JOHANNESBURG SUMMIT JOHANNESBURG, Sept 4 (Hina) - World leaders gathered at the UN Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg on Wednesday evening adopted an Action Plan which should contribute to relieving poverty in the world
and preserving the natural environment. However, a Political Declaration of the Summit by which country participants confirm their political will to implement the plan, is still being negotiated.
JOHANNESBURG, Sept 4 (Hina) - World leaders gathered at the UN
Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg on Wednesday
evening adopted an Action Plan which should contribute to relieving
poverty in the world and preserving the natural environment.
However, a Political Declaration of the Summit by which country
participants confirm their political will to implement the plan, is
still being negotiated. #L#
The Action Plan consisting of some 70 pages of text poses several
objectives such as to halve the number of two billion people
currently living without water and sewage, increase contributions
to under developed countries, stop the extinction of species,
enlarge the participation of restorable resources of energy,
enable the renewal of the fishing fund in world seas and to thwart
the epidemic of AIDS and others.
Participants, however, have still not agreed to the Political
Declaration by which 190 country participants need to confirm their
political will to implement the adopted Action Plan.
The Action Plan itself consists of a series of compromises and has
come across divided reactions.
And so politicians have referred to the Plan as having inbuilt the
best possible compromises of conflicting interests in the world .
Representatives of international corporations welcomed the
adoption of the Plan while activists of environment protection
organisations are disappointed with the adopted text which in their
words contains only minimum steps forward in relation to the
conference in Rio in 1992.
Friends of the Earth, a network of environment protection groups
that attracts more than a million members all over the world,
proclaimed the Action Plan as treason and called on its members to
prepare protests at the next World Trade Organisation (WTO)
conference in Cancun, Mexico.
The USA's attitude towards the World Summit from President George
Bush's failure to attend it to Washington's opposition to the
majority of binding provisions in the Action Plan resulted in an
anti-American feeling at the summit which culminated on Wednesday
during a speech being given by State-Secretary Collin Powell who
was interrupted with cat-calls and an invasion of Greenpeace
activists.
Amongst those booing at Powell, the most numerous in fact were
members of American ecological associations who raised an American
flag on the wall of the conference hall with the inscription "Thank
you President Bush because everyone today hates America".
Officials and the hosts from South Africa greeted the Summit for the
successfully adopted document as a solid base for future actions to
protect the planet.
(hina) sp ms sb