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.