SOUTH PACIFIC

The nations of
this region have signalled
their refusal to be treated as
mere waste dumps. In mid-April, 13 island states,
including Australia and New
Zealand, agreed to a draft
treaty that will ban all chemical and other hazardous
wastes from being dumped
in, or shipped through, the
region. Ratification of the
treaty will take place by the
heads of governments at a
meeting in Port Moresby,
New Guinea in September.

The treaty has been
pushed through to tackle
what Resio Moses, a senior
official from the Federated
States of Micron esia termed,
the "numerous approaches
that have been made to
some island countries by unscrupulous foreign waste
dealers."

KAMPUCHEA:
Largescale plunder is underway in the forests
of Kampuchea reducing its
forest cover miserably.
According to a recent report
flashed by Global Witness,
an environmental group
based in London, Thai companies, in collusion with
Khmer Rouge guerrillas in
Kampuchea are engaged in
illegal logging and exporting
activities. The report finally
confirms the theory that
black timber trade is flourishing between Thailand and
Kampuchea, despite the Thai
government stubbornly claiming that the alleged reports
are not true.