Honour green aid pledge, Mahathir tells rich nations
By
KUALA LUMPUR — Developed nations should honour the promise made more than two years ago to help developing countries sustain the environment, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Mahathir Mohamad said yesterday.
Financial commitments by developed countries utilising the rich resources of developing nations freely were not forthcoming although more than two years had lapsed after the landmark Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro.
"Developing countries require assistance and technology transfers but these have been subjected to conditions imposed by the developed nations," he said in opening the International Conference of Asian Parliamentarians on the Environment and Sustainable Development.
The four-day conference was being attended by 40 delegates from 22 countries.
Dr Mahathir said development aid from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development countries to developing nations had dwindled to US$54.8 billion (S$80.5 billion) last year from US$60.8 billion the previous year.
The only new source of funds was from the restructured Global Environment Facility (GEF), which had been pledged US$2 billion by 26 countries.
But, Dr Mahathir said, conditions had been attached to the release of the money.
The UN Conference on Environment and Development held in Rio de Janeiro in June 1992 had adopted the GEF to finance a programme of action to sustain development and guide environment conservation into the 21st century.
Dr Mahathir said: "I get the impression that, during the discussion of the implementation of various environment-related conventions, the developing countries are treated like beggars for aid."
He hoped that a global arrangement could be established to ensure that developed countries honoured commitments to environment conservation.
"The continued attempts by the developed countries to introduce the social clause for workers and other conditions are disguised protectionism to erode the competitive edge of developing nations," he said.
He also urged developing nations which owned the largest share of world genetic sources to develop a strong and common stand on collaboration with foreign partners.
He said developed countries had been utilising freely the rich biodiversity resources of developing countries without passing any benefits to the resource owners. — AFP, Bernama.
Source : The Straits Times, November 9, 1994
Recycling Point Dot Com
(C) 2000 All Rights Reserved