Ramos urges global action for real peace

President fidel ramos today said that poverty and armed conflicts still threaten most countries in the world and hamper efforts towards the attainment of human and ecological security for the world's 5 billion people. ramos made these remarks at the opening ceremony of a three-day international conference "the gathering for human and ecological security." "there is no doubt that the absence of real peace, and the outbreak of armed conflicts, are a real threat to human security," he said, adding "this gathering has decided to correctly address this urgent issue." he indicated that an environment of peace should be in place first before efforts through international networking such as the ongoing conference can address the issues that will mobilize people towards a common future. "one such insight is our view that we can only secure our common future, we can only meet the aspiration of the human person for dignity and opportunity, if we can only re-establish, maintain and enhance the culture of peace," he said. pointing out that the victims of regional, fratricidal and ethnic wars number as high as 6 million, the president urged the delegates to the conference to vigorously address the threats to man's existence to avert disaster. "the victims of war," he said, "include not only those who died but those who have had to leave their conflict-ridden countries as refugees in other lands." "there is no doubt that we stand on the brink of disaster if we do not do something fast about several threats to our very existence; or on the brink of opportunity, if we use our god-given and collective wisdom to recapture, finally humankind's active stewardship of the earth," he said. ramos also reiterated to the participants attending the conference on population, environment and peace that the economic deprivation of many people in the world must be changed to secure an environment of peace in the world. he indicated, "on a global scale, we will collectively address the main causes of poverty of peoples and nations --the unequal sharing of the world's resources and income, lopsided trade and commerce arrangements, and inequitable socio-economic policies of countries."