A groundbreaking gathering of world leaders — described by one as a dialogue of the deaf — culminated on Wednesday in the adoption of an ambitious plan to salvage the planet and its people.
They endorsed a global blueprint to help relieve poverty and reverse environmental decay after 10 days of tough talks at the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Sandton, Johannesburg.
A political declaration committing countries to work together for universal prosperity and peace was also adopted, but only after last-minute negotiations that delayed proceedings by an hour-and-a-half.
A total of 195 states took part in the conference, with 104 heads of state in attendance over the final three days.
South Africa’s President Thabo Mbeki — also summit president — pronounced the event attended by 104 heads of state a success, but not everyone agreed.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said during the closing plenary there was no real debate at the WSSD.
”It seems to be a dialogue of the deaf. It seems that we have just come to read out a speech to fulfil a task that has been imposed on us.”
He received sustained applause at the end of his statement. Some non-governmental organisations and environmentalists, however, have panned the blueprint for not going far enough, and for pandering to the World Trade Organisation and big business.
Friends of the Earth International gave the action plan a 22% ”report card” score, while Oxfam International branded it as feeble and a ”triumph for greed and self-interest”.
The United Nations, the European Union, and South African officials hailed the WSSD as a success and the document as a solid foundation for future actions to help protect the planet.
”I think we have achieved success and I am satisfied with the results… the summit has put sustainable development firmly on the world agenda,” said UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan.
It had laid a solid foundation for the future and it was now up to governments and their citizens to ensure the commitments made were put into action, he said.
The summit saw Russia stating its intention to ratify the Kyoto Protocol on climate change, opening the way for the accord to be put into effect. Another breakthrough was the United States agreeing to the setting of sanitation targets after much resistance.
The final three-day heads-of-state sessions also saw some fireworks of a personal nature.
Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe launched a scathing attack on British Prime Minister Tony Blair, while United States’ Secretary of State Colin Powell was shouted down as he addressed the final plenary.
Delegates jeered, booed and slow-clapped, forcing him to stop speaking and causing the plenary chairwoman Foreign Affairs Minister Nkosasana Dlamini-Zuma to repeatedly bang her gavel and call for order.
The final plan of action, among other things, provides for a number of concrete commitments by participating countries.
They aim to halve the number of people without access to sanitation by 2015, to secure the safe use of chemicals by 2020, to curb the loss of biodiversity by 2010, and to restore fish stocks by 2015.
Countries will also seek to increase the use of renewable energy sources such as wind power and solar energy.
The agreement urges all countries to ratify the Kyoto Protocol, which calls for industrialised nations to trim greenhouse gas emissions timeously.
The plan reinforces the Millennium Declaration that seeks to halve those living below the poverty line by 2015, as well as the consensus reached at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) talks in Doha, Qatar late last year.
All countries agreed at Doha to open negotiations on increasing market access for developing countries, and on cutting the huge subsidies offered to farmers in the European Union and the United States.
Danish Prime Minister and current European Union President Anders Fogh Rasmussen said the conference was a success but suggested a break from such ”mega-summits”, for a while at least.
”Honestly speaking, I don’t think more mega-summits is the way to secure implementation.”
Rasmussen said the WSSD had achieved concrete political results.
”The Johannesburg summit has delivered, but I don’t think we should automatically start planning for a Johannesburg plus five (years) or 10.”
The summit attracted more than 21 000 participants — 4 000 of them journalists — and thousands of police and security personnel to the affluent Johannesburg suburb.
Summit secretary-general Nitin Desai told the plenary the event was probably the largest UN conference ever, and lauded South Africa for the way in which it had been put together.
”I have never seen a summit as well-organised as this one — despite its size,” he said.
Anticipation of the big turnout has prompted the government to reschedule the Gauteng school holiday to help alleviate traffic congestion.
Wednesday’s finale signalled a return of schoolchildren from their vacation and that of many parents and others, who rented out their homes to the scores of visitors. – Sapa