World leaders reach deal at Earth summit

World leaders at the Earth Summit in South Africa have reached a compromise on the last details of a global plan to eradicate poverty and reverse environmental decline.

“Humanity has a rendezvous with destiny,” French President Jacques Chirac declared at the UN World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg last night.

“Alarms are sounding across all the continents. We cannot say that we did not know!”

Late yesterday, negotiators resolved the last main sticking points in a 70-odd page action plan covering a slew of environmental and development woes, including energy, clean water, health and sanitation. Most of the items were geared to helping the world’s poorest people without polluting.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan urged the more than 100 world leaders in Johannesburg to commit to firm action to solve problems identified a decade ago at the first Earth Summit in Rio.

“The focus from now on must be on implementing the many agreements that have been reached,” he said.

Although US President George W Bush sent his Secretary of State Colin Powell in his place, US officials said they were firmly committed to the summit’s success.

“We’ve reached a real breakthrough with the summit in our collective attempt to ensure that this is a successful gathering of the global family,” said US Assistant Secretary of State John Turner.

After more than a week of bargaining, the European Union lost its push for targets on the use of wind and solar energy – the last major sticking point in the summit’s action plan.

The agreed text includes a commitment to “urgently” increase the use of renewable energy sources and report back on progress, diplomats said.

Developing countries had sided with the US and Japan against including the targets.

Compromises were also reached in three other key areas: climate change, trade and sanitation.

Despite the Bush administration’s refusal to ratify the Kyoto Protocol on climate change, it accepted language that says nations backing Kyoto “strongly urge” states that have not done so to ratify it in “a timely manner”.

Kyoto got another boost when Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien confirmed he would submit it to parliament by the end of the year.

But the accord cannot go into effect unless Russia signs on too. The EU issued a “solemn appeal” to Moscow to join them in ratifying.

Negotiators agreed to texts on trade that urge countries to reform subsidies that are environmentally harmful, such as those for the fishing industry that contribute to overcapacity.

They also committed to halving the two billion people living without proper sanitation and sewage by 2015.

Negotiators agreed to emphasise the need for good governance to achieve sustainable development, but did not make it a condition for receiving aid as advocated by the US, diplomats said.

A host of civic and environmental groups condemned the compromises, calling some of them a significant step backward from previous commitments.

“Economic interests were allowed to maintain their primacy over other global priorities,” said Kim Carstensen, deputy head of WWF International’s summit delegation.