SHORTLY after arriving in Kuching from Canada this past weekend I picked up a copy of thesundaypost and read the front page headline: ‘Sungai Tabuan — a dying river’. Watching the river from my elevated hotel window I can see an occasional flotilla of garbage. You don’t have to be any kind of expert to know that even at this prime spot, all is not well with this magnificent natural resource.

This is only my second visit to beautiful Kuching, so I am not qualified to comment on the specifics of the Sungai Tabuan situation but it is a depressingly familiar environmental story.

The National Water Quality Standards experts appear to have done an excellent job in identifying the problem and other arms of government seem aware that water resource education is a good thing. The problem is obvious but what about the solution? Who out there cares enough that the children and grandchildren of Kuching city can’t swim in the water for fear of contracting some horrible, perhaps fatal disease? Who will knock on the doors of those using the river as a garbage dump and demand they stop? Which legislators will be strong and determined enough to pass tough anti-polluter laws and, critically, ensure they are aggressively implemented?

As they say in North America, don’t hold your breath.

The history of environmental activism in North American tells us that if you wait for politicians to make the first move, you will be waiting forever.

Solutions to environmental problems such as that plaguing Sungai Tabuan won’t come without caring citizens first making their voices heard.

Anyone with an interest seeing the river cleaned might refer to the experience of the Hudson River in New York. The waterway was used for generations as a waste dump by industries, most notably the giant General Electric Company which for years pumped cancer-causing PCBs in the Hudson. Elevated levels of mercury were found in fish, wildlife and local residents. It isn’t totally clean yet but due to pressure from grass roots groups of residents, helped by professional and amateur environmentalists, politicians were spurred into action and the restoration has made huge progress. Check out www.clearwater.org to see how one of the main citizen groups mobilised thousands of people who in turn pressured their elected representatives.

The environment, be it global warming or locally polluted rivers, should be a major political issue in all countries but it isn’t. Even in the best of times, the environment is more of a political talking point than a focus of political action. But during economic downturns, the environment gets pushed even further down the political agenda. In politics, timing is everything and this is not a great time for any sort of environmental initiative.

What does a dirty river or a choking city matter when the economy is sinking?

Canada, a vast land of pristine rivers and lakes, is half a world away but it too is struggling with the political realities of environmental legislation.

Two years ago, in calm economic waters, opinion polls were showing that the environment was Canadians’ number one priority and the federal government reacted with proposals to reduce carbon emissions and other initiatives.

When I left Canada last Friday, we were entering the final days of a six-week federal election campaign. Yesterday was polling day. When the election was called on Sept 7, a radical, sophisticated environmental plan was the central plank in the opposition Liberals platform. In short, the opposition Liberals ‘Green Shift’ plan would have imposed tax on heavy users of carbon fuels — both industry and car drivers — and use that same tax revenue to reduce income taxes and to fund initiatives that would, for example, lead to efficient, non-petrol using vehicles. That was then.

The old adage that a week is a long time in politics has never been more apt.

When the Canadian campaign started, the financial crisis was confined to the United States. Then British banks started to tumble, the ripple effect began and Canadians began to worry. When the election campaign ended on Monday, the economy had consumed the debate and the Green Shift plan was political history.

As I watch the river garbage float past where residents and visitors walk and tourist boats are moored, I see not only an insult to nature but a senseless and fundamental economic contradiction. Why build and maintain such a beautiful walkway to showcase a magnificent river and allow such abuse of the water?

But that’s your problem. Back in Canada, we’ve got our own.

Guest columnist Chris Cobb is a Canadian journalist attending this week’s Commonwealth Journalists Association conference in Kuching.

3rd Voice is a weekly column initiated by Sarawak Development Institute (SDI) and Azam. Feedback can be directed to francis@org.my.