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SAFER WORLD a private independent international internet information network www.safer-world.org/ Davos 2001 |
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From WWF: Reproduction of this piece is free of rights as long as you mention its provenance. **************************** Sustainable developments of Davos Action must be taken now to prevent next year's Earth Summit from falling victim to the agenda of the violent minority Gland, Switzerland: There is increasingly something of the atmosphere of a battle about international conferences, and the World Economic Forum in Davos was no exception. However, among the street protests, smashed windows, burning cars and mob violence featured on the airwaves, in newspapers, and on TV, the real message from the Forum was in danger of being lost in a cloud of tear gas. Having just lived through the six days of the Davos Forum, I am acutely aware of the responsibility upon the organizers of such events to take account of concerns expressed in wider society - and the equal responsibility of non-governmental organizations and other representatives of civil society to respond constructively. At the same time, however, I cannot avoid pointing to another constituency that has a crucial role in determining the outcome of these international gatherings, and that is the media. All too often, the media miss, or even deliberately ignore, the real issues, because they devote the bulk of their news space and air time to the activities of the protesters and the security services mobilised to prevent the troublemakers from achieving their disruptive ends. I am in no way defending the exaggerated security measures taken in Davos by the Swiss authorities, but I do blame the coverage given by the media for exacerbating the situation and distorting public understanding of what was really going on. Did anybody listen to the four keynote speakers at the opening of the Forum - all from developing countries, and among them the President of Tanzania? Unlike the anti-globalization protesters, the speakers made serious points that should have been clearly heard. Almost unanimously, they drew attention to the fact that their countries have not benefited from globalization, were denied market access and have suffered under the tariff barriers and subsidies of industrialized nations. This was real criticism, not the formless howling of the mob. They did not attack globalization as such, recognizing that it is happening anyway. Their point was that, in its current form, the process often leaves developing countries paying the bill. The problems of the negative environmental, social and economic side-effects of globalization, deepening the poverty gap rather than alleviating it, was central in many discussions in Davos. Would this not have merited a little bit more media attention, at the expense of the waterjet of the Swiss police in Davos and the few burning cars in Zurich which occupied news pages and TV screens for days? The media must not get carried away by the effects of 'dramatic' pictures. When they do so, they play into the hands of a violent minority and actually prevent more reasoned critics and peaceful demonstrators from being heard. We need more analysis from the media, more respect for the intelligence of their audience. Davos is over, but now governments, business and NGOs need to make rapid progress to ensure that the unstoppable advance of globalization integrates crucially important environmental and social corrections, and that the World Trade Organization addresses the problem of tariff barriers that run contrary to its own objectives and hamper sustainable development in some of the poorest countries of the world. Whatever happened to Sustainable Development ? was the title of one of the final plenary sessions at Davos, in which I was asked to make a contribution, with an eye to the next United Nations Earth Summit in Johannesburg in 2002. I, and other speakers, could not help wondering whether Rio+10, as the forthcoming summit is more commonly known, would be drowned in the negativism and the new ritual of protest and violence seen in Seattle, Prague and now Davos. I can only hope that the newspapers and television companies will adopt an attitude more responsible than the one they have shown recently. We cannot risk such an important summit being devalued by concentration on the determined few who wish to bring it down. But the UN has a heavy responsibility, too. One of the best ways of addressing the peripheral protests is to place the process of globalization firmly in the context of globalization. To my mind, the UN Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD) will never be able to achieve this on its own - it will require a cross-sectoral steering group and a strong international leader. The UN Secretary General must ensure very soon that a clear vision for the conference is developed. It must include the concerns of developing nations, harness the power of business and address the environmental and social concerns expressed by civil organizations. The outcome must not be left to the streets. Dr Claude Martin is Director General of WWF International, based in Gland Hild Glattbach, Managing Editor Email: hglattbach@wwfint.org **************************************************************** www.panda.org - news and information about WWF's work around the world. www.passport.panda.org - take action on global conservation issues - **************************************************************** WWF International, Ave du Mont Blanc, 1196 Gland, Switzerland, Tel: +41 22 364 9556. Fax: +41 22 364 5358.
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