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(AIM) Agencia Informação Moçambique MAPUTO, Mozambique, 4 October 2000 -- Livaningo, the environmental NGO in the southern Mozambican city of Matola, has praised the government's decision to abandon its plans to incinerate obsolete pesticides in the furnaces of the Matola cement factory, but notes that the communique announcing this volte-face made no mention of the public outcry against the incineration proposal. A Livaningo statement, published in Wednesday's issue of the independent newsheet "Metical", claims that it was civil society that forced a review of the original project to dispose of the pesticides, and halted the government's "initial adventurist position". But the statement from the Environment Ministry announcing that no pesticides will be incinerated failed to make any reference whatsoever to public pressure. Livaningo warned that this refusal to acknowledge public opinion showed that there was still no "policy of transparency and dialogue". Livaningo found out that the incineration plans had been dropped from reports in the press - despite the fact that it has a place on the steering committee that is supposed to monitor the Danish-funded project to collect all the obsolete pesticides and get rid of them. Livaningo was not even sent a copy of the Ministry's statement. Livaningo adds that its "sense of satisfaction" is qualified by "the lack of understanding, arrogance and contempt with which we have been treated by the government, and by Danida (the Danish aid agency). We think now of the time and money that would have been saved if the organisers of the project had not sat in their ivory tower, where the sad and difficult reality that we experience is hidden by the clouds of greed and ambition". Livaningo pledges that it will remain on the alert, to ensure that the pesticides are indeed re-exported safely, and in the near future. The government's final decision is to re-export all the pesticides on commercial terms, and to bury any that cannot be re-exported in a secure landfill. FAIR USE NOTICE. This document contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. The Basel Action Network is making this article available in our efforts to advance understanding of ecological sustainability and environmental justice issues. We believe that this constitutes a `fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond `fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. More News |