U.N. Earth Summit Opens With Stalemate

Deutsche Presse-Agentur

August 26, 2002

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.

"By allowing large hydropower dams to be part of a renewable energy target, the EU is killing the increase of sound renewable energy like wind and solar," said Steve Sawyer from Greenpeace.

Craig Bennett of Friends of the Earth (FOE) in Britain said globalization had led to a shift of influence toward the transnational companies, which now control two-thirds of world trade.

"Increasingly one has to ask whether the governments are controlling the corporations or whether the corporations are controlling the governments," Bennett said.

But Oysten Dahle, executive director of the World Watch Institute, said if the summit is to be successful, business had to be involved. "An increasing number of business leaders are beginning to understand the importance of sustainable development and are waiting for governments to deliver," he said.

"At present, though, we have a system where the good guys are being penalized," Dahle said, referring to the short-term competitive advantages of companies not adhering to environmental standards.

Poverty as Root Cause

In his opening remarks, Mbeki emphasized that "a global society based on poverty for many and prosperity for a few" was unsustainable.

Klaus Toepfer, executive director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), said several hundred scientists around the world had singled out the root causes of environmental degradation in social and economic problems such as pervasive poverty.

"Our world is characterized by divided and dysfunctional cities, dwindling water supplies, and potential conflict over scarce resources, and the accelerating loss of the environmental capital that underpins life on Earth," he said.

Referring to the first Earth Summit held in Rio in 1992, Toepfer said much had been achieved with new international legal instruments but the time had come to "translate our political commitment into action."

Mbeki said that "the global community has as yet not demonstrated the will to implement the decisions it has freely adopted."

"As we deliberate and work on a way forward, we need to take stock of the inertia of the past decade and agree on very clear and practical measures that will help us to deal decisively with all the challenges that we face. That is the central task of the summit," he said.

Government delegates and those from NGOs were divided on whether the summit, which ends September 4, would be able to agree on binding and substantive measures.

Disagreement on Subsidies

There was still major disagreement on such issues as abolishing or reducing subsidies in rich nations. NGOs and eco-groups said the issue of addressing billions of dollars in subsidies for fossil fuel and nuclear energy, as well as farm subsidies, was still on the table.

The summit attendees include more than 40,000 delegates and NGO representatives and 104 government leaders. Several European Union leaders, including British Prime Minister Tony Blair, French President Jacques Chirac, and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder were expected to attend.

President Bush, who will not attend the summit, has sent his secretary of state, Colin Powell, to represent the United States. Bush's absence was criticized by several groups. But United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan's special envoy to the summit, Jan Pronk, said that Powell had shown in the past that he "has a vision on sustainable development."

A tight security blanket has been drawn around the summit, which is being held in the wealthy Sandton suburb of Johannesburg, only a few kilometers away from the poverty-stricken Alexandria suburb.

"The summit that is supposed to dismantle the walls between the poor and the rich has so far resulted only in the erection of barricades all over the place in Johannesburg," said the environmental umbrella group Eco Equity.

Copyright 2002 Deutsche Presse-Agentur GmbH