The Earth Summit opened in Johannesburg, South Africa, on Monday, with South African President Thabo Mbeki calling on delegates to "deal decisively" with the worsening ecological crisis and poverty in the "interests of humanity and our common planet."
At the same time, the negotiations on a more than 70-page draft Plan of Action were in a stalemate over some of the key issues, including energy and trade.
"Japan is blocking the talks on all key issues relating to figures, targets, and timetables," said Stephan Singer of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) International.
But several delegation sources said the talks were occurring in a "friendly and cordial atmosphere, with people talking to each other who would not normally be talking to each other—which could move the process forward."
Talks on the draft document, which began in Johannesburg days before the official opening of the summit, were at a stage where working groups were preparing wording on several draft options dealing with the crunch issues that government ministers will discuss later this week.
A controversial section of the document referring to "corporate accountability" appears to have disappeared from the draft document, sources said.
Earlier on Monday, several non-governmental organizations (NGOs) said this was one crucial part of the Earth Summit negotiations that had to be implemented if the summit is to be successful.
Developing countries grouped in the G-77 bloc of nations were especially pushing for the abolition of agricultural subsidies in the North and fair trade practices to reduce poverty in their countries.
Debate on Renewable Energy
Brazil has made a proposal on a progressive target of ten percent renewable energy use worldwide by the year 2012, including wind, solar energy, and small hydropower. The proposal received strong support from the NGOs.
But several European Union countries, such as Sweden, Austria, and France, were blocking the proposal, favoring the inclusion of big dams in the renewables proposal.
