Posted on 09/04/2002 7:22:18 PM PDT by USA21
US Committed to Development, says Powell Amid Boos at Johannesburg Summit
Colin Powell U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell has told the World Summit on Sustainable Development that the United States is committed to development. But not all the delegates welcomed Mr. Powell's remarks.
Mr. Powell was repeatedly interrupted by boos and heckling from a generally hostile crowd, especially when he spoke about the sensitive issues of climate change, energy policy, and genetically modified food.
Heckler is removed from conference by security guards "The United States is taking action to meet environmental challenges, including global climate change. We are committed- We are committed," he repeated, as the crowd booed. "We are committed not just to rhetoric and to various goals; we are committed to a billion dollar program to develop and deploy advanced technologies to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions."
Environmental activists chanted "down with Bush" and unfurled a banner reading "betrayed by governments." At least one protester was dragged out of the room by U.N. security.
Amid the criticism, Mr. Powell said the United States is committed to sustainable development. He focused on good governance and trade as engines for development.
Disregard for the environment threatens the world's natural resources and all who depend on them for food, fuel, shelter, and livelihood. Our challenge then is to widen the circle of development and include those who are left out," said Mr. Powell.
The secretary of state said the United States would increase development aid by 50 percent during the next three years. He said the money would only go to countries that are governed "fairly and wisely," with sound economic policies.
U.S. environmentalists wasted no time in blasting the secretary of state's speech. They blame the United States for what they see as the failure of the Johannesburg summit.
Leslie Fields of the advocacy group Friends of the Earth says the American negotiating team blocked key elements of the final summit declaration. "The Bush administration has been the single biggest obstacle toward achieving progress for the world summit," she said. "Its refusal to agree to substantial agreements on timetables and targets is particularly egregious given the disproportionate share of global resource consumption by the U.S."
The activists also blasted President Bush for sending Secretary of State Powell to the summit instead of coming himself. They say the president's absence speaks louder than Mr. Powell's words.
SOUTH AFRICA: September 5, 2002
JOHANNESBURG - A sweeping U.N. plan to cut poverty while saving the earth's resources agreed yesterday includes measures to replenish fish stocks and slow the rate at which rare species of plants and animals are being wiped out.
Many leading scientists and the United Nations itself have painted a gloomy picture of the planet's future. Some experts say up to 50 percent of the world's species could be wiped out by human activity in this century. Here are some key points about deals struck at the World Summit on Sustainable Development and the Earth's ecosystems:
* Nearly 200 nations agreed in the plan to achieve a "significant reduction" in the current rate at which species are being wiped out, recognising that poor countries would need extra financial and technical help to achieve the goal.
* Greenpeace said it was a watered down target as it only aims to slow the rate of extinction of rare species, not halt it. Greenpeace said U.N. governments agreed in April to stop the rate of species loss, although with no deadline.
* At Johannesburg, states agreed to restore fish stocks where possible no later than 2015 and to establish marine protected areas by 2012, moves welcomed by green groups.
FORESTS
According to the United Nations, some 90 million hectares (222 million acres), or 2.4 percent of the planet's forests - an area larger than Venezuela - was destroyed in the 1990s.
Many of the trees felled were in tropical rain forests in South America, Africa and southeast Asia and the United Nations reckons nine percent of the world's tree species are endangered.
While tropical forest ecosystems cover less than 10 percent of the earth's surface, they may contain up to 90 percent of the world's species, the U.N. Global Environment Outlook said.
Some experts say global forest cover has actually been relatively stable, increasing to 30.89 percent of the planet's land area in 1994 from 30.04 percent in 1950. But much of the growth has been in temperate forests in North America and Europe, not in the biologically richer rain forests.
An EU study last month showed tropical forests were disappearing more slowly than previously thought. It reckoned the average loss of rainforest was 0.43 percent a year against 0.5 percent estimated previously.
ENDANGERED SPECIES
Scientists have named 1.75 million species.
Many believe most species, including insects, plants and fungi, have not yet been identified and that there could be as many as 14 million.
Some 52,000 vertebrates - mammals, amphibians reptiles, birds and some fish - have been identified. A main threat is habitat destruction caused chiefly by logging and the clearing of lands for farming, industry or human settlement.
Climate change linked to the greenhouse effect is another. It has been implicated in the bleaching of coral reefs and the decline of amphibians in tropical forests.
Pollution, dams and disasters such as oil spills have also taken a toll on wildlife, while over-hunting, over-fishing and trade in animal body parts has had devastating consequences.
According to a U.N. report, 12 percent, or 1,183 types of bird and 1,130 mammal species, a quarter of the total, are considered to be endangered.
North American bison were all but killed off by white settlers in the 19th century. The northern right whale was hunted to near extinction and now numbers only around 300.
Numerous fisheries collapsed during the later part of the 20th century, including Canada's Grand Banks cod fishery, which closed a decade ago with the loss of 40,000 jobs.
Africa's elephant populations were significantly depleted by poachers involved in the global ivory trade, which was banned in 1989, stemming the slaughter of the majestic beasts.
Currently, the illicit "bushmeat" trade and illegal logging activities in central and west Africa are pushing many primates to the brink of extinction, including humanity's closest living relatives, the gorillas and chimpanzees.
Some animals have benefited from humans. Coyotes, confined originally to the grasslands of western North America, rushed to fill the niche opened up by the slaughter of wolves by farmers. REUTERS NEWS SERVICE
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