Samba beat carries dissenting view
From Gabriella Gamini In Rio De Janeiro
AS WORLD leaders prepare for their consultations, independent environmentalists from all over the world will today open an alternative conference to discuss the "environment on a more human level" in colourful tents lining one of Rio’s music-filled beaches.
The "92 Global Forum" — organized by more than 400 non-governmental organizations — aims to provide an alternative voice to discussions by world leaders at the summit. To keep in tune with Cariocas — the name used for Rio inhabitants, and their love of dancing and music —the environmentalists have planned samba marches and concerts to carry the message to politicians discussing global warming and deforestation in the conference hail.
"We think that the main objective of the summit will not be fulfilled. So we have got together anybody who is interested in environment to make our own agreement," said Manuel Baqueadano, from the Institute of Chilean Ecology.
"As environmentalists, we have the obligation to provide an alternative for people expecting positive results." Environmentalists are angered by America’s refusal to sign a bio-diversity accord.
The agreement would have confirmed tangible value to species in biologically diverse regions, such as the Amazon rainforest, and requires the payment of royalties to local or indigenous people for the use of genetic materials.
"We fear their refusal was a sign that almost nothing concrete will come out of the official conference, so we have to do something ourselves," Senor Baqueadano said.
Also unlikely to come out of the summit is an agreement on world population control, because of the contradictory interests of the Vatican and Muslim countries, which will oppose birth control.
Western leaders are also unlikely to sign a defined pact on levels of carbon dioxide emissions allowed, since, in per capita terms, individuals in the North generate ten times as much CO2 from energy use as their counterparts in developing countries.
Silvia Ribeiro, of a Uruguayan environmental group, said: "The official conference will not be able to find solutions that everyone agrees with. We are trying to concentrate on making regional agreements, small-scale projects to meet the needs of individuals. Politics and economics will be more important than the environment for world leaders."
South American environmentalists are seeking to bring their debt problems into the discussion, claiming that the pressure of huge debts and interest repayment commitments is having a negative effect on the environment.
Brazilian environmentalists will also raise objections to Western leaders’ suggestions for making the Amazon rainforest a "property of humanity". Vast stretches of the Amazon jungle, which houses the world’s largest selection of species and which is a treasure for genetic research, have been cleared to build motorways and factories for speculators. But the environmentalists believe Brazilians have to tackle the problem of deforestation of the Amazon themselves.
Source : The Straits Times, June 1, 1992
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