----- Original Message -----
From: "Doug Henwood" <dhenwood at panix.com>
> desperately needs to visit planet earth.
>
> Doug
===============
Speaking of planet earth:
Press Conference at U.N. Today
JOHANNESBURG 2002: SUMMIT OR SABOTAGE?
As U.S. Moves To Unravel Rio's Agenda,
NGOs Say Best Result Might Be Not To Hold Summit At All
Time:
Friday, 5 April 2002
10:45 A.M.
Place:
U.N. Press Conference Room, S-226
U.N. Secretariat Building
1st Avenue & 46th Street
Probable Speakers:
Mr. Remi Parmentier
- Greenpeace International
Mr. Daniel Mittler
- Friends of the Earth International
Ms. Saradha Ramaswamy Iyer
- Third World Network
Ms. Nur Hidayati
- Indonesian Peoples' Forum
Mr. Solomzi Madikane
- South African Civil Society Secretariat
Leaders of international environment and development NGO coalitions today challenged governments' indecision in failing to protect the political accomplishments of the 1992 Earth Summit. And they attacked several Northern governments for attempting to undermine the carefully-structured consensus of Rio.
NGOs cited a serious lack of progress in the negotiations on all issues. With the current compilation text running over 100 pages, and the negotiations in varying stages of inertia or disarray, talk has increasingly focused on whether additional PrepCom sessions would be required. NGOs said that the inability of the PrepCom to hold evening negotiating sessions during most of the first week due to U.N. budget restrictions also seriously limited efforts to achieve a workable text.
Even more critical, said NGOs, were attempts to strike references, from all parts of the text, to phrases that represented fundamental elements of Agenda 21. An effort to remove one such phrase -- 'common, but differentiated, responsibilities' -- was made repeatedly this week by the U.S.
Combined with its reneging on an earlier commitment to not interfere with other nations' ratification of the Kyoto Protocol on Climate Change, the United States' actions at the PrepCom have led some to wonder whether the U.S. wants there to be a Johannesburg Summit at all.
The World Summit on Sustainable Development will take place 26 August - 4 September, in Johannesburg, South Africa. PrepCom 3 is scheduled to end today, Friday, 5 April. It will be followed by a concluding, ministerial-level PrepCom in Bali, Indonesia [27 May - 7 June].
Contact:
Michael Strauss
tel: 212 355-2122 earthmedia at igc.org
COORDINATED BY THE INTERNATIONAL MEDIA ADVOCACY PROJECT
Note: U.N. Press Credentials required for photos and coverage on U.N. grounds
[U.N. DPI Media Accreditation Unit; 212 963-6934; Ms. Sonia Lecca]
_________________________________________________
Michael Strauss, Director
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA ADVOCACY
for NGOs at the 2002 Summit
211 East 51st Street, 3C tel: 1-212 355-2122 New York, N.Y. 10022 fax: 1-212 753-4804
earthmedia at igc.org _________________________________________________