Brazil has prompted independent MP and environmentalist Mr. Stuart Hayward to head to the southern hemisphere himself.

Mr. Hayward said he asked Government, the PLP and the NLP for their "blessing'', but is not expecting to serve as an official representative for Bermuda.

In the House of Assembly three weeks ago, Environment Minister the Hon. Ann Cartwright DeCouto said Government felt it would be unfair to taxpayers to send her and a technical officer to the Earth Summit -- officially called the United Nations Conference on the Environment -- which begins on June 3 in Rio de Janeiro.

But Government had asked Britain's representative to stop in Bermuda on his way home to brief the Bermuda Government, and would also receive written documents and information on resolutions.

After that, Mr. Hayward said, he was contacted by people who offered to arrange sponsorship for him to attend. Mr. Hayward said he will now attend Global Forum `92, a large conference that is being run from June 1-13 in Rio in conjunction with the summit.

"This is really where the grass roots organisations will be making contact, exchanging information and working on problems,'' he said. "I imagine most of what will be going on is networking.'' Mr. Hayward described the conference as "the conference of the century -- and it's perhaps the last chance that the globe will have to begin cooperating in halting and reversing the destruction that humans have wrought on earth's environment.'' Bermuda may not do much on its own to solve the world's environmental problems, he said, but may be badly affected by them. For instance, he said, even a small rise in sea levels could destroy most of Bermuda's beaches, he said, which would severely damage the tourist industry and Bermuda's entire economy.