Developing countries need environment funding: Try<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Without more global funding, developing
\ncountries will not be able to live up to the Convention on
\nBiodiversity, Vice President Try Sutrisno said here yesterday.<\/p>\n
They need to look for other financial resources, he told a
\nUnited Nations meeting of environment ministers.<\/p>\n
\"This is particularly true in view of the fact that developing
\ncountries have foreign debt problems,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Try said the global community should \"share equal and fair\"
\nresponsibility for the environment.<\/p>\n
However, ministers of Switzerland, Germany and other advanced
\ncountries said the existing funds for the Convention were
\nadequate.<\/p>\n
The Vice President opened the Ministerial Meeting of the
\nSecond Conference of Parties to the Convention on Biodiversity,
\nwhich ends on Nov. 17.<\/p>\n
The first conference was held last year in the Bahamas, after
\nthe Convention was issued at the 1992 Earth Summit in Brazil.<\/p>\n
The issues of nuclear testing and patenting of human material
\nwere raised by several of the 41 ministers at yesterday's
\nconference.<\/p>\n
Malaysia, Australia and a number of other countries said
\nnuclear testing runs counter to the Convention.<\/p>\n
Canada criticized the patenting of human material of people in
\nthe Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea.<\/p>\n
Around 24 senior officials had raised the issue in an earlier
\nsession. One speaker referred to the United States-sponsored
\n\"Human Genome Project\" which aims to gather blood and tissue
\nsamples from the world's indigenous peoples.<\/p>\n
Patenting human material was questioned in relation to
\nintellectual property rights and the rapid development of genetic
\nengineering.<\/p>\n
Ministers of Zimbabwe, Indonesia and other developing
\ncountries said regulations to ensure the safety of the use,
\ntransfer and handling of genetic engineering (termed \"biosafety
\nprotocol\") are important.<\/p>\n
Intellectual property rights was another controversial issue
\nraised at the conference, with the ministers of Canada, India
\nurging consultation with indigenous people.<\/p>\n
Representatives of traditional communities talking on the
\nsidelines of the conference have said they are basically against
\npatents on biological sources, which they regard as communal
\nproperty.<\/p>\n
Indonesia proposed a study on the effects of patents on living
\norganisms and the protection of traditional knowledge.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, smaller, \"contact\" groups within the conference
\nworked to complete drafts on issues including marine and forest
\nbiodiversity as well as biosafety protocol.<\/p>\n
Delegates have agreed that Indonesia should be the focal point
\nfor an intergovernmental panel of marine and coastal experts.<\/p>\n
Conference chairman Sarwono Kusumaatmadja said the delegates
\nrepresented 115 of the 134 countries which have ratified the
\nConvention, and another 24 which are in the process of ratifying
\nit.<\/p>\n
During a break between ministerial speeches, the United
\nNations Environment Program launched its book entitled Global
\nBiodiversity Assessment. (anr)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/developing-countries-need-environment-funding-try-1447893297",
"image": ""
},
"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}