Ecological balance sought

Ecological balance sought

RIO DE JANERIO (DPA): Eight countries shoulder the main
responsibility for maintaining the Earth's ecological balance,
the WorldWatch Institute said Friday.

The United States, India, China, Indonesia, Russia, Japan,
Germany and Brazil together had 56 percent of the world's
population, 53 percent of its forests and produced 58 percent of
carbon dioxide emissions, WorldWatch Vice President Christopher
Flavin said at the Rio plus five follow-up conference to the 1992
Earth summit.

The countries named held the Earth's future in their hands and
bore the main brunt of responsibility for implementing the Agenda
21 measures for sustainable development agreed in 1992, Flavin
said. However, most of the governments were a long way away from
implementing the agenda.