unitex@rubbs.fidonet.org (unitex) (09/20/89)
provided. Narrow concepts of national security required new meanings and perspectives. Native peoples should be listened to and lessons drawn from their experiences. Answering questions, he said the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), which had done "a superb job", should be at the centre of any new institutional mechanisms suggested at the forthcoming conference. KENNEDY GRAHAM, Secretary-General of Parliamentarians Global Action for Disarmament, Development and World Reform, said the problems of the global environment were among the most politically unifying of our time, and that the non-governmental community had an important role to play in bringing about progress in that crucial area. His organization was a network of political leaders from some 30countries and focused on issues of an exclusively global nature. Its members were committed to action and, as parliamentarians, were well placed to take action. It was a proven fact, he said, that political solutions were not possible without public support, and that required public awareness. So the central questions were whether the public was aware of the problem, and of the need for an ethic of sustainable development; and, if such awareness existed, what public action might be taken by the world community to overcome environmental problems. NIGEL CORBALLY STOURTON, Corporate Affairs Consultant of IBM-United Kingdom, spoke of the contribution his company was making in furthering public awareness and understanding of environmental issues. The past 12 months had seen the beginning of public interest in those issues beginning with a speech by British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher on 27 September on the environment. He was hopeful of increased interest on the subject by the media, non-governmental organizations, young people, students, industry and academia. He said that IBM (International Business Machines), with its sense of corporate citizenship, had been making a number of donations in cash and personnel to organizations involved in environmental issues and other activities of social significance. It had, in l987, launched a first major project, donating a computer to the World Wildlife Fund. Late last year, it had also donated $6.5 million worth of equipment to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) to enable it to set up a data bank of information about the environment. It was now possible for interested institutions or Governments to tap into that data bank. He said IBM had 17 scientific centres around the world, including one in Norway, which had been funded with $16 million. IBM's contributions were a recognition of the importance and value of information technologies in information dissemination about environmental questions. There was a need for new directions in intellectual thinking about environmental issues, he said, adding that there seemed to be a trend afoot which recognized a need for movement towards a survival society. MAZIDE NDIAYE, President of the Forum of African Voluntary Development Organizations, said the threat to the Earth's environment was widely known. But, regardless of all the words spoken on the subject, they generally fell short of action. "We are wise, we want to discuss and debate with those who are destroying the Earth", he said, so that they might see that it was not wise to destroy the Earth. But their aim was to earn money as fast as possible. They might stop when they had enough money, he said. But nobody ever had enough money. "We are playing a dangerous game. We know that depletion of the ozone level causes cancer, but no one is shutting down their air conditioners, not even the United Nations!" We could do without * Origin: UNITEX --> Toward a United Species (1:107/501) --- Patt Haring | United Nations | FAX: 212-787-1726 patth@sci.ccny.cuny.edu | Information | BBS: 201-795-0733 patth@ccnysci.BITNET | Transfer Exchange | (3/12/24/9600 Baud) -=- Every child smiles in the same language. -=-