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WORLDWIDE FOREST/BIODIVERSITY CAMPAIGN NEWS

German Chancellor Calls G-7 Amazon Actions "Pathetic"

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Forest Networking a Project of Ecological Enterprises

7/20/96

OVERVIEW & SOURCE by EE

Following is a photocopy of a Reuters report on Chancellor Helmut Kohl's

visit to Brazil, where Germany's active financial assistance in Amazon

conservation projects, the implementation of promises made at the 1992

Earth Summit, was contrasted with other industrial countries meager

contributions. The piece provides a good review of recent Amazonian

conservation issues; including increased concern about rising deforestation

rates, the recent ban on logging of some hardwoods including mahogany, and

Brazil's recent dropping of it's opposition to the ITTA agreement which

limits tropical timber trade to sustainable harvests.

g.b.

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RELAYED TEXT STARTS HERE:

Kohl says G7 eco-action over Amazon is "pathetic"

Copyright 1996 by Reuters

7/18/96

BRASILIA (Reuter) - German Chancellor Helmut Kohl, paying a visit to

Brazil, Wednesday blasted other Group of Seven industrialized countries for

their "pathetic" contribution to the protection of the Amazon rainforest.

Speaking to Brazilian industrialists at a "working breakfast" in the

capital Brasilia, the German leader said Bonn was the only G7 nation living

up to environmental funding promises made after the 1992 Earth Summit in

Rio de Janeiro.

"The motto seems to be: The others talk, we pay," he said. "Their actions

have been rather pathetic. After all, we are talking about protecting the

future of a whole generation."

Germany has taken the lead in funding a pilot program for saving Brazil's

endangered Amazon, the world's largest tropical rainforest, sometimes

called the "Lungs of the Earth." The program, which last week won

additional financing from the European Union, a contribution largely

bankrolled by Germany, aims to promote sustainable forest use, protection

of indigenous communities and ecologically-aware development.

Kohl said Bonn had coughed up 60 percent of the $312 million put into the

Amazon program so far, while other G7 industrialized nations were largely

sitting on their wallets.

Ecologists are again voicing concern after a recent survey showed the rate

of deforestation rising, and Amazon rainforest protection is likely to be

placed firmly on the agenda of the next Earth Summit in New York in June

1997.

In July, Brasilia announced a ban on further logging of mahogany and virola

hardwood after a Ministry of Science and Technology study revealed 5,750

square miles of rainforest was felled in 1994 compared with 4,298 square

miles in 1991.

Soon after, Brazil dropped its long-standing opposition to the

International Tropical Timber Agreement, now likely to come into force next

year and limit the $100 billion a year international timber trade to

sustainably managed forests.

Kohl, traveling with several high-powered German businessmen on a three-

nation Latin American tour aimed at boosting trade and investment, said the

environment was "an industry of the future."

He said it was not his prerogative to criticize developing countries that

sometimes sacrifice ecology for the sake of progress, especially as Europe

had all but eradicated its own forests. "It's not our job to force our help

on others, but we can offer it," he said.

On Tuesday, Kohl and Brazilian President Fernando Henrique Cardoso spoke of

friendship and shared ideals. They pledged to make ties between their

countries a priority and to seek ways to boost their $7 billion plus in

bilateral trade.

Kohl, who visited Argentina before Brazil, was to fly to Mexico Wednesday.

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