MEDIA REACTION: GLOBAL ECONOMY: ECONOMY AND THE

UNCLAS SAO PAULO 000299 SIPDIS SIPDIS STATE INR/R/MR; IIP/R/MR; WHA/PD DEPT PASS USTR USDOC 4322/MAC/OLAC/JAFEE E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: KMDR OPRC OIIP ETRD BR SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION: GLOBAL ECONOMY: ECONOMY AND THE ENVIRONMENT; SAO PAULO ¶1. "A World Scale Injustice" Former UNCTAD Secretary General Rubens Ricupero maintained in liberal, largest national circulation daily Folha de S. Paulo (4/15): "The US and Europe are responsible for two-thirds of gas emissions causing climate changes, while 840 million Africans cause less than 3%. But droughts and floods resulting from high temperatures will punish Africans much more than Western nations, which have been the historic villains of global warming since the Industrial Revolution.... The scourge that affects us today is not a natural catastrophe such as a meteorite fall. It is a change caused by human action.... This is the unique character of the process, the human mark that permits us to speak about injustice, not fatality. For this reason, it is not a surprise that the government of the US, responsible for 30% of emissions, has insisted in denying scientific evidence that the climate change is not due to natural, but human causes. To recognize that the change has been caused by men, and by some more than others, is to have to admit the principle of 'differentiated responsibility,' provided by the Climate Change Convention. It is, therefore, a positive international right that no one can discuss or deny.... The USG expects solidarity from everyone in the fight on international terrorism that threatens it. At the same time, it refuses to limit gas emissions and contributes to speeding up the physical disappearance of islands in the Pacific Ocean or Bangladesh regions where millions of people live. The international agenda is unfair, stupid and illegitimate because it gives highest priority to terrorism, arms proliferation (only in some nations),Iraq, Iran, and gives second class treatment to the mother of all threats, the one that affects the whole planet, including the rich nations." ¶2. "Transnational Eco-Stupidity" Physicist and university Professor Rogerio Cezar de Cerqueira Leite commented (4/15) in liberal, largest national circulation daily Folha de S. Paulo: "Now even Presidents Hugo Chvez and Fidel Castro joined the stupid anti-ethanol chorus. Chvez considers ethanol a competitor of oil. The greater the ethanol supply in the market, the smaller will be oil monopoly power. And in this aspect, Chavez has the support of the major multinationals operating in the sector. For Fidel, the issue is a political one. He had never said anything against the Brazilian ethanol program before President Bush's visit to Brazil, because he knows that solid trade cooperation always results in ideological fraternization." McMullen