Youth take message to UN
By Nick Fredman
SYDNEY — World Environment Day was celebrated here with a rally organised by Environmental Youth Alliance outside the United Nations office in York Street on June 5. Young people heard speakers condemn the inadequacies of the United Nations Conference on the Environment and Development (UNCED) and demand real action for an ecologically sound and socially just world.
Speakers included visiting Indonesian activist Helmi Fauzi, Col Smith from the Wilderness Society, Anne Reynolds from Greenpeace, a representative of Sydney Rainforest Action Group and Elle Morrell from EYA.
Speakers pointed out that UNCED failed to set any targets for reduction of greenhouse gases, or to make meaningful or binding decisions on deforestation, nuclear power and waste, toxic dumping or biotechnology. They condemned the line pushed by representatives of big business and First World governments that freer markets could somehow lead to sustainable development.
A delegation from EYA presented a list of demands on behalf of the rally to the United Nations. These included the cancellation of all Third World debt, the recognition of the rights of indigenous people, and the need to change destructive methods of production in the First World. The rally also demanded that decisions about the use of natural resources be made democratically by the community concerned, and that profit be subordinate to environmental and social justice considerations.