Nations fall short on environment

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil – Governments worldwide have failed to honour their commitments to a fund to protect the environment, environmentalists at a UN-sponsored conference said Thursday.

When the Global Fund for the Environment was created at the UN’s 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, organisers had hoped nations would donate US$7 billion (about N$42 billion) annually to it. But contributions have fallen far short of that.”In 10 years, the fund should have accumulated US$77 billion (about N$478 billion).Up to now, though, this value has only reached US$10 billion (about N$620 billion),” said Pedro Leitao, General Secretary of the Brazilian Biodiversity Fund, to the government news agency Radiobras.The situation will become even worse in 2007, when the United States has said it will cut its contribution by half, Leitao said.The fund relies on donations from 166 countries and is managed by the World Bank and the UN development and environment programmes.”In the 90s, when the fund was created, there was an awareness that environmental problems were on a global scale,” Leitao said.”Since then we have created various global programmes, including the Convention on Biodiversity, but we’re still discussing who is going to pay the bill.”Leitao made his comments at the 8th Conference of Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity at Curitiba, 650 km southwest of Rio, which began last week.Some 4 000 diplomats, environmentalists and scientists from 173 countries are attending the 11-day conference.A UN report issued Monday said species were being lost at the fastest rate since the disappearance of dinosaurs – or as much as 1 000 times faster than the natural rate of extinction.- Nampa-APBut contributions have fallen far short of that.”In 10 years, the fund should have accumulated US$77 billion (about N$478 billion).Up to now, though, this value has only reached US$10 billion (about N$620 billion),” said Pedro Leitao, General Secretary of the Brazilian Biodiversity Fund, to the government news agency Radiobras.The situation will become even worse in 2007, when the United States has said it will cut its contribution by half, Leitao said.The fund relies on donations from 166 countries and is managed by the World Bank and the UN development and environment programmes.”In the 90s, when the fund was created, there was an awareness that environmental problems were on a global scale,” Leitao said.”Since then we have created various global programmes, including the Convention on Biodiversity, but we’re still discussing who is going to pay the bill.”Leitao made his comments at the 8th Conference of Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity at Curitiba, 650 km southwest of Rio, which began last week.Some 4 000 diplomats, environmentalists and scientists from 173 countries are attending the 11-day conference.A UN report issued Monday said species were being lost at the fastest rate since the disappearance of dinosaurs – or as much as 1 000 times faster than the natural rate of extinction.- Nampa-AP