Mission to save planet is failing.

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Date:05/12/2005 URL:

http://www.thehindu.com/2005/12/05/stories/2005120505081300.htm

 

Opinion - News Analysis

 

Mission to save planet is `failing' Heather Stewart Sports stars

join campaign for trade justice as report says governments are not doing enough

to protect environment. THE WORLD scored an abysmal two out of 10 for

its efforts in trying to save the planet from environmental mayhem this year.

That is the stark view of the World Economic Form (WEF), which has blasted

governments for failing to make progress on global warming and on the

safeguarding of the world's endangered environment. Few countries have reduced

their greenhouse gas emissions, and the U.S. continues to ignore the Kyoto

climate treaty, the forum points out. As a result, the annual check-up from the

Forum's Global Governance Initiative gives the world only two points out of a

possible ten on ecological issues. " Climate change is already exacerbating

malaria, malnutrition and diarrhoea throughout the world, " the forum warns. " The

world's poorest people need sustainable managed ecosystems to

preserve their livelihoods, and scarcity of natural resources can fuel violent

conflict. " The forum's warning comes as the charity Make Poverty History

launches a new campaign for trade justice. Using posters of sports stars, the

publicity drive has been timed to coincide with the World Trade Organisation's

annual meeting in Hong Kong next week. Stars — including Steve Redgrave, Kelly

Holmes, Sol Campbell, Jonny Wilkinson and Nick Faldo — pose in a series of

images to illustrate how unfair trade rules are holding back the performance of

developing countries. Redgrave is seen clutching bananas instead of oars,

Wilkinson attempts a try conversion with a pineapple, and Faldo attempts a putt

with a sunflower. The images feature key elements of the campaign: how global

trade rules destroy farmers' livelihoods and force the developing world's poor

to pay for basic services such as water, health, and education. " Farmers in

wealthy countries are subsidised by their governments and

dump their excess produce on poor countries, " said a spokesman for the charity.

" So farmers in developing countries can't even sell their produce locally, let

alone export it to foreign markets. " Poor state of human rights Human

rights also worsened across the world in 2005. The WEF criticises weak world

reaction to violent attacks in Darfur, Sudan, and warns that knee-jerk

government responses to terrorism, including the tube attacks on London, have

threatened civil liberties. " From the United Kingdom to Thailand, laws passed

in the name of fighting terrorism shifted the centre of gravity from protecting

rights to restricting them — with uncertain consequences for democracy. " The WEF

researchers also attack the `legal black hole' of Guantanamo, where the U.S.

continues to holds prisoners without charge. However, despite its pessimism

about the environment and human rights, the WEF gives a cautiously positive

report for 2005 overall, with better scores for the global fight

against poverty, hunger, and war than last year. Tony Blair receives plaudits

for his leadership in pushing through agreements on debt forgiveness and

substantially increased aid for Africa at the G8 summit at Gleneagles in July.

Make Poverty History and the Live8 concert this summer are also commended in the

report as a positive sign. " Civil society groups have mobilised on an

unprecedented scale to force governments to get more serious about their

commitments to the world's poor, " it says. Peacemaking efforts have helped to

prevent any new conflicts breaking out this year, the WEF says, while peace

agreements in Sudan and Indonesia raised the hope that two long-running

conflicts could be brought to an end. However, it said bringing an end to the

violence in Iraq should be an urgent priority in the new year. On education,

too, there has been some progress, including a 20 per cent increase in primary

school enrolment in some of the poorest African countries, including

Ethiopia and Malawi. However, the WEF points out that there are still 100

million children worldwide who do not go to primary school; and 94 countries

where more boys than girls receive an education. Achieving universal primary

education within the next decade is one of the Millennium Development Goals,

which 189 countries signed up to in 2000. Mary Robinson, former UN High

Commissioner for Human Rights, who sits on the CGI's steering committee, said

the report showed how much still needed to be done. " These are not reasons for

despair. They are, very definitely, reasons to redouble our efforts. If we do,

historians may look back one day and say that 2005 was the real beginning of the

21st century — the century when humanity found ways to achieve meaningful

stability and prosperity throughout the world. " - Guardian Newspapers Limited

2005 © Copyright 2000 - 2005 The Hindu

 

 

 

We have grasped the mystery of the atom and rejected the Sermon on the Mount.

Ours is a world of nuclear giants and ethical infants. We know more about war

than we know about peace, more about killing that we know about living.

-- General Omar Bradley

 

 

 

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