Earth Summit delegates not clearing up own mess
Date: 02-Sep-02
Country: SOUTH AFRICA
Author: Alister Doyle
Officials said last week that only seven governments out of almost 200 at the August 26-September 4 summit had agreed to pay into a novel fund to compensate for the pollution caused by flying to South Africa, using electricity and driving around.
The fund, aiming to raise $5 million for environmentally friendly schemes in South Africa ranging from solar water heating to improving energy efficiency in buildings, has so far taken in just $300,000.
"It's never easy in the beginning," Alvaro Umana of the United Nations Development Programme told a news conference about the scheme, the first used at a U.N. meeting to offset pollution caused by delegates.
The summit bills itself as environmentally friendly, and delegates wear identity tags labelled "made from recycled plastic bottles". Two types of bins are used to help recycle some of the 17 tonnes of rubbish delegates produce each day.
About 3.4 tonnes of the trash is recycled but organisers say workers have to go through rubbish dumped in "paper only" bins as it often includes non-recyclables like plastic cups or cans.
About a quarter of the electricity used in venues for the World Summit on Sustainable Development is generated from renewable energy sources such as the sun, wind, waves and small hydro-electric power stations.
Only Britain, Sweden, Canada, Norway, Monaco, Switzerland and Austria have agreed to pay for harmful emissions by their delegations, along with a handful of companies including Japan's Tokyo Electric Power Co Inc and global mining company Rio Tinto, organisers said.
BLANKETING PLANET
Greenhouse gases, mostly carbon dioxide caused by burning fossil fuels, are feared to be blanketing the planet and driving up global temperatures. The gases may disrupt the climate and cause storms, droughts or raise sea levels by melting ice-caps.
"We hope to get more delegations to sign up," said Mary Metcalf of the Gauteng provincial government. She said the fund was unlikely to attract the United States, which has pulled out of the Kyoto Protocol to restrict greenhouse gases.
Delegates at the summit are trying to work out how to halve poverty by 2015 by fostering economic growth in Third World nations that does not strip the planet's resources.
Under the organisers' plan (www.climatelegacy.org), a delegate travelling from the United States, for example, would pay about $100 to offset about 10 tonnes of carbon dioxide emitted by travelling to and staying in Johannesburg.
Envrironmental groups have not signed up.
"It's a well-intentioned effort but we think we would be sending the wrong signal if we join voluntary measures," said Steve Sawyer, climate policy adviser for Greenpeace.
He said the conference should focus on forcing governments to impose measures to combat pollution.
