[Nasional-m] Sustaining the planet

[Ambon]

 Sustaining the planet

The New York Times The New York Times Monday, August 26, 2002

With the American president a conspicuous exception, leaders from nearly 100
nations begin assembling this week in Johannesburg to address the future of
life on this planet. At the heart of the conference is a formidable if now
familiar challenge - figuring out ways to bring economic well-being to
billions of people now trapped in poverty without destroying the land,
water, air and biodiversity required to sustain life itself.
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It will be the third such meeting in three decades, and if the past is any
guide the Johannesburg conclave, known formally as the World Summit on
Sustainable Development, will be long on good intentions and short on
specific solutions. Even so, it is a meeting well worth having. The
Stockholm summit in 1972 inspired the industrialized nations to begin
cleaning up their air and water. The Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992
produced treaties on global warming and biodiversity that, while vague,
officially committed at least the industrialized nations to address two
major environmental threats that had long gone unattended. In the last
decade these challenges have not receded, while others have arisen.
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President George W. Bush's absence is regrettable, and reinforces his
well-deserved reputation - flowing in part from his rejection of the Kyoto
Protocol on global warming - for indifference to environmental problems and
reflexive hostility to multilateral remedies. If anyone can dispel that
impression, however, it is Secretary of State Colin Powell, who will lead
the American delegation. Although his visit will be brief, Powell at least
shares the view that environmental degra- dation and poverty can destabilize
nations as surely as actual warfare. There is little doubt that current
patterns of development are unsustainable over the long term. As the United
Nations secretary-general, Kofi Annan, recently observed, fish stocks
continue to shrink, tropical rain forests (and associated species) continue
to recede and agricultural productivity declines while the number of mouths
to feed grows. In 25 years, two-thirds of the world may be living without
enough water. Meanwhile, use of fossil fuels means increased global warming.
Millions die every year from tropical diseases, waterborne germs and
parasites and the pollution that results from the unshielded indoor
combustion of primitive fuels. Eliminating these diseases must be part of
any development program.
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Sustainable development may mean higher short-run costs. It can also
generate longer-range savings. A large German insurance company estimates
that the consequences of global warming will cost as much as $300 billion
annually by 2050. Health problems arising from poor sanitation, habitat
destruction and loss of biodiversity also carry a high economic price. For
these and other reasons, the conference's organizers have rejected the
notion that nations must choose between economic growth and environmental
protection. Both are indispensable.
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Bush's opposition to Kyoto means that global warming will not get the
attention it did 10 years ago in Rio. However, Powell has generally
expressed support for Annan's agenda, and is expected to announce a package
of health, environmental and food programs aimed at helping Africa. In the
conference's aftermath, he needs to go further and lead an effort to
reconfigure American foreign aid as a whole to underwrite sustainable
development.