World Band and WWF Announce Alliance to Protect World Forests
6/27/97
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Headline: World Band and WWF Announce Alliance to Protect World Forests
Source: The National
Date: 6/27/97
Author: James Woodford in New York
Moves to save 10% of world's forests
The World Bank and the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) have
announced an unprecedented alliance and a decision to fund
the acquisition of 50 million hectares of forests around
the globe by 2005.
If successful, this would be the biggest single attempt to
protect forests yet made.
The WWF and the bank are supporting the establishment of
an "ecologically representative network of protected
areas, covering at least 10 per cent of each of the
world's forest types by the year 2000".
The president of the World Bank, Mr James Wolfensen,
yesterday also announced an overhaul of its controversial
environmental programs, the establishment of an internal,
independent environmental auditor and major greenhouse
initiatives.
More than $27 million would also be made available to
ensure that the remaining seven CFC-producing factories in
Russia were shut down within the next 18 months.
CFCs are an ozone-destroying chemical that have left a
hole in the Earth's protective ozone layer.
Mr Wolfensen said "this is not a pie-in-the-sky plan. We
can put up the money and on the ground we can win the
battle".
The announcement was made on day three of the New York
Earth Summit and is a signal of the intense frustration
that the United Nations, which runs the bank, and
conservation groups are feeling at the inability of
politicians to act decisively to protect forests.
It is the first substantive initiative that has been made
this week and was warmly welcomed by Australia's
Environment Minister, Senator Hill, who said the World
Bank's decision represented a significant change in
direction.
"This is a good document in my view," said Senator Hill,
who is leading the Australian delegation to the Earth
Summit. "It's good on forests, it's good on climate
change."
But speaking yesterday, as the chairman of a meeting of
Commonwealth Environment Ministers, Senator Hill said
consensus among Commonwealth nations had not been achieved
on issues such as binding greenhouse gas reduction targets
or on the need for a forest convention.
Australia has been diplomatically isolated this week over
its refusal to endorse binding international greenhouse
gas reduction targets.
The Prime Minister, Mr Howard, yesterday pledged that his
Government would not sign a climate change convention in
Tokyo in December which was detrimental to Australia's
economic interests.
"I'm not going to be part of an agreement that damages
Australia, ever," Mr Howard said.
"This is a simple question of Australia's national
interest."
At present, 6 per cent of the world's 3,300 million
hectares of forest is protected. To reach 10 per cent,
another 129 million hectares needs to be conserved.
According to the chairman of the WWF's Forest Group, Mr
Don Henry, 50 million hectares is half of what is needed
to get to 10 per cent. "There's been a lot of talk at the
summit but not a lot of action," he said.
"What we have got here is a bank and a conservation group
coming together to deliver very concrete benefits for
forests."
The World Bank spends more than $350 million on forests
annually. This money will now be rechannelled into the
protection of forests.