WWF says that China needs help to manage its natural resources use

"China must work more closely with the rest of the world to ensure its global hunt for resources to feed its ravenous economy does not wreck communities and ecosystems, conservation group WWF said on Wednesday" and "The global quest for natural resources is closely linked to questions to poverty alleviation, corruption, transparency, regulations of transnational corporations, and human rights".

This is an incredibly important point. As China's economy is growing and is supplying more and more consumer goods to the world, and especially the industrialize world, it is no wonder that this country poor in natural resources needs to look elsewhere to supply its facotories with raw materials. The world community must not overlook the race that is currently going on to secure these ever limiting natural resources. An international scheme should be in place to ensure that no short cuts are taken that either leaves these under-devloped countries often rich in natural resources depleted and even poorer in the long term or that illegitimate and corrupt governments are bought. It is exactly this kind of competition for natural resources that spells disaster for many poorer nations. The world community has an obligation to ensure that the people of these nations are not worse off in the long run as a result, but hopefully reaps long term benefits instead.

The report by WWF also offers hope as it said: "China, with its growing acquisition of natural resources worldwide, ... has the opportunity to be one of the world's most influential voices for improving environmental governance on a global level". This then is the challenge: to work with countries like China and to help them play an active and positive role in the countries they buy natural resources from. Other governments and NGOs can play a vital role in nudging China to recognize that they have an important role to play and that they can do this ethically and environmentally responsibly.

To read the full story bu Reuter click here: China needs help managing resources properly -WWF