Rio+20: disaster for the environment and people – KMU

Joining protests in front of the US Embassy in Manila, labor center Kilusang Mayo Uno condemned the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development scheduled to start today in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, saying the gathering will cause bigger disasters for the environment and peoples of the world.

The labor center said the conference, which celebrates the 20th year of the Earth Summit held in the same place, is using the rhetoric of saving the environment in order to promote policies that destroy the environment and the livelihood of workers and the poor.

“Rio+20 will surely follow in the footsteps of its predecessor. It will allow the wanton destruction and plunder of the environment, worsen the impact of disasters, and ruin the livelihood of workers and the poor – while using a pro-environment, pro-development rhetoric,” said Elmer “Bong” Labog, KMU chairperson.

“We in the Philippines want an immediate and complete stop to the mining and logging operations of big foreign corporations. Rio+20, however, will allow such operations to continue in exchange for some compensation for the government,” he said.

“Despite the 1992 Earth Summit, or because of it, the country’s Mining Act of 1995 was approved and implemented. This law has been responsible for so much harm to the environment and the people, and Rio+20 shows no indication that it will subject such legislation to review,” he added.

KMU cited Rio+20’s promotion of investments into initiatives for the reduction of carbon emission and pollution, enhancement of energy and resource efficiency, and protection of biodiversity and ecosystem through the same means that investments in other fields are encouraged.

“We have been battling against neoliberal policies of privatization, deregulation, and liberalization, but Rio+20 seeks to intensify the implementation of these policies using pro-environment rhetoric as battering ram,” Labog added.

“The aid and policy recommendations that will be put forward to advance these ‘environment-friendly’ initiatives will surely be used to further dictate to the country’s economy,” he said.

The labor center also expressed opposition to the pricing of natural resources and human knowledge, saying such moves will only allow big corporations to further monopolize the world’s resources.

“The big capitalists who rule the world today and who dominate Rio+20 cannot be expected to genuinely care for natural and human resources which they view as mere instruments for amassing bigger and bigger superprofits,” Labog said.