Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez has said that ahead of this week’s Rio+20, technical teams are simply re-editing the same texts they put forth at the 2009 climate change meeting in Copenhagen at which capitalist nations refused to assume their responsibility for environmental disasters.
“The capitalist countries, the ones that have contaminated the most, the ones that continue polluting the planet, refuse to recognize and assume their responsibilities to make decisions and halt the disaster that is underway,” President Chávez said, according to the Venezuelan delegation to Rio+20.
The Venezuelan president said that Venezuela will defend the preservation of the planet together with member countries of ALBA (the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our Americas) and other developing countries in the United Nations G-77.
“It is necessary for us all to take up the issue with conscience and responsibility,” Chávez said. The ones polluting the most must assume more responsibilities. The same responsibility cannot be demanded of all countries equally.”
President Chávez announced that Venezuela will be represented by Foreign Affairs Minister Nicolás Maduro at the conference in Brazil.
After recalling that one of the main objectives of his socialist plan of government for the 2013-2019 period includes the preservation of life on Earth, he reiterated that socialism is the way to save humanity.
“Here we are facing barbarism, the terrible scenario of the destruction of life. It is capitalism, the predatory and destructive model that has caused this terrible damage of global warming, thawing, increased ocean temperatures,” Chávez said.
ALBA Countries Favor Rights of Mother Earth
In discussions ahead of the Rio+20 Conference, delegates of the member countries of ALBA voiced support on Saturday for respecting the rights of Mother Earth against human exploitation.
The regional bloc has warned about the destruction of nature caused by the current patterns of industrial production and has highlighted the need to establish environmental policies with the active participation of the people.
Venezuela’s head of delegation for Rio+20, Claudia Salerno, said the decisions made at the meeting have to look beyond the present moment. She said that the ALBA countries are struggling and working to build a new world that “does not succumb to the pressures of particular circumstances.”
On Monday, the experts and technicians of the preparatory committee at the Rio+20 Conference, led by Brazil, debated the final document of the meeting, the so-called “Zero Draft.”
The lack of consensus relates to the contrasting positions of the developing and developed countries regarding the means for implementing policies that favor economic growth while protecting the environment.
The industrialized powers so far reject the proposals made by the 132 member states comprising the G-77 and China, including the creation of a $30-billion annual fund to promote sustainable development.
AVN / Press Office – Venezuelan Embassy to the U.S. / June 19, 2012
