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------- Forwarded Message Follows -------
Date:          Thu, 12 Jun 1997 00:29:04 -0500
From:          Terry Collins <terryjen@globalserve.net>
To:            sej@indra.com
Subject:       Summary: International Media Conference on Environment and
 Development, Korea

Summary: International Media Conference on Environment and Development

SEOUL, Korea, June 5 -- The international media must significantly
strengthen the commitment to environmental news coverage if the legacy
of the Earth Summit in Rio five years ago is to have a lasting
impact.    This was the primary conclusion reached at the close of a
journalists' conference here on World Environment Day 1997.

"Hype will not do it," Elizabeth Dowdeswell, executive director of the
United Nations Environment Programme, told the conferees from 12
countries.  "Rio quite clearly showed that you can lead a horse to
water, but you can't make him drink."

Despite an unprecedented pledge from world governments to take decisive
action to reverse the depletion and pollution of the planet's natural
resources, "things seem to be getting worse instead of better" since the

1992 summit, Ms. Dowdeswell said.  She called again upon national
leaders to forge and honor binding agreements to back up their Rio
commitments.

UN Under Secretary General Maurice Strong also urged journalists to
adopt their own version of "Agenda 21," the action plan forged in Rio.
In a video address to the Seoul conference, he said: "News on
sustainable development issues needs a more effective dissemination
system .... Unless we get these messages out into the larger world, they
will have very little impact."

In a positive note struck at the meeting, environmental specialists from
Korea and other nations said public awareness and concern about the
degradation of natural resources around the world has risen markedly.
Nevertheless, delegates from developed countries said the environmental
story is getting less attention in their media than it was a half-decade
ago.

At the close of  the three-day conference, participating journalists
reviewed a 10-point summary of recommendations for improving
environmental coverage, as well as awareness within the media community
itself.  The conference, hosted by the Korea News Editors' Association
and the Korea Press Center, was co-sponsored by the United Nations
Children's Fund, the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural
Organization, the United Nations Population Fund, and the United Nations

Environment Programme, in association with the Global Forum of Spiritual
and Parliamentary Leaders on Human Survival, the International
Federation of Environmental Journalists and Young Asia Television.

Korea, this year's official host of World Environment Day, also marked
the occasion June 5 with such events as a Global Youth Forum, a
conference on Environment and Ethics and a large public celebration at
Seoul's Olympic Stadium, attended by Korean President Kim Young Sam and
Ms. Dowdeswell of UNEP, whose organization is celebrating its 25th
anniversary.

With one of the fastest growing economies in the world, Korea has
recently demonstrated heightened concern about the negative impact of
rapid industrialization.  The effects of the economic boom are clearly
felt in this bustling capital of 11 million, where street-clogging cars
emit a continuous cloud of smog over the sprawling port metropolis.
Stricter emission standards and other programs, such as new recycling
guidelines, are among the country's recent innovations.

"Any economic achievement at the expense of quality of life is valueless

and devoid of any significance," Sang-Mok Suh, president of the Korean
Parliamentary League on Children, Population and the Environment, told
the media participants.

The conference was entitled "Environment and Development: The Quest for
Harmony."  Delegates generally agreed that the quest continues, but that
increased awareness in most government and public sectors of the need
to reconcile these two forces offers some hope for the future.

Conference Chairman George A. Krimsky, who heads the Global Forum's
media committee, said the meeting, the seventh in an international
series held over the past 10 years, provided useful information,
expanded access and gave new impetus to the environmental journalism
movement.

"For even if some of us regard our role more as dispassionate observer
than active participant in that process, we are all united by the
mission of serving the public through communication.  This conference
has helped to confirm without doubt that the people we serve - no matter
who or where they are - rely on the media not only for information
and entertainment, but for guidance."

Journalists from Asia, Europe, North America, Latin America and Africa
discussed implementation of a series of "action points."  They include
the need to:

- acknowledge nature's primary role in human endeavors and foster
justice on a global scale - particularly for the most vulnerable members
of society, such as women, children, minorities and the poor - as
valid editorial and media causes.

- promote greater commitment to the environmental story within our media
organizations.

- expand our access to reliable information by improving exchanges with
relevant organizations in the United Nations and Non-Government
Organization (NGO) communities.  This includes the greater use of
materials provided by these organizations and greater use of expertise
from developing countries.

- strive to make these stories more interesting to a general audience,
with special effort to avoid the use of official jargon without
explanation.

- redefine and expand the traditional definitions of news, with renewed
emphasis on process, as well as event coverage, and on solutions, as
well as problems.

- support and encourage Freedom of Information legislation to improve
access to vital government information about environmental issues.

- encourage, support and use non-traditional and alternative media
engaged in coverage of the environmental story.

- help fellow journalists and media professionals, especially from
developing countries, improve their knowledge in and techniques for
covering the global development story, including an increase in
educational and training programs and in the production of how-to
materials.

- strengthen internal exchanges of information and networks, in addition
to increased involvement in such professional associations as the
International Federation of Environmental Journalists.

- strongly support journalists and other media professionals who are
harassed, censored, imprisoned or killed for trying to report truthfully
about environmental issues.

(End)

___________________________________________________
Bruce Girard             Agencia Informativa Pulsar
Email: bgirard@pulsar.org.ec
http://www.web.net/amarc/pulsar.html
Fono/Fax: +593-2-501 180 o 551 674
Fax en Montreal, Canada: +1-514-221-2009
Av. Atahualpa 333, Casilla 17-08-8489, Quito, Ecuador