| Title: | All about Scandinavia |
| Moderator: | TLE::SAVAGE |
| Created: | Wed Dec 11 1985 |
| Last Modified: | Tue Jun 03 1997 |
| Last Successful Update: | Fri Jun 06 1997 |
| Number of topics: | 603 |
| Total number of notes: | 4325 |
From: [email protected] (ULLA PLON)
Newsgroups: clari.news.gov.international,clari.news.europe,
clari.tw.environment,clari.news.top.world
Subject: Nations hit U.S stance on emissions
Keywords: international, non-usa government, government, atmosphere,
environment
Date: 14 May 90 22:22:51 GMT
Location: norway
ACategory: international
Slugword: environment
BERGEN, Norway (UPI) -- The United States and Britain were heavily
criticized Monday for their refusal to adopt measures curbing carbon
dioxide emissions, which scientists have suggested could lead to global
warming. The three-day, 34-nation conference in the western port city
of Bergen was called to produce an agenda for action on environmental
problems in Europe and North America. But aides battling to produce a
strong document for discussion by the world's environmental ministers
complained that only weak resolutions were likely to emerge, with no
firm deadline for emission cuts.
"We would have liked a more forceful proposal than the one on the
table, but we worked hard for a week and got fierce opposition from one
particular country," said European Community Environment Commissioner
Carlo Ripa Di Meana. "There seems to be a contradiction in the United
States. They prepare an advanced clean air bill at home, and then their
international approach lags so much behind," he said.
Danish Environment Minister Lone Dybkjaer was even sharper in her
attack on U.S. hesitation to endorse binding measures. "The United
States will be on its way to Mars within 30 years," she said. "We
should ask them to do their carbon dioxide job on this planet before
leaving."
U.S. chief delegate John Knauss refused to discuss the criticism,
saying, "We are a big country with a thick skin."
Norwegian Premier Jan Syse, formally opening the conference, said
responsibility for making progress on such questions as global warming
and the threat to the ozone layer rested squarely with responsible
politicians.
Mustapha Tolba, who heads the United Nations Environment Program,
told delegates that "green imperialism" must be resisted and that
developed countries must contribute financially toward environmental
protection in the Third World.
Britain, which has adopted a similar position to Washington,
continued to meet a barrage of criticism throughout the day from both
government delegations and environmentalists. Environmental groups in
particular castigated the two countries for refusing to adopt binding
agreements on cuts in carbon dioxide emissions.
"In the days ahead you have the opportunity -- and the
responsibility -- to recover the lost momentum," David Rehling,
speaking on behalf of the environmental groups, told the ministers.
"Only you can bind us to act and to act now," he said. "The draft your
officials have prepared for you will not achieve this goal."
Rehling called for a 20 percent reduction in carbon dioxide emissions
by the year 2000, to be followed by a further 75 per cent reduction.
Norwegian Environmental Minister Kristin Valla said carbon dioxide
emissions should at least be stabilized. "We should agree on
stabilization on carbon dioxide emissions at present levels by the year
2000," she said.
The United States and Britain have said they would discuss binding
measures to curb carbon dioxide only after receiving scientific proof
that the world's temperatures were rising because of the emissions.
The Bergen conference is one of several regional gatherings in
preparation for a global United Nations Conference on the Environment
in Brazil in 1992.
| T.R | Title | User | Personal Name | Date | Lines |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 393.1 | A bland compromise | NEILS::SAVAGE | Thu May 17 1990 12:56 | 52 | |
From: [email protected] (ULLA PLON) Newsgroups: clari.news.gov.international,clari.news.europe, clari.tw.environment Subject: Environment meeting: `Blah, blah, blah' Keywords: international, non-usa government, government, environment Date: 16 May 90 19:41:17 GMT Location: norway ACategory: international Slugword: environment BERGEN, Norway (UPI) -- Environment ministers from 34 industrialized countries ended a three-day row between the United States and Europe Wednesday by agreeing to a compromise declaration urging -- but not requiring -- cuts in carbon dioxide emissions. The modified declaration pressed governments to work for sustainable development and to take immediate action to curb emissions of carbon dioxide, which scientists believe depletes the Earth's protective ozone layer. Despite European objections, the U.S. delegation forced though compromise wording that freed reluctant nations, including the United States, from committing to exact cuts. "In the view of most (European Community) countries, such stabilization, at the latest by the year 2000 and at present levels, must be the first step," the declaration said. The measure was deemed insufficient by several delegates and environmentalists said there was no progress at all. "It is a step forward, a major step even," Irish Deputy Environment Secretary Brendan Donahue, said in defense of the declaration at a news conference on behalf of organizers. "Perhaps you can see it is a step, if you use a microscope," said Danish Environment Minister Lone Dybkjaer. Protesters at the fringe of the conference were dismayed by what they saw as an international failure to act to save the environment. "Blah, blah, blah," they chanted. "Bergen meeting, talk and eating." "There is only one loser, and that is the environment," said David Rehling, chief spokesman for environmental organizations. The Bergen Conference was one of several regional gatherings in preparation for a global U.N. Conference on the Environment in Brazil in 1992. The American negotiators, headed by John Knauss, also succeeded in denying the allocation of additional money to help reduce greenhouse gases in developing and East European countries. The U.S. delegation maintained the money should come existing funds. Despite initial reservations by the United States and Britain, the conference adopted a "precautionary principle" stating that action on environmental problems should be taken even though the cause is not fully scientifically proven. "Where there are threats of serious or irreversible damage, lack of full scientific certainty should not be used as a reason for postponing measures to prevent environmental degradation," the declaration said. | |||||