The first day of the conference began with a launch of Sustainable Development: Promoting Progress or Perpetuating Poverty? a new book edited by Julian Morris.

     The book launch was presided over by the Hon. Francis Xavier Ole Kaparo, E.G.H, M.P, speaker of the Kenya National Assembly.

     Mr. Kaparo in his opening speech explained that words like globalization, liberalization and sustainable development may mean different things to different people. He noted that, people share a world where poverty persists. He urged different groups to seek solutions that will enable people to harness environmental resources.

     He termed the African problem as one of a mismatch between largely-untapped resources co-existing with people wallowing in excruciating poverty. He hoped the book launch would "help communities to be part of the solutions to sustainable tapping of resources."

     The book editor, Julian Morris, explained that sustainable development involves decentralization of ownership and control - of empowering individuals and communities to take charge of their own lives. He added, the main reason for poverty and unsustainable development in Africa, Asia and South America is oppression by incompetent, violent and corrupt governments - and an attendant lack of property rights and the rule of law.

     Referring to the findings in his book, he argued that most of the policies being proposed at Johannesburg would be more likely to perpetuate poverty than to promote progress:

• Increased foreign "aid" for the governments of poor countries, whilst well-intentioned, would reduce the accountability of governments to their citizens, encouraging corruption and undermining incentives to reform.

• Increased global control of resources – would undermine the ability of people to manage their own lives and would therefore be unsustainable.

• Ratification of international agreements that would enable trade restrictions to be imposed on "environmental" grounds would most likely be harmful both economically and environmentally.

THE CONFERENCE

     The conference theme of "Conservation and Sustainable Development" featured representation from the International Policy Network-London, UK; the Liberty Institute of New Delhi, India; the Free Market Foundation-Johannesburg, South Africa; the Kenya Institute of Public Policy Research and Analysis (KIPPRA); the African Conservation Center (ACC) Kenya, the University of Maryland School of Public Policy-USA, the Sand County Foundation-USA, the National Environment Management Authority-Kenya, the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP) - regional office for Africa, the Mara Conservancy and IREN-Kenya. A total of 70 participants took part in the conference.

     The conference began with opening remarks by ISIL stalwart Leon Louw whose presentation was entitled "The Miracle of Poverty: How Governments Keep People Poor". He remarked that the conference was timely and strategic - being held as it was just before the world summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg.

     Louw stressed that the key to development was a combination of strong institutions, especially property rights, the rule of law, and individual liberty. Good governance, he stated, requires limited government, decentralization of power, democracy, and freedom of speech. He emphasized that people should work towards attaining true development and encouraged people to focus on studying the history of the developed nations in order to learn how how they attained their present status.

     Barun Mitra spoke on "Multilateral Environmental Agreements, International Trade and Sustainable Development."

     As we reported in the last issue of the Freedom Network News, there appears to be an awakening in black Africa as to the benefits of market economies. James Shikwati is definitely among those on the forefront of this movement toward bringing freedom and prosperity to the Dark Continent.