Word: rios
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...world's problems, but if human numbers and consumption continue to rise unabated, there is little hope for the other creatures with whom we share the earth and a high probability of catastrophe for humanity itself. After years of preparation, however, the negotiators preparing the main documents for Rio have relegated the issue to a few delicately worded phrases. In the draft of the Rio Declaration, the sole mention of population is a deliberately ambiguous reference to "appropriate demographic policies...
...birthrate is not reached until 2010, the population will hit 12.5 billion by the middle of the next century -- unless mass starvation, disease or war curbs the numbers. Almost all these people would live in developing countries, and it is difficult to imagine how any agreement coming out of Rio could offset the negative impact of this tide of humanity...
...size and ambition were the measures of success, the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro would take all the prizes. The so-called Earth Summit, more than two years in the making, will be the largest and most complex conference ever held -- bigger than the momentous meetings at Versailles, Yalta and Potsdam...
...with one week to go before the opening ceremonies, the outlook for the Rio conference is far from certain. It is still possible that the Earth Summit will be one of those landmark events that change the course of history, recasting the relationship of the nations of the world not only to one another but also to their environment. Or it could end up to be a diplomatic disaster of global proportions, driving the wedge deeper between the industrial countries and developing countries and thus setting back the cause of environmentalism...
...pledge $75 million to help poor countries find ways to reduce the production of gases that may cause global warming; and at the presummit negotiations, there were hints from developed nations that as much as $6 billion in debt relief and other financial guarantees might be forthcoming at the Rio conference itself. But that is a pittance compared with the $125 billion that Strong has said the developed nations will need to contribute annually to protect natural resources and clean up pollution. (The developing countries, he says, would have to put up an additional $500 billion a year...