Earth Summit Ignores Tribes, Brown Says

Former California Gov. Edmund G. (Jerry) Brown Jr. returned to Los Angeles from the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro on Thursday, praising the meetings for heightening awareness of environmental issues but criticizing the government-sponsored forums for excluding youth and indigenous peoples.

He said the issue of whether Amazon tribes, for example, were entitled to land ownership or some form of compensation was “struck out.”

“No indigenous people were given an official voice to speak and say, ‘Hey, we have some rights here.’ ” Brown said. “People are still talking about the government of Brazil or the government of whatever.”

Brown, who has vowed to continue his campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination despite Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton’s majority of delegates to the party’s convention, also had harsh words for President Bush.

Asked if he agreed with Bush’s message that the United States leads the world in preserving the environment, Brown said he did, but contended that Bush is at the “forefront of those trying to torpedo those efforts.”

For example, he said, Bush “has a major proposal to undermine the protection of old-growth forests that are very essential for global warming purposes . . . . “

For the last week, Brown went from tent to tent at the Global Forum, meeting with leaders of environmental groups in a park separate from the official U.N. Conference on the Environment and Development.

One of his proposals was to form an army of “hundreds of thousands” of youths from around the world called the Global Conservation Corps to repair, protect and promote the environment. He said Thursday that he would press that idea at the Democratic convention.