Dear Allan, > Why not make room for kooks and dissenters? > > As a forest ecologist, I concur that it's good to base one's > judgements on > scientific fact and that it's bad form to attack without having a > defensible > position. Thanks for your response. Just got out of a meeting with some US congressional aides an hour ago. My point is not in an attack or defense or anything personal. Basically, the environmentalists have been calling for more efforts in conservation of the world's forests. That's a good thing. I agree we must do more for conservation. However, when the opportunity arise for a global forest convention came along, they backed out. In any case it's likely that Malaysia will propose for a global forest convention to be held at the World Forestry Congress in Turkey. At the Earth Summit II in New York recently, political leaders - including the US President - of the developed world stated that they will lead the way in greening the world. However, in the ECOSOC of the UN held in Geneva last month, the guidelines on consumer protection & sustainable consumption was only sponsored by Chile & Brazil. Co-sponsors were Argentina, El Salvador, Nicaraqua, Malaysia, South Korea, the Philippines, Lebanon, Egypt, South Africa, Japan, Finland & Sweden. The USA & the rest of Europe did not sponsor these new guidelines. It's this muddled signals that we in the so-called Third World are receiving that made us wary of both environmentalists & the developed world. Just thinking aloud. Nelson Wong MTC
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