NGOS CONGRATULATE
LEADERS FOR REJECTING ENERGY ECO-IMPERIALISM
"The poor have nothing to lose but their poverty"
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Sustainable Development Network
PRESS RELEASE 4 September 2002
Wednesday 4 September, Johannesburg -- NGOs at the World Summit
today called on leaders to heed the call of the poor, who
demand better energy, better health and better lives, rather
than listening to wealthy western NGOs who advocate 'renewable
energy'.
Barun Mitra of the Liberty Institute in New Delhi, India,
and member of the Sustainable Devleopment Network said, "Leaders
should be commended for ignoring the demands of eco-imperialists
who seek to impose inferior technologies on the poor."
Mitra explained, "Over a billion people in this world,
who currently use such renewable energies as dung and wood,
should have the choice to use whatever energy they wish. Poor
people should not be condemned to poverty by Western NGOs."
As the President of Uganda, Yoweri Museveni, said in his
remarks to the WSSD plenary session on Monday, "NGOs
opposing dams in Uganda are the real enemies of the environment.
The world needs more electricity, not resolutions."
However, NGOs at the World Summit continue to demand 'renewable'
energy, rather than advocating energy choice for people who
currently subsist on 'renewable' energy such as wood and dung.
These forms of energy are included in the 15% renewable target
apparently agreed by negotiators at the WSSD.
The use of wood and dung contributes to 4.3 million childhood
deaths from respiratory disease caused by indoor air pollution.
Poor women and children spend millions of human hours collecting
wood and dung. Their quality of life would be drastically
improved by any form of cleaner energy - including gas, coal,
hydro, oil and nuclear, which are far cheaper than solar and
wind power in nearly all contexts and become cheaper as demand
increases (which would happen as economies develop).
Encouraging the use of technologies that are inherently cleaner,
cheaper and more efficient than their traditional 'renewable'
technologies is rightly a core focus of both the implementation
document and the Ministerial Declaration.
Mitra commented, "Unfortunately, in their call for 'renewable'
energy, western NGOs don't understand that the poor have nothing
to lose but their poverty."
Contact: Barun Mitra (Liberty Institute, New Delhi):
Cell: 072-477 2372
Kendra Okonski (Sustainable Development Network)
Cell: 072 477 2371
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