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wednesday 4th september 20:00
johannesburg
POLITICAL DECLARATION + H2O = HOT
AIR
Johannesburg: Wednesday 4th September --
The Earth Summit has broken up after
publication of a notably feeble Political
Declaration, watered down from the original
draft after continued obstruction from the US
and a minority of other countries. The
Declaration was described by Friends of the
Earth International (FoEI) as "yet another
betrayal" of the millions of poor and
vulnerable people around the world who looked
to the Summit for real action on debt,
climate change, deforestation, water and many
other vital issues. The Political Declaration
could have been an opportunity to compensate
for the lack of specific targets and
timetables in the Plan of Implementation. It
is particularly deplorable that the
Declaration makes no mention of the need to
move from fossil fuels to renewable energy.
The declaration also contains weakened
language on corporate accountability.
Commenting, Daniel Mittler, Friends of the
Earth International's Summit Co-ordinator
said:
"This feeble and watered down Political
Declaration is yet another betrayal of all
those around the world who looked to this
Summit to tackle the environmental and social
crisis facing the planet. What a tragic
missed opportunity this Summit has been -
thanks to the utterly obstructive tactics of
the US and the free market ideology of the
corporations that pull political strings in
the background. The Declaration's welcome
statement about the importance of
multilateral agreements and action lacks
credibility given the politics of this
Summit. Above all, the US demands
international support whenever it feels the
need, but refuses international co-operation
whenever it chooses. This is not diplomacy.
It is the crude and counterproductive
application of power."
CONTACTS IN JOHANNESBURG until sept.
5:
Ricardo Navarro (FoEI Chair, El Salvador)
+27 72 401 5392
Tony Juniper (FoEI Vice-Chair, UK) +27 72
401 5393
Daniel Mittler (FoEI Summit Co-ordinator,
Germany) +27 72 401 5394
Carol Welch (FoE US) +27 82 858 6073
Yuri Onodera (FoE Japan) +27 72 401 5391
Niccolo Sarno (Media) +27 72 401 5387
Ian Willmore (Media) +27 72 401 5386
Visit
www.foei.org
for more
information and
www.rio-plus-10.org
for
downloadable quality photos
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