariat, where another new group of Southeast Asean participants including Brunei Darussalam will attend. -- Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin

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