Papoulias warns of environmental crisis

[Ellinas]

"Humanity is hovering on the brink of disaster caused by increasing environmental problems," Greek President Karolos Papoulias warned on Thursday in his address to the World Science Forum held in Budapest. He stressed that governments had to immediately adopt measures to reverse a course leading to the destruction of the environment.

"Now is the time of decisions. We must join our forces so that there are express commitments by governments to specific measures," he said.

According to the president, the path before the European Union for protecting the environment involved a head-on clash with major economic interests.

"The illusion is finished. The catastrophe is here, before us: Overheating of the planet, desertification, extreme weather phenomena, rise in sea levels, recession of glaciers, dangerous atmospheric pollution. Today everyone is in agreement, politicians of all shades and citizens in all classes, that something must be done," Papoulias underlined.

The president said the international political community and society had delayed too long in recognising the problem and stressed politicians' responsibility toward the people that they represented and future generations to join forces in order to turn the worldwide discussion on environmental protection into political action.

"The market cannot be the absolute regulating factor," the Greek president stressed, pointing out that most environmental destruction was wrought in the name of profits and growth unrestrained by rules.

ANA