Proposition 53K2374

Proposition de résolution en faveur d'une meilleure coopération multilatérale en Asie centrale dans le domaine de la pollution transfrontalière et de la gestion des bassins fluviaux transfrontaliers.

General information ¶

Authors

CD&V Inge Vervotte
Ecolo Éric Jadot, Thérèse Snoy et d'Oppuers
LE Georges Dallemagne
MR François-Xavier de Donnea
N-VA Daphné Dumery
Open Vld Herman De Croo
PS | SP Guy Coëme, Patrick Moriau
Vooruit Dirk Van der Maelen

Submission date

July 18, 2012

Official page

Visit

Status

Adopted

Requirement

Simple

Subjects

cross-border cooperation transfrontier pollution environmental protection resolution of parliament pollution of waterways water pollution

Voting ¶

Voted to adopt

Groen CD&V Vooruit Ecolo LE PS | SP ∉ Open Vld N-VA MR VB

Contact form ¶

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Discussion ¶

Oct. 18, 2012 | Plenary session (Chamber of representatives)

Full source

Mr. Speaker, colleagues, we are now reaching the political height of this afternoon. I say this without any form of irony. This is a multilateral cooperation, which is very important. It concerns the problem of cross-border pollution and the management of cross-border river areas in Central Asia.

This resolution has not just come out of the blue in this Parliament, but is the written downfall of a fact finding mission, to which, among others, colleagues Coëme and Vervotte have participated.

You have all laid the draft report on the banks, so I can limit myself to the broad lines of the presentations that were put forward in the committee last Tuesday.

Coëme emphasized that the water issue surrounding the Aral Lake is also related to the problem of drought and intensive agriculture, that there is also a problem with the Russian authorities taking control of the water and that it is almost a form of blackmail, related to the scatter around gas and petroleum.

A second point of concern is specifically targeted at a particular company, in particular Talco Aluminium Company, which is considered responsible for a large pollution. It is urged to send a delegation of independent experts to the area, who can then formulate constructive recommendations around that pollution.

An important point in the explanation of colleague Coëme is that this is about secular states that are of great geopolitical importance because they can form a buffer between Russia and China. If we look a little further in the region to the regime of the Taliban and the problem of Iran, the recommendation to support these states also deserves additional support.

The Minister’s Representative highlighted the importance of this resolution and strongly encouraged cooperation between the countries concerned.

According to colleague De Croo, there needs to be much more political attention and interest in this region. He has broken a lance for preventive diplomacy.

Colleagues Snoy et d’Oppuers fully agreed with this. She had some questions about the European efforts already being made in this area and whether or not there should be conditions for this assistance.

Collega Dumery has put the problem on a Belgian reading and asks the Communities and the Regions what their role and responsibility is in this. This is an intra-Belgian question and also an international question. She also held a plea on human rights in this issue.

Mrs Vervotte, of course, fully supports the present resolution. She also emphasized the strategic implantation of the conscious countries and regions, situated between Europe and Asia. She also gave a brief overview of the historical evolution of the dossier and of the region in question.

During the Soviet era, the groundwater reserves were slightly overshadowed. Now the region is also very heavily the victim of industrialization, which has taken shape over the past decades.

In this context, she also raised the alarm of the higher, non-political bodies. It was referred to the International Labour Organization. There was also a contact with the Vice-President, Mr. Luc Cortebeeck.

The Chairman of the Commission, Mr de Donnea, has a lot of experience with the region in question. He has led several missions, including the first, parliamentary mission. He also joined the mission in Central Asia. Based on his experience and expertise at the OSCE, he emphasized the possible involvement of the OSCE in the dossier. He also briefly outlined what is already happening in this area, since the various Central Asian States are members of the aforementioned organization.

Mr. Coëme recalled that the World Bank is currently launching an investigation into the risks of building a dam. He also recalled that Ms Ashton, the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs, supports the initiative of the World Bank.

You have all seen the resolution on paper or electronically. I limit myself to the defining part to two passages.

It is requested that, at the European level, the United Nations Regional Centre for Preventive Diplomacy in Central Asia be encouraged and that attention be paid to the water issue and to the initiation of a dialogue under the supervision of the said Centre between the five States concerned in the context of the quoted problem. It is also requested that support be provided to the World Bank Mission, which is responsible for evaluating the Rogun Pump Project.

Thus, colleagues, you are fully informed about what we will submit here for voting later.

Mr. Speaker, dear colleagues, I would like to thank the rapporteur for the quality of the work he has done with the services and I would like to thank, it must be said, all the colleagues who agreed to co-sign this proposal for a resolution.

I think there are times when the Belgian-Belgian situation makes us blind and deaf to the misfortunes of the world. We are, however, not far from those countries in –stan – this is the famous Silk Road we are referring to here – originating from the former Soviet Union, where populations often governed by autocrats live.

But the notion of democracy is sometimes variable geographically and it is important to be able to say that the populations that live there, very often in misery, are also threatened by the Taliban in the south, also by the Iranian God crazy and that these people have a very great merit: that of living in countries where religion does not count at the state level. For us, this must be an extremely important criterion, which does not exempt us from consenting efforts and asking for efforts to evolve towards more advanced forms of democracy.

This asked and very quickly, because the quality of the report allows me to be brief, I would like to tell you that I have today a friendly and strong thought towards one of our colleagues, Philippe Blanchart. Philippe, since our return from Uzbekistan, is struggling with a very serious illness and we will wish him the best, next week, at the time he will undergo a decisive surgical intervention.

I replaced our colleague Blanchart and with many other friends, including those who accompanied me in this region of the world, we discovered – not only in geography books – the drama of pollution and the drama of water in this region of the world.

Water is often referred to as wealth, but this wealth is disappearing. This is the whole problem of the Aral Sea, of the Amou-Daria. Moreover, those who have seen the dramas experienced by hundreds of thousands of people, as a result of pollution coming from neighboring territory, the Tajik territory, and where the dominant winds carry unbelievable pollution, a pollution that kills, that physically deforms men, women, children, the elderly, that kills cattle, that poisons water and the atmosphere, think that the problems we face daily must be overcome.

That is why a resolution proposal like the one we have submitted is useful. I hope that, as in the committee, we will vote unanimously.

We simply ask our government to raise awareness in Europe, to raise awareness in the World Bank to prevent even more serious tragedies from happening in these countries. These people are handed over to themselves. It is the future of a part of the world that is at stake there and I think a parliament like ours is honored by taking such a resolution.

I hope, Mr. Speaker, dear colleagues, that by voting, we will be able to bring some sunshine and hope to those people, whom we have met and whose pain we have seen in their eyes. For them, thank you! (The applause)

As each and every one of us knows, M. Coëme a sans doute prononcé sa last intervention before our assembly. As usual, it was a remarkable intervention. Thank you again, Mr Coëme! (Applause of Applause)

Mijnheer de voorzitter, ik heb hier reeds ettelijke tientallen år zitting in ik herinner mij of dramatic circumstances die wij indertijd hebben beleefd. At that point, Minister Coëme said to me, “I will come back.” He came back, and this time he leaves us again. I wish him good luck!

Colleagues, ⁇ it is good that the House is now debating about something that seems to be far from our bed, thousands of kilometers away, somewhere in Central Asia, close to China, but which we are closely involved with. In the debate, two issues that are universal are addressed. The first problem is that water is an extremely scarce thing. Water can be recycled seven times, but it is also worn out. Extra water is difficult to produce unless sweet water is distilled from salt water, which requires very much energy. Curiously, the largest per capita user of fresh water is Kuwait, where not even a single stream flows.

Water plays an incredibly important role geostrategically. Think of the Middle East, where Turkey, by the way, forms the water castle for a number of countries south of it. There are already major irrigation problems to supply the southern part of Turkey and to provide prosperity to its people.

If you look further east, you can see countries that we hardly know the names: Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan. One of those countries, Tajikistan, is responsible for the water supply of all those other countries and in particular for agriculture in Uzbekistan.

At that time, the planning of all those economies took place from Moscow. Then it was simple. Large ponds were built in Tajikistan and the oil-rich Uzbekistan supplied energy to save water in the winter and conduct it to Uzbekistan in the summer to flood the cotton plantations.

The industrial division among the Soviet subjects was a brilliant example of this. When the countries became independent, Uzbekistan stopped supplying cheap energy to Tajikistan and water became a battlefield between these countries. A little further away lies a part of China, the land of the Uighurs, which some in geopolitics refer to as Uighuristan. There, a minority in the immense Chinese Empire tries to secure its dignity and security of its existence.

One might wonder what this now has to do with our daily problems among so many who characterize us. Why should the House of Representatives pay attention to resolutions so far away from us? However, I think that here we need to think about the fact that the world has become a big village. When terrorism is established, it can sometimes happen in countries for which we have no attention, in people whose situation is striking and who are manipulated – if they are manipulable – by religion or extremism to come here to take their revenge on the West. We are part of that world. It is good that our Parliament stands on its toes from time to time to look beyond the distant borders to a community of which we as human beings also belong.

It affects me today that we limit the concern for our own prosperity, the concern for our security and the concern for our freedoms to the geographical boundary of Europe and the western part of the world. That is not sustainable. When one does not care about places where poverty, misery, shelter, infections and water shortages are overwhelming, it will have its impact here. We must dare to take this into consideration from time to time.

Mr. Speaker, my group will, with great gratitude to those who have put forward this resolution and to Mr. Deseyn as the rapporteur, adopt this resolution.

Somebody ask-t-il yet the word? (Not to)