Canada Accused of Diluting Environment Pledges
6/19/97
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Subject: Canada accused of diluting environment pledges
Organization: Copyright 1997 by Reuters
Date: Thu, 19 Jun 1997
OTTAWA (Reuter) - Canada, one of the most vocal
proponents of the Earth Summit in Rio de Janiero five years ago,
has failed miserably to live up to its commitments, leading
environmental groups said Thursday.
Just days before Prime Minister Jean Chretien heads to the
United Nations for a progress meeting on the 1992 Rio summit,
environmentalists have accused Canada of sacrificing its air
quality, climate and forests to the interests of corporate
profits and international trade.
``They failed through sheer lack of effort,'' Elizabeth May,
executive director of the Sierra Club of Canada, told a news
conference.
The group said temperatures in Canada were projected to rise
on average by 4 to 5 degrees C (7.2 to 9 degrees F) by the year
2050, about twice the projected world average.
In some northern areas of Canada, temperatures were expected
to rise up to 10 degrees C (18 degrees F), causing significant
melting of permafrost, the group said.
At the 1992 Rio earth summit, formally called the United
Nations Conference on Environment and Development, Canada played
a leading role in spearheading a convention on biodiversity.
The government also pledged to reduce greenhouse gases,
review its pesticide policies, make trade and the environment
mutually supportive and protect forests.
Five years later, Canada has performed poorly in all those
areas, according to environmentalists. Even the Ottawa
government has acknowledged it has fallen short of its goals.
``Unless additional measures are taken, Canadian greenhouse
gas emissions in the year 2000 will be at least eight percent
higher than our 1990 emissions,'' the government said in a
report for the Denver G7 summit this week.
Canadian officials asserted this week that the targets set
in Rio were overly optimistic and were agreed without a thorough
knowledge of the changes they would require. The country is
expected at the United Nations meeting in New York to ask for
more time to meet its Rio commitments.
``If we want to do something for the environment, we have to
be realistic,'' said one senior official who asked not to be
identified.
Ottawa, however, rejects accusations that Canada has
switched from being a world leader in environmental reforms to
being a world leader in diluting its promises.
``Most other countries will also be unable to achieve the
Rio commitments,'' the G7 report said.
``What we've got to do is find goals that are a challenge
but that can be met,'' said one official said, adding that the
government must balance its environmental efforts with an urgent
need to improve Canada's jobless situation.
Canada's unemployment rate has hovered stubbornly between
nine and 10 percent for several years.
Environmentalists contend that more jobs are at risk if the
government does not act to reverse environmental degradation and
have urged the government to start by banning all new oil and
coal development and levying a carbon tax on greenhouse gas
emissions.