Part of World Bank profits could be used for projects
Funds can be set aside if members agree, says chief
RIO DE JANEIRO — World Bank president Lewis Preston has pledged that the lending agency would earmark a portion of its "substantial" profits for environmental projects if member nations gave the go-ahead.
"We all have a stake in safeguarding the planet and the future of our children and grandchildren," he said on the second day of the Earth Summit here on Thursday.
"International co-operation is the key to success."
In an earlier news conference, Mr Preston said that the proposed amount had not been determined and would depend on the bank’s interest-rate profits, but added that the figure would "not be a token amount".
He said that inadequate sanitation for one-third of the world’s population — one billion people without safe drinking water and 1.3 billion people exposed to indoor pollution from soot and smoke —indicated clearly the need for action.
"These problems exemplify the link between poverty and the environment ... They demand urgent attention."
Funding for environmental projects in the Third World is among the thorniest issues facing the summit, with rich and poor nations squabbling over the role of the Global Environment Facility, a pilot programme run by the World Bank for developing nations.
Third World countries, which say they are too poor to meet the twin needs of development and environmental protection, are wary of the bank’s control of the facility.
Rich nations, however, insist that the facility is the proper instrument for funding, a fact that was reiterated by the British delegation on Thursday.
Mr Preston, meanwhile, defended the role of the bank in environmental matters during the news briefing, saying he did not believe the institution was lending to operations that damaged the environment as it had been accused of doing.
"I don’t think we are financing projects that are harmful," he said.
The World Bank has long been criticized for lending money for projects — such as clearing rain forests for cattle grazing operations — that produced significant harm to the environment.
"This is the time for action, not blame," Mr Preston said, but conceded that criticism of the bank’s past lending practices lingered.
Nonetheless, criticism of his new proposal came almost immediately.
The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) said that the bank had stll not developed a comprehensive strategy to address environment and development problems.
In a statement, WWF’s international director of campaigns, Mr Gordon Shepherd, said that Mr Preston’s address avoided the crucial challenge of defining a clear action plan to implement sustainable development.
The World Bank’s annual profit of about US$1.5 billion (S$2.4 billion) comes from interest rates charged for loans the bank makes, while loans from the International Development Association are made to poor nations at concessional terms. — Reuter, NYT.
Summit Highlights
HERE is a look at events at the summit on Thursday:
- THE US announced it was circulating new proposals that would allow it to sign a treaty to protect plants and animals. Mr George Bush, due here next week, had come under fire for refusing to sign the treaty.
- BRAZILIAN President Fernando Color de Mello became the first leader to sign an agreement to curb global warming. The agreement had been weakened because of US opposition to placing caps on carbon dioxide emissions.
- THE World Bank announced an increase of US$4.5 billion (S$7.4 billion) in conservation loans to developing countries. Bank president Lewis Preston said about US$20 billion over three years would support projects like reforestation and water treatment.
- THE Vatican defended its stand on birth control, saying it did not support procreation at any cost. The Roman Catholic Church had been blamed for keeping overpopulation off the agenda, a charge it denied.
- THIEVES made off with 5km of copper telephone wire connecting phone lines to a small hotel housing dozens of journalists covering the summit, according to local telephone company officials. The theft of the lines, installed last week, took place apparently under the noses of armed troops and tanks.
- TUVALU Prime Minister Bikenibeu Paenil appealed to the international community to try to stabilize climatic changes before his tiny Pacific island nation vanished beneath rising ocean waters. He said it was something that "hardly ever happened before the world climate began to change". — AP, Reuter.
Source : The Straits Times, June 6, 1992
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