Asia needs billions of dollars in environmental aid: Meeting<\/p>\n
Associated Press, Phnom Penh<\/p>\n
Asian nations are suffering from an annual shortfall of at
\nleast US$30 billion and need more funding - promised but not
\ndelivered - from developed nations to turn the tide of
\nenvironmental degradation.<\/p>\n
The issue of green financing was expected to feature Wednesday
\nas governments formulate an Asian agenda for next year's World
\nSummit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, South Africa.<\/p>\n
The three-day conference in Phnom Penh opened Tuesday with a
\nwarning that the global battle for sustainable development would
\nbe won or lost in Asia, and that the key to victory was
\nalleviating mass poverty on the continent.<\/p>\n
"Our challenge today is poverty reduction in a socially,
\nenvironmentally and economically acceptable manner," said Kim
\nHak-Su, executive secretary of the U.N. Economic and Social
\nCommission for Asia and the Pacific, or ESCAP, in a policy paper.<\/p>\n
A Phnom Penh Regional Platform, which will be submitted to the
\n2002 summit, is expected to voice concern over an annual
\nfinancing gap for the environment of about $30 billion and call
\nfor innovative ways to tap funds.<\/p>\n
The ESCAP chief and other delegates are also urging that
\ndeveloped countries honor a commitment to reach a United Nations
\ntarget of 0.7 percent of gross national product for official
\ndevelopment assistance.<\/p>\n
An Asian task force preparing for the Johannesburg summit
\nestimated Asia needs $70.2 billion a year in investment to
\nachieve environmentally sound development.<\/p>\n
But inflows have proved inadequate, the gap resulting in part
\nfrom failure by the richer nations to honor promises made at the
\n1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. The Johannesburg meeting
\nwill assess the state of the world's environment a decade after
\nRio.<\/p>\n
The continent's population of 3.2 billion, over half the
\nworld's people, is expected to rise to 4.8 billion by 2025 and
\n5.3 billion by 2050, gobbling up forests, water and biodiversity.<\/p>\n
Already, soil erosion affects 80 percent of the land, the
\nlevels of smoke and dust in 10 Asian cities are twice the world's
\naverage and fecal bacteria in rivers is three times the global
\naverage. Coral reefs, great spawning grounds for marine life, are
\nunder threat everywhere.<\/p>\n
Impoverished families - some 900 million Asians earn less than
\n$1 a day - often have no choice but to overexploit forests,
\ngrasslands and rivers.<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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