POVERTY, THE ENVIRONMENT AND THE PLANET'S FUTURE

That this House notes that poverty is a major cause of environmental problems in the Third World; affirms that international efforts to tackle environmental problems cannot be successful unless world poverty is reduced; therefore calls on the Government to raise the level of overseas aid and to increase the proportion of aid which directly benefits the poorest people so giving them the power to care for the environment; furthermore believes that the burden of foreign debt and the consequent net financial transfer out of the Third World exacerbates poverty and environmental degradation; welcomes the Government's Trinidad Initiative on official debt; calls on the Government to take a lead in securing international agreement to cut substantially the official debt service of the poorest countries and to facilitate the reduction of commercial debt in both low and middle income developing countries at the International Monetary Fund/World Bank meeting in April and the Group of Seven Summit in London in July.