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Ban Ki-moon, the secretary general of the United Nations, called on world leaders to step up their political commitment to sustainability on Wednesday, as he opened the Rio+20 Earth summit with an acknowledgement that negotiations have so far failed to live up to hopes.
More than 100 world leaders and senior ministers, including the Chinese premier Wen Jiabao, US secretary of state Hillary Clinton and UK deputy prime minister Nick Clegg, are attending the mega-summit, which has been billed as a once-in-a-generation opportunity to rebalance economic growth, social stability and environmental protection.
However, many delegates and NGOs have expressed dismay at the watered-down outcome document that was agreed by member states ahead of the summit.
Although it promises to establish new sustainable development goals and a host of other objectives in 26 areas, the terminology is vague. Most timetables, targets, financing figures, methods of monitoring and strong language on commitments was stripped out of the document – The Future We Want – by the hosts, Brazil, in a desperate attempt to secure a compromise before the leaders arrived.
Ban said: "Some member states hoped for a bolder ambitious document. I also hoped that we could have a more ambitious outcome document. But you should understand that negotiations have been very difficult and very slow because of all these conflicting interests."
He said the document was practical and far-reaching, but its significance would depend on the political will of national leaders. In the coming three days, the document will be discussed at high-level talks. It is thought unlikely that they will reopen negotiations on the wording, but Ban urged the leaders to step up the ambition.
"Why do we have a summit meeting? The leaders are the ones who can make a political decision. Depending on the political priorities they chose, the consequences will be huge," he said in a call for them to work harder on putting the ideas into practice.
"If these actions are not implemented, then this will merely be a piece of paper," he said.
Brazil, which has the presidency of the conference, has declared the preliminary talks a success. With a draft agreement in place, it hopes to avoid the last minute turbulence and high-level recriminations that marked the Copenhagen climate conference in 2009.
However, many civil society groups believe no deal may be better than a weak deal. Several NGOs are urging leaders to reopen negotiations so that a more ambitious deal can be reached.
Friends of the Earth's director of policy and campaigns Craig Bennett said: "The current deal on the Rio table is really scraping the barrel – with woolly definitions, old ideas and missing deadlines, it doesn't come close to solving the planetary emergency we're facing. Nick Clegg and world leaders arriving in Rio must give the summit a life-saving shot of urgency and ambition by pledging tough action to create a safe and prosperous future for us all."
Comments
20 June 2012 5:43PM
Was there ever any doubt that any outcome would be declared a success?
20 June 2012 6:57PM
So a bit like the solar eclipse by Jupiter we'll have to wait around a while for the next one not to resolve anything, either?
The political class, paid for and run by big business, will not do anything to lessen the profits of their employers, whom themselves would rather find a new planet to fuck up before taking a cut in profit through cutting back on emissions, etc. Probably (unfortunately) more environmental damage has been done flying all these Politicians and Journalists to Rio than will come from any actions taken there.
Capitalist culture (consumerism) is fundamentally the antithesis of sustainability and whilst the former is allowed to continue in its rabid and rampant way (ie: its natural course), the latter doesn't stand the chance of an iceberg in hell.
20 June 2012 7:48PM
yak yak yak,
lots of hot air, lots of posturing lots of photo opportunities pressing the flesh etc, looking good for the media is not going to make things better.
We need action now not at some future date.
but as usual each is waiting for the others to make a start and as always ready to step into the hole in the market created by the ones who do take the first step.
I always find it ironic that these things happen in exotic locations Bali Brazil etc never in downtown wigan or Middlesborough, makes it seem that they are all off on a jolly at the tax payers expense and thy collect some air miles too.
20 June 2012 8:04PM
I don't think this can get any more depressing. From the beginning of negotiations the outlook was negative, reaching an agreement was never on the agenda of Parties, hence, the statements made here by Ban comes as no suprise, but still, its quite upsetting and sad that our heads of government fail to realise that our environment is in a state of deterioration and that we need to take urgent steps to remedy this issue before its too late.
20 June 2012 8:19PM
Nice distinction drawn there.
20 June 2012 8:37PM
When they hold an Earth Summit in Hartlepool, I'll believe that these sort of events aren't just one enormous junket for the various government bodies concerned.
20 June 2012 9:01PM
We will never do anything about the environment or climate. The arguements about nature vs people and natural cycles will always win out. Small victories will be cancelled out with major defeats. These conferences make ourselves feel good. That's it.
20 June 2012 9:21PM
And world leaders urge Ban Ki-moon to whistle "I'm forever blowing bubbles..."
20 June 2012 10:24PM
O.K. It's time to come clean.
It's time to admit the whole thing is a Monty Python farce.