Don't demand too much, UK advises Third World nations
KUALA LUMPUR, Mon. —The United Kingdom today urged the Third World countries not to demand too much from developed nations.
The UK Minister of State for the Environment, Mr David Maclean said such demands might scare the industrialized countries from taking part in the Earth Summit. The summit will be held in Rio de Janeiro.
Maclean told a Press conference here that it was vital that the Kuala Lumpur Declaration should not be too demanding. He explained that the developed nations might not be able to fulfill these demands because of the recession.
"Too strong a demand will only scare the developed nations from taking part. It will also sour things at Rio," he said.
He said the conference, which started here today was important. He added that there was a lot of work to be done to fine-tune the issues before the summit.
"The meeting should bridge the gap on issues. Thus, it will not leave too much to be done in Rio," he said, adding that the summit would not be a success otherwise.
"The discussion on financial matters should pick up from where it left off in New York, and not go back to Beijing," he said.
On the question of transfer of technology, Maclean said technology co-operation was more viable. He said that private firms which developed the technology owned and monopolized it.
He said the government of a developed nation could not force a private company to divulge or transfer its technology to a developing nation. It could only create a more conducive atmosphere for the firm to be interested in investing or trading with that nation.
To achieve this, he said the Uruguay Round of GATT must reach a satisfactory conclusion.
Earlier, Maclean said the United Kingdom had agreed that while it was necessary to have a realistic statement of principles to Improve the conservation and management of the world’s forests, it was also vital to determine how the’ principles could be followed up.
However, the sovereign right of all countries to manage their own resources must be respected, he said.
"In past, we in Britain did not manage our forests well: that is plain. It is therefore important that we start now," he said.
Maclean said the United Kingdom welcomed the substantial progress made at the fourth preparatory meeting on the institutional follow-up to the summit in Rio.
The Agenda 21 was an important reference point for future action at local and national level as well as international level.
"Our heads of government should give Agenda 21 high-level political commitment and indicate how they intend to implement it after the Earth Summit," he said.
Maclean said the outline of what the United Kingdom wanted to achieve included broad political guidance be provided by the UN General Assembly.
The United Kingdom also emphasized that there was a need for effective mechanism at inter-government level to ensure that Agenda 21 was carried out efficiently and without duplication by international organizations and governments.
It also wanted a structure within the secretariat to be set up to co-ordinate the environmental activities of the UN agencies.
Maclean also said the United Kingdom wanted the UNEP’s role as the central body for environmental activities within the United Nations to be strengthened and enhanced.
Source : New Straits Times, April 28, 1992
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