Time running out for negotiators

North, South trying to compromise

RIO DE JANEIRO — Earth Summit talks went into top gear yesterday as North and South tried to compromise on forest protection and the financing of "green" development.

Time is running out for the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (Unced) to achieve its ambitious goal — to reach agreements on reconciling the needs of the environment with the demands of development.

Diplomats said that prospects also seemed to be fading for agreement on a set of forest protection principles that could lead to negotiations for an international treaty on forests.

While many industrialized countries are appalled by the destruction of tropical rain forests and want logging reduced, major timber exporters like Malaysia object to being told what to do by nations which stripped much of their own woodland centuries ago.

One delegate from a developed country said on Sunday that the whole issue of forestry could be pulled off the summit agenda unless negotiators reached agreement within 48 hours.

"The result of failure will be a lot of aggravation," she said.

With the grandiose aim of creating a North-South pact for environmentally-sound global development, governments are also trying to finalize an 800-page action plan dealing with everything from over-consumption in rich countries to dumping of toxic waste in the Third World.

The atmosphere has not been helped by the virtual isolation so far of the United States, which has annoyed many by refusing to sign a key treaty on preserving the world’s natural riches.

It has also been instrumental in watering down other texts.

But summit host Brazil and some European officials, conscious that President George Bush’s co-operation will be crucial to the conference’s outcome, have been working, to bring Washington in from the cold as the finale draws near.

Organizers of the 12-day conference ending on Sunday want negotiators to reach agreement on as many issues as possible before more than 100 heads of state or government start arriving on Thursday for the summit proper. — Reuter.

UN to limit access to talks protect Bush

RIO DE JANEIRO (Brazil) —Fearing demonstrations against US President George Bush, the United Nations has drawn up plans to close the Earth Summit conference centre to representatives of private environmental groups and to reduce credentials for official delegations sharply, according to UN officials.

Starting on Thursday, the day before Mr Bush and as many as 110 heads of state and government are to meet here, a new credential system would bar virtually all private-sector environmentalists from the centre and would limit official missions to four delegates from each country, a UN official said.

On Sunday, about 150 Americans marched down Copacabana Beach in the first public protest here against the Bush administration’s environmental policies.

They were protesting against Mr Bush’s refusal to sign a treaty to protect plants and animals. — NYT.

SNIPPETS

FORMER Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev has been elected head of an International Green Cross being set up at his own suggestion to fight damage to the environment.

A so-called Parliamentary Earth Summit of spiritual leaders and legislators from around the world voted unanimously for Gorbachev on Saturday, a spokesman for the event said on Sunday.

The forum — grouping personalities as diverse as Tibet’s spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, US Senator Al Gore and singer John Denver — is being held in parallel with the official Earth Summit of world leaders here on the environment and development challenges facing the world.

Spokesman Tarzie Vittachi said in an interview the goal of the International Green Cross was to do for the Earth and its resources "what the Red Cross was founded to do for people on the battlefield".

The idea was proposed by Mr Gorbachev himself at a previous meeting of parliamentary and religious leaders in Moscow in 1990, he said. — Reuter.

Waste not, urges IMF

THE industrialized nations have the resources to support sustained development in the Third World but must cut down on waste, says International Monetary Fund managing director Michel Camdessus.

"The resources are there and it is possible to meet major challenges as long as the resources are put to better use," he told AFP in an interview. "The adjustments must not be only for the poor countries, but must be universal."

Mr Camdessus is scheduled to address the Earth Summit on Monday, telling delegates from 178 countries that the World Bank estimates that between US$75 billion (S$120 billion) and US$100 billion are needed each year to guarantee sustained development in the Third World. —AFP

Higher price 'is okay’

MOST people are willing to pay more for the products they buy, if necessary, to safeguard the world’s environment, according to a new 22-country survey.

A majority of those polled in 16 of 22 countries said they would pay more so that industry could better protect the environment, the George Gallup International Institute said.

And even in Mexico, Brazil and India — developing countries with cash-strapped consumers - those surveyed said they were willing to accept higher prices in exchange for safer environmental conditions.

But not every country showed the same willingness to make the price sacrifice.

Majorities rejecting the idea — ranging from 51 to 70 per cent — voiced their opposing view in Japan, the Philippines, Russia, Turkey, Poland and Hungary.

Countries with majorities approving the proposition included Germany, Chile, Uruguay, Denmark, Norway, Switzerland, South Korea, Britain, Finland, Ireland, the Netherlands, Canada and the United States. — AFP.

Source : The Straits Times, June 9, 1992

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