JOHN O'SHEA,
Sir, - The world summit on sustainable development is expected to draw an attendance of at least 50,000 people. That's great news - for the hotels, restaurants and night-clubs of Johannesburg at least.
For the millions of people throughout the developing world who are living in crushing poverty, however, this conference will probably be as meaningless as the half-dozen or so that we have had already this year, and the hundreds that have taken place in the Past half-century.
Their children are still dying of preventable diseases or from lack of food or water, despite the fine words and dissertations and international debate.
Even if they knew that the world is discussing their plight, I doubt that the pot-bellied but ever-smiling children of Malawi who pick through the parched dust for grains of corn spilled during a food distribution would take much comfort. They understand the urgency of the situation better than anyone in the marbled conference centres.
Their cousins in Calcutta, who spend their formative years scavenging through the filth of rubbish dumps or working in backstreet sweat shops, could be excused for being a tad more cynical. Their elder brothers and sisters were doing just the same as them at the time of the last Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. They may have heard of the promises made in Rio, but they certainly didn't see them being kept.
The crux of the problem is that, despite their public utterances, the rich countries don't want to part with the cash to enable the poor to enjoy the benefits of globalisation. Precious few of the developed countries have achieved the UN target of 0.7 per cent of GDP to be spent on development. Ireland has committed itself to achieving this by 2007; but already, at the first sign of a domestic downturn, the Government has fallen behind its timetable to achieve this target.
Without sufficient assistance the poor countries will never be able to become productive enough to overcome their problems. They need money and resources to be put into the education and healthcare of their children. They need to gain access to markets in the rich countries; as things are, they cannot compete against the subsidised production of richer nations.
Perhaps a new logistical organisation should be established to tackle the problems of the developing world. If it can avoid the bureaucracy and waste of the UN organisations, if it concentrates solely on the problems of the poor and if it is given the budget and resources to do the job then, perhaps, there is some hope for the poor.
We certainly need to do more than talk. - Yours, etc.,
JOHN O'SHEA,
GOAL,
PO Box 19,
Dun Laoghaire,
Co Dublin.