Time to save the environment is running out fast

[dArKeR]

By James Wolfensohn

Saturday, Jun 05, 2004,Page 9

When the world's leaders met at the Millennium Summit four years ago, they agreed on a set of goals aimed at cutting global poverty in half by 2015. They also set targets for the environment, because they understood its centrality to long-term economic growth, human development and the stability of the planet. The problem is that today, 10 years shy of when the 2015 goals are to be met, progress on the environment is alarmingly slow. So much more is possible.

The phase-out of ozone-depleting substances through the Montreal Protocol, for instance, shows what can be done when the international community works together. Thanks to the protocol, it is estimated that up to 20 million cases of skin cancer and 130 million eye cataracts will be avoided.

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