Copyright 2001 Reuters
October 22, 2001
By Shasta Darlington

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (Reuters) - Environmental initiatives could be another casualty of the Sept. 11 attacks on America, Latin American officials warned on Monday.

Almost 10 years after world leaders pledged to save the planet at the watershed Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, the officials say few promises have been kept and those that have are losing momentum as the U.S.-led war on Afghanistan (news - web sites) mounts.

``The current state of instability and apprehension we are experiencing discredits even more the chances of advances in the most critical environmental issues,'' Brazil's environment minister, Jose Sarney, said.

He spoke at the opening ceremony of a regional meeting of Latin American and Caribbean officials ahead of ``Rio+10,'' a global forum to mark a decade since the first Earth Summit in South Africa in 2002.

``Turning around this situation is the major challenge facing the Rio+10 conference,'' Sarney said at the meeting that drew more then 15 ministers from the region and officials from 33 countries.

Sarney and other Latin American leaders said developed countries had failed to meet commitments made more than nine years ago to help finance sustainable development in poorer countries.

And the United States' decision this year to withdraw from the Kyoto treaty on greenhouse gas emissions added to grievances. Most industrialized countries have also failed to commit 0.7 percent of their gross domestic product to sustainable development in the developing world, as agreed at the Earth Summit in 1992.

``There were high expectations at the summit that were not realized. We have to speed things up to meet global commitments,'' said Klaus Topfer, undersecretary-general of the United Nations (news - web sites) environment program. Still, he said those goals were more remote after Sept. 11.

``We have to fight terrorism, but we also have to do whatever possible to come to sustainable development,'' he said.

Mexican Environment Minister Victor Lichtinger added, ''We're worried the environmental issue could now take a back seat.'' Error: Unable to read footer file.