WELCOME SPEECH BY YB DATO’ LIOW TIONG LAI MINISTER OF HEALTH

AT THE ASIA PACIFIC HEALTH MINISTERS’ CONFERENCE ON CLIMATE CHANGE AND HEALTH

HOTEL CROWNE PLAZA MUTIARA, KUALA LUMPUR 18 SEPTEMBER 2008

Yang Amat Berhormat Dato’ Sri Mohd Najib bin Tun Abdul Razak, Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia.

Yang Berhormat Datuk Douglas Unggah Embas, Minister of Natural Resources and Environment.

Excellencies, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen.

1. First of all, I would like to take this opportunity to especially thank our Most Honourable Deputy Prime Minister, YAB Dato’ Sri Mohd Najib Tun Abdul Razak, for having so graciously agreed to officiate at the Opening Ceremony of this Asia Pacific Health Ministers’ Conference on Climate Change and Health. I would also like to take this opportunity to officially welcome all my colleagues, the Ministers of Health from the Asia Pacific Region or their representatives, to this important conference.

1 Your excellencies, ladies and gentlemen,

2. Scientists and international bodies have recognised that greenhouse gas accumulation in the atmosphere is changing the global climate, and will affect the environment and human health and well-being. According to the International Panel for Climate Change (IPCC), climate change is now contributing significantly to the global burden of disease and premature deaths.

3. Human beings are being exposed to the effects of climate change through changing weather patterns in the form of increasing temperature, variability in rainfall, sea level rise, and more frequent extreme events such as typhoons and flooding. Indirectly, human beings are being affected through changes in water, air and food quality, as well as changes in ecosystems, agriculture, industry, settlements and the economy.

4. Climate change can no longer be considered simply as an environmental or developmental issue. More importantly, it has put at risk the protection and improvement of human health and well- being. A greater appreciation of the human health dimension of climate change is therefore necessary, for both the development of effective policy and the mobilisation of public engagement.

5. In fact, in the recent September 3rd issue of the International Herald Tribune, a British diplomat was reported to have urged the United States and Europe to treat the challenge of fighting climate change even more seriously than they had responded to the threat of the Cold War. Industrialized countries, he said, should

2 essentially put their economies on a war footing to tackle the problem of man-made global warming, and there should be a greater and more urgent mobilization of financial, technological, intellectual and political resources to tackle the problem.

6. In a similar vein, it is our sincere hope that the organisation of this conference will provide the necessary platform for an effective, high level, regional discussion on issues related to climate change and its health impacts. We need to be updated on the current state of knowledge on climate change and human health. We need to share experiences, identify priorities and make recommendations for practical and implementable actions to control climate change and its health impacts in the region.

7. To facilitate and provide input for the Ministerial Dialogue tomorrow, the organising committee has organised technical thematic sessions covering 3 broad areas, namely the climatic scenarios, the human dimension of climate change and the socio- economic dimension, and responses to climate change. We have invited prominent, local and overseas experts to give scientific updates on specific topics under each of these broad thematic areas. I would like to thank all our invited speakers for having kindly agreed to participate in this conference. Your contributions will definitely add to our understanding of the issue and would provide the input for our dialogue tomorrow.

8. We will consolidate all the discussions from today’s thematic sessions and the dialogue tomorrow, and come out with a Conference Communiqué, a document that we envisage will

3 embody our desires and aspirations as well as promote national and regional activities, cooperation and collaboration in addressing the issue of climate change and human health and well-being.

9. On that note, ladies and gentlemen, I would like to take the opportunity to thank the organising committee, members of which come from the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, and academic institutions, particularly the Institute for Environment and Development, National University of Malaysia, International Institute for Global Health, United Nations University, and International Council for Science for Asia and the Pacific, for their dedication and tireless efforts in making this Conference a success.

10. I would like to once again thank our Most Honourable Deputy Prime Minister for taking the time off to be with us today. To our foreign guests – the Ministers of Health and delegates, I hope you will find time to explore the beauty and hospitality of Kuala Lumpur. I wish you a pleasant and memorable stay in Kuala Lumpur. Thank you.

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