THE imposition of a substantial tax on aviation fuel currently exempt from taxation worldwide could raise $1 billion to help poorer countries achieve the goal of sustainable development, a conference in Dublin heard yesterday.
The conference, organised by the Network of Irish Environment and Development Organisations, was told that such measures were necessary to break a logjam in the process of achieving the aims of the Earth Summit, held in Rio de Janeiro five years ago this month.
NIEDO's affiliate groups claim that sustainable development - one of the principal goals of the Rio summit - has been "buried" because of a "total failure" by developed countries to provide financial aid to their poorer counterparts to help them realise the world's most elusive goal.
They called on the Government and all political parties to take "decisive action" at national European and international levels to reverse this situation and to "inject new energy and commitment into the implementation of Agenda 21" - the Earth Summit's charter.
Yesterday's conference was organised in advance of a special session of the UN General Assembly on June 23rd-26th, at which more than 50 heads of state or government are expected to review the progress made over the past five years towards implementing Agenda 21.
Mr Niall Callan, assistant secretary of the Department of the Environment, said the "hope and intention" of the special UN session was to "recapture the spirit of Rio and re-emphasise sustainable development as the guiding principle for the 21st century".
He told the conference, held at Tailors Hall in Dublin, that both the Taoiseach, Mr Bruton, and the Minister for the Environment, Mr Howlin, would head a high-level delegation to the session, as the new Dail would not be assembling until June 26th.
Mr Callan conceded that much of Agenda 21 "remains unfulfilled", though it was always unrealistic to expect that sustainable development would be achieved within five years. Nonetheless he expected that the UN session would reaffirm it as the agenda for the future.
Among the "adverse signs" he listed were an increase of 450 million in the world's population since Rio, a rise in global carbon dioxide emissions, a reduction in biological diversity, an increasing level of poverty and continuing losses of trees in tropical rain forests.
However, Mr Cal Ian said there were also some positive indicators, including improved institutional arrangements both nationally and internationally, and he expected that the UN session would send a strong signals' on the need for progress in reducing carbon dioxide emissions.
In Ireland, he said there had been a "gradual reorientation" of economic sectors in the direction of sustainahle development, which was also now the subject of a national strategy, with monitoring arrangements which would "keep everyone on their toes".
Ms Geraldine Walsh, of An Taisce, said the level of subsidies currently available for intensive agriculture, energy consumption and other unsustainable activities - at $700 billion annually - could be used to finance the implementation of Agenda 21 worldwide.
Ms Maura Lean, of Tr6caire, the Third World development agency affiliated to the Catholic Church, said the globalisation of trade was at the front line of the battle for environmental resources, yet the World Trade Organisation was outside the entire Agenda 21 process.
A declaration to be adopted hy NIEDO affiliates claims that efforts by individual countries to implement policies for sustainable development were being undermined by the "ubiquitous power of transnational corporations", which controlled 80 per cent of the world's resources.
It says sustainable development needs to be the "overarching objective" of any new government and calls for the establishment of a ministerial task force, chaired by the Taoiseach, to ensure the implementation of the National Strategy for Sustainable Development.
"National targets for reductions in non-renewable resource use, wood, water and sustainable land use are urgently required," according to the declaration. It also calls on the Government to ensure that companies are transparent and accountable in relation to the environment.
Mr Tom Roche, of Irish Wood workers for Africa, criticised the Government's failure to ratify the CITES convention banning trade in endangered species. This was normally thought to apply to ivory, but he said Brazilian mahogany would soon be classified under CITES.
Prof Alan Matthews of Trinity College Dublin called for an increase in the proportion of Ireland's overseas aid to be devoted to agricultural projects in developing countries. He said these countries would also benefit from the gradual erosion in EU subsidies for intensive farming.