WTO Public Forum 2006

Forum Talkback

Frances B. Smith I refer you to the United Nations Environment Programme\'s Millennium Assessment report. http://www.millenniumassessment.org/en/Products.BoardStatement.aspx This Assessment was the larget global scientific study ever undertaken to look at the condition of the planet\'s living systems, systems on which we totally depend. The overriding conclusion of this assessment is not the, either-or, scenario that you describe, The report states; \'it lies within the power of human societies to ease the strains we are putting on the natural services of the planet, while continuing to use them to bring better living standards to all. Achieving this, however, will require radical changes in the way nature is treated at every level of decision-making. Resilience and abundance can no longer be confused with indestructibility and infinite supply.\' The warning signs are there for all of us to see. The future lies in our hands.\' The way to achieve... [view message]

Free8Fair at 14:17 on 9/27/06

Sustainable use of natural resources for the benifit of mankind is a complex issue, today, at least in the Third World. For example, the owners of the livestock resources belong to a low socio-economic status. They can not organize themselves to get the desired input from the development, financial and research organizations for developing thier resources. They can not organized themselves due the hostile political environment where the rich want to use thier political power for achieving thier own goals, usually unfair ones. The Development, Financial and Research organizations are not accessable to the common people. The government projects focus on entertaining certain big people, only. After fifty nine years of creation of Pakistan the government has launched a mega project called Dairy Pakistan, which is again selective and will focus only 640 individuals, while the dairy stake holders may exceed 20 million. They will not be covered under the mega project. Perhapse they will have ... [view message]

Prof.Dr.M.Subhan Qureshi at 5:39 on 9/27/06

Sustainability is somewhat of a nebulous term, even in its original 1987 definition in a report by the World Commission on Environment and Development: \"Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.\"Satisfying present needs without impinging on future ones is a concept that most would agree with. Under this rubric we should look to the future implications of our current actions -- almost always a sensible approach.However, sensible and sustainable seem to have parted ways. Increasingly, those promoting \"sustainable\" development, \"sustainable\" agriculture, \"sustainable\" consumption, and a \"sustainable\" ecosystem view the present with repugnance and the future with fear. Instead of viewing economic growth and development as vital prerequisites for human and environmental progress, sustainability advocates point to them as leading the way to depleted resources and a degraded enviro... [view message]

Frances B. Smith at 22:49 on 9/26/06

The United Nations Environment Programme\'s (UNEP) Millenniem Assessment report makes it clear that what we are doing to the world at the moment is unsustainable. The environmental impact is excessively high. UNEP also points out, in its assessment, that humankind must give \'full value\' to the services which nature provides, if we are to solve this problem. One of nature\'s services which we are busy destroying, are nature\'s carbon guzzlers, the world\'s forests, and this while we continue to make ever more green house gases. The scientists tell us that climate change is the the highest priority of all. If these forests were man made machines, there would be no question that we would be paying real money for the air cleaning services they provide. Because they are the products of billions of years of evolution, incorporating a living technology far far in advance of anything humankind can possibly make, we give them no financial value at all. More perversely still... [view message]

Free8Fair at 17:01 on 9/25/06

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WTOadmin at 16:38 on 9/21/06