G8 to tackle illegal timber trade

Environment and development ministers from the G8 group of leading countries have committed themselves to tackling the problem of illegal logging.

They have also agreed that action is needed to protect Africa from the consequences of climate change.
Britain’s Environment Secretary, Margaret Beckett, said there had been “an interesting dialogue”.

“What was most noticeable was the degree to which everyone was singing from the same hymn-sheet,” she told reporters at the conclusion of the two-day meeting.

However, other delegates spoke of dissent behind the scenes, with the United States delegation determined to block any mention of linkages between climate change and issues such as trade and agricultural subsidies.

“Unfortunately there has been an apparently concerted effort by the United States to try to isolate climate change,” Dr Benito Mueller, of the Oxford Institute of Energy Studies, told the BBC News website.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4362505.stm