Bush visits rain forest, A3.European nations pledged new money Friday at the Earth Summit to clean up the environment, while President Bush defended economic growth as the key to saving the planet.
More than 110 world leaders gathered for the closing days of the summit. A succession of presidents and prime ministers on Friday voiced their concerns for the future, with the most critical comments coming from Third World leaders."America's record on environmental protection is second to none. So I did not come here to apologize," Bush told the world leaders, who applauded him politely. "By now it is clear that to
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sustain development we must protect the environment, and to protect the environment we must sustain development."
But Bush was severely criticized by environmentalists who believe the United States has hobbled the summit. And Cuban President Fidel Castro received the loudest ovation of the morning when he said: "Consumer societies are fundamentally responsible for environmental destruction."
The United States has been cast as the villain for weakening a treaty on global warming before it would agree to sign. Bush is also isolated by his refusal to sign a second treaty to protect endangered animals and plants.
Bush did not back down from those positions in his speech, nor was he expected to.
The United States on Friday did introduce a six-point plan in which it pledged, among other things, to sign the summit's treaty on global warming and spend $1.4 billion on research on the issue. But environmentalists said that was nothing more than a repackaging of old measures.
"It's another finger in the eye of international public opinion," said Alden Meyer of the Union of Concerned Scientists.
In contrast, Europe - and Germany in particular - promised to provide more aid to developing nations, which say they cannot fight poverty and pollution without additional help.
The 12-nation European Community pledged $4 billion to support the summit's goals, and Germany promised to increase its development aid to 0.7 percent of its gross national product.
German Chancellor Helmut Kohl also committed his nation to reducing carbon dioxide emissions, a major cause of global warming, to a specific target.
"A peaceful future can only be assured if we make our peace with nature," Kohl said. "We are ready to assume our share and hope other industrial countries will do the same."
The documents the world leaders will sign include treaties on climate control and biodiversity, plus three non-binding pacts: a statement on preserving forests, a declaration on environmental princi-ples and an agenda for cleaning up the Earth. More than 60 nations have already signed the two treaties.
Chinese Premier Li Peng said, "Developed countries have a greater obligation to find solutions and to transfer technology."
But Bush responded by linking economic growth under capitalism to a cleaner environment.
"There are those who say it takes state control to regulate the environment. Well, let them go to Eastern Europe," he said. "There are those who say economic growth and environmental protection are not compatible. Well, let them come to the United States."
He called on all nations to meet by Jan. 1 to discuss plans for implementing the climate control treaty. He also said the United States on its own would be doing more than what the biodiversity treaty calls for.
"Our efforts to protect biodiversity itself will exceed - will exceed - the requirements of the treaty," he said. "But that proposed agreement threatens to retard biotechnology and undermine the protection of ideas. . . . Its financing scheme won't work."
Environmentalists said the treaty was too vague to determine which actions might be more or less than what it requires. They have also argued that the treaty could spur biotechnology by encouraging protection and sharing of biological resources.