- The Earth Summit in Johannesburg approached collapse
yesterday when European Union officials walked out of talks after failure
to agree with the United States on the 14 pivotal issues, and the coalition
of charities involved in the negotiations pulled out.
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- Tempers among delegations were fraying last night, and
there was growing speculation that the summit was in peril.
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- Developing nations said that they would prefer not to
sign any accord rather than agree to what was on offer. Charities said
that the agreement being negotiated was a step backwards, and urged European
governments not to sign. After negotiations between officials collapsed,
ministers yesterday started emergency talks to see if they could reach
a deal.
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- No agreement has been reached on any of the central issues,
including access to sanitation, boosting renewable energy, protecting wildlife,
reducing farm subsidies in the developed world, climate change, ensuring
that trade and globalisation do not put poor countries at a disadvantage,
and improving human rights. Increases in aid and debt relief have been
ruled out. Even principles agreed at the Rio Earth summit ten years ago
ó such as that rich countries have more responsibility to tackle
global environment problems than poor ones ó may be dropped in the
face of bitter American opposition.
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- The only firm agreements reached are to stop over-fishing
and the banning of toxic chemicals, but the wordings used are so qualified
with phrases such as ìif possibleî that the agreements are
increasingly seen as meaningless.
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- The Eco-Equity Coalition, a group of charities including
Oxfam and the World Wide Fund for Nature that are involved directly in
the negotiations, wrote a letter to ministers explaining their withdrawal:
ìAlthough designed and billed as a conference that would serve to
put sustainable development at the heart of international governance, we
must squarely face the fact that, overall, no significant progress has
been made ó especially when it is held up to the urgent needs of
poverty reduction and environmental protection.î
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- Margaret Beckett, the British Environment Secretary,
hinted that Britain might not put its name to any deal. ìOf course,
we must ultimately have an agreement ó but we canít settle
for an agreement at any price,î Mrs Beckett said.
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- Tony Juniper, director-designate of Friends of the Earth
said: ìMost of these talks are simply going backwards. Key pledges
have been made meaningless by weasel words. Governments canít even
agree to reaffirm the principles of the Rio Summit ten years ago. This
summit could easily be remembered as Rio minus ten rather than Rio plus
ten.î
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- Barry Coates, of the World Development Movement, said
that if the agreement was not improved, it should not be signed. ìThere
has been an abject failure of vision. As things stand, not one personís
life or the environment will be improved. A bad agreement is as much a
step backwards as no agreement at all.î
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- Victor Menotti, of the International Forum on Globalisation,
a US pressure group, said: ìAmericans wonder why the world hates
us, but the US is arrogant, bullying, selfish, not accepting weíre
part of the problem. George Bush is unravelling things that even his father
agreed ten years ago.î
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- The United States is keen that an agreement should be
signed, because it does not want to be seen to be responsible for scuppering
such an important summit.
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- Its embassies around the world have been warning Washington
of the rising tide of anger at Americaís stance. However, it is
unlikely that any final agreement will be reached until world leaders arrive
on Monday.
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- The Pacific island state of Tuvalu, which is threatened
with annihilation from rising sea levels, is to sue the United States and
oil companies over the effects of global warming. It has entered into negotiations
with American and Australian lawyers, who have been visiting the island.
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- The Tuvalu Parliament has set up a fund to pay for the
legal action, and has had talks with other island states to consider the
possibility of a joint action.
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- Paani Laupepa, spokesman for the Environment Ministry,
said: ìIt is a point of principle: if some one causes you damage,
you take them to court. It will show other countries how serious this issue
is for us and how frustrated we are that they donít take it seriously.î
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- Tuvalu, which has a population of 10,000, is a series
of coral atolls which measure just ten square miles and is 16ft above sea
level at its highest point. The islands are already suffering from rising
sea levels and the Government has predicted it will be totally submerged
within 50 years.
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- Seawater now percolates up through the ground, polluting
the water supply and making it useless for drinking and irrigating crops.
Houses have already started slipping. The island has started a relocation
programme to New Zealand, but is worried about losing its most skilled
citizens too early.
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- Tuvalu is deciding between two methods of legal action.
One is to go through the International Court of Justice, the other to sue
the companies responsible, particularly oil companies and car companies.
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- http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-399524,00.html
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