unitex@rubbs.fidonet.org (unitex) (09/20/89)
NGO CONFERENCE FOCUSES ON ENVIRONMENT
Posting Date: 09/18/89 Source: UNITEX Network, Hoboken, NJ, USA
Host: (201) 795-0733 ISSN: 1043-7932
Perspectives of developed and developing countries on
environmental matters were the focus of discussion this morning
during the third and final day of the Annual Non-Governmental
Organizations Conference of the Department of Public Information
(DPI). The theme of this year's Conference is "Environment and
Development: Only One Earth".
Statements were made by Michael J. Gucovsky, Chairman of the
Environmental Action Team of the United Nations Development
Programme (UNDP); Paulo Nogueira-Batista, Permanent
Representative of Brazil to the United Nations; Zbigniew M.
Bochniarz, visiting professor of the Hubert Humphrey Institute
of Public Affairs; David Okali, professor of forest ecology in
the Department of Forest Resources Management at the University
of Ibadan in Nigeria; V.V.Aksenov, Director of the Scientific
Research Centre for the Use of Natural Resources in the Soviet
Union; and TomEricVraalsen, Permanent Representative of Norway
to the United Nations.
Discussion focused on the relative responsibility of the
developed and developing countries for environmental
degradation; the need for social and economic reform to ensure
sustainable development; the consideration of poverty itself as
an obstacle to sustainable development; the relationship between
world peace and the problems of environment and development; and
the need for an action-oriented international conference to
achieve specific goals
Following the statements, the floor was thrown open for questions
and comments by the participants and panelists.
The final meeting of the Conference will begin at 2p.m. today,
when statements will deal with public awareness and action on
environment and development.
Work Programme
The Annual Non-Governmental Organizations Conference of the
Department of Public Information (DPI) met this morning to
discuss the theme: "Perspectives of Developed and Developing
Countries". The theme of the three-day Conference
which ends this afternoon, is "Environment and Development: Only
One Earth".
Statements
Opening the meeting, MICHAEL J. GUCOVSKY, Chairman of the
Environmental Action Team of the United Nations Development
Programme (UNDP), said it was important to "manage planet Earth
wisely and prudently", and to understand which activities
different countries-- both developed and developing-- saw as
requiring priority attention.
PAULO NOGUEIRA-BATISTA, Permanent Representative of Brazil to the
United Nations, said environmental degradation had continued for
two centuries, since the start of the industrial revolution, and
had once been considered an acceptable part of that revolution.
Industrial growth had been based on two assumptions: that
natural resources were not finite; and that the environment
could cope with any degree of interference resulting from that
growth. It now appeared that such "free goods" as air, the
climate and fossil fuels were limited; and that there might be
limits to the environment's capacity to cope with industrial
interference. At present, the main focus of environmental
interest focused on such global concerns as climate, depletion of
the ozone layer, and loss of biodiversity.
The relative responsibility of each nation for such problems
could be found in their respective levels of energy
consumption. The industrialized countries, which represented
only 8.2per cent of the world's population, accounted for
85percent of use of energy resources. These consumption
patterns were the chief source of carbon dioxide emissions which
resulted in global warming. The developing world, which
represented fourfifths of the world population, accounted for
only a small percentage of carbon dioxide emissions. Rather
than changing their own consumption, the industrialized
countries were exploring new technologies. Under such
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