VZCZCXYZ0013
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHSO #0299 1061121
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 161121Z APR 07
FM AMCONSUL SAO PAULO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 6740
INFO RHEHNSC/NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL WASHDC IMMEDIATE
RUEHBR/AMEMBASSY BRASILIA PRIORITY 7861
RUEHRI/AMCONSUL RIO DE JANEIRO PRIORITY 7973
RUCPDOC/USDOC WASHDC 2763

UNCLAS SAO PAULO 000299 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE INR/R/MR; IIP/R/MR; WHA/PD 
 
DEPT PASS USTR 
 
USDOC 4322/MAC/OLAC/JAFEE 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KMDR OPRC OIIP ETRD BR
SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION: GLOBAL ECONOMY: ECONOMY AND THE 
ENVIRONMENT; SAO PAULO 
 
 
¶1. "A World Scale Injustice" 
 
Former UNCTAD Secretary General Rubens Ricupero maintained in 
liberal, largest national circulation daily Folha de S. Paulo 
(4/15): "The US and Europe are responsible for two-thirds of gas 
emissions causing climate changes, while 840 million Africans cause 
less than 3%. But droughts and floods resulting from high 
temperatures will punish Africans much more than Western nations, 
which have been the historic villains of global warming since the 
Industrial Revolution.... The scourge that affects us today is not a 
natural catastrophe such as a meteorite fall. It is a change caused 
by human action.... This is the unique character of the process, the 
human mark that permits us to speak about injustice, not fatality. 
For this reason, it is not a surprise that the government of the US, 
responsible for 30% of emissions, has insisted in denying scientific 
evidence that the climate change is not due to natural, but human 
causes. To recognize that the change has been caused by men, and by 
some more than others, is to have to admit the principle of 
'differentiated responsibility,' provided by the Climate Change 
Convention. It is, therefore, a positive international right that no 
one can discuss or deny.... The USG expects solidarity from everyone 
in the fight on international terrorism that threatens it. At the 
same time, it refuses to limit gas emissions and contributes to 
speeding up the physical disappearance of islands in the Pacific 
Ocean or Bangladesh regions where millions of people live. The 
international agenda is unfair, stupid and illegitimate because it 
gives highest priority to terrorism, arms proliferation (only in 
some nations), Iraq, Iran, and gives second class treatment to the 
mother of all threats, the one that affects the whole planet, 
including the rich nations." 
 
¶2. "Transnational Eco-Stupidity" 
 
Physicist and university Professor Rogerio Cezar de Cerqueira Leite 
commented (4/15) in liberal, largest national circulation daily 
Folha de S. Paulo: "Now even Presidents Hugo Chvez and Fidel Castro 
joined the stupid anti-ethanol chorus.  Chvez considers ethanol a 
competitor of oil. The greater the ethanol supply in the market, the 
smaller will be oil monopoly power. And in this aspect, Chavez has 
the support of the major multinationals operating in the sector. For 
Fidel, the issue is a political one. He had never said anything 
against the Brazilian ethanol program before President Bush's visit 
to Brazil, because he knows that solid trade cooperation always 
results in ideological fraternization." 
McMullen