christic@labrea.Stanford.EDU (06/07/91)
/* Written 11:09 pm Jun 5, 1991 by econet in cdp:en.alerts */
/* ---------- "G-7 Summit Forest Alert" ---------- */
Subject: G-7 Summit Forest Alert
>From scdc1 Wed Jun 5 12:12 PDT 1991
The following is an alert for the July G-7
Summit meeting in London. The Sierra Club and 56
members of the U.S. House of Representatives have
called upon the U.S. State Department to make the
following initiative a priority for the meeting. We
don't have the commitment as yet. However, while Sec.
of State James Baker was Treasury Secretary he
directed our representatives to the multilateral
development banks not to support projects that would
lead to the destruction of tropical forests.
The State Department has recently announced that
it will be going to the G-7 meeting with a "Proposal
on Forest Principles" which it would like the other
nations to agree to as the bases for a forest
convention for Brazil '92. The principles in their
present draft are unacceptable for they only look at
ways to "manage" the forests and do not address the
need for conservation of primary forests. More
information on that will be coming soon.
We hope that your organization can help to make
the following proposal a reality at the summit
meeting. We would like to hear from you about this
initiative.
# # #
G-7 LEADERS URGED TO SAVE THE TROPICAL FORESTS
BY PLEDGING TO "DO NO HARM"
G-7 countries must immediately halt all foreign
aid destructive of tropical forests if this wealth of
biological diversity is to survive. Western
industrialized nations must accept part of the
responsibility for the accelerating destruction of the
tropical forests through the funding of misdirected or
shortsighted development aid projects in the
developing world.
The Group of 7 Economic Summit meeting in July
provides the perfect opportunity for the seven largest
industrialized nations to pledge to "do no harm" to
the world's remaining tropical forests.
We call upon the G-7 Economic Summit leaders to
pledge at the July meeting to "do no harm" by:
o Agreeing not to fund bilateral aid
projects that would lead to the
destruction of tropical forests; and,
o Agreeing not to vote for any multilateral
aid projects proposed by the World Bank,
or any of the regional development banks,
that would destroy the tropical forests.
Last year's communique from the Group of 7 heads
of state expressed strong concern over the rapid loss
of the tropical forests. In response to this concern
the G-7 leaders committed their governments to
negotiate a "global forest convention." In addition,
they recognized that the Tropical Forest Action Plan,
sponsored by the U.N. Food and Agriculture
Organization, the U.N. Development Programme and the
World Bank, is accelerating the loss of primary
forests, rather than saving them, and called for its
redesign. Concerned citizens from all parts of the
world applauded the G-7 for taking the first steps in
addressing this continuing tragedy.
Despite these well meaning words, the
destruction continues unabated. It is now generally
accepted that a global forest convention will not be
ready for signing at the 1992 U.N. Conference on
Environment and Development next June in Brazil.
Plans to negotiate a global forest convention and
reform TFAP are not enough. The G-7 countries must
immediately pledge to halt all foreign aid investments
that would lead to the destruction of tropical
forests.
In fact, the U.S. Government is already
committed to the policy of "doing no harm" to the
tropical forests. Through Congressional legislation
in 1986, and again in 1990, the U.S. Agency for
International Development was directed to not
undertake any projects that would lead to the loss of
tropical forests. In 1988, through a directive by
then Secretary of Treasury James Baker III, the U.S.
Executive Directors to the World Bank, and the
regional multilateral development banks, are
prohibited from voting for any funded project that
would lead to the destruction of tropical forests.
We urge the rest of the G-7 member nations to
follow the lead of the United States Government by
agreeing in July to take no action that would lead to
the unnecessary loss of tropical forests through their
bilateral and multilateral aid programs.
For further information contact:
Sierra Club
International Program
408 C St. N.E.
Washington, D.C. 20002
Phone: 202-547-1141
Fax: 202-547-6009
ECONET: SCDC1
June 1991