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. -=-