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Annan warns world leaders that `all is not well'

Lioa Mingyu of China, left, Amaliz Vergara of Ecuador, back, and Justin Friesen of Canada address heads of state at the plenary session of the Earth Summit in Johannesburg yesterday. PHOTO: REUTERS

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan welcomed more than 100 heads of state to the World Summit yesterday with a plea for all nations to work together to uplift the poor and rescue the environment.

"Let us not be deceived when we look at a clear blue sky into thinking that all is well. All is not well," Annan said.

Conjuring up the "cries for help of those 13 million souls" in southern Africa facing starvation, Annan told the leaders that failure to take decisive action would have too high a cost.

"Let us stop being economically defensive and start being politically courageous," he said.

The summit aims to forge a plan to turn promises made at the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, into reality.

"Poverty and environmental degradation, if unchecked, spell catastrophe for our world. That is clear," British Prime Minister Tony Blair said.

However, more than a week of negotiations on an action plan has been excruciating.

Bleary-eyed negotiators were upbeat after compromises were reached overnight in three key areas: climate change, trade and sanitation. But a European push for targets on increasing the use of wind and solar energy faced stiff resistance from some developing nations and the US.

The US is a leader in renewable energy technology but feels an "arbitrary target" is less important than cleaner use of all energy sources, said US Assistant Secretary of State John Turner. "We want it to be more comprehensive and look at energy security."

South African Environment Minister Valli Moosa said targets for renewable energy were a rich country's luxury. "We will not support binding targets for renewable energies for developing countries," he said.

Diplomats said one contentious issue was resolved late Saturday when negotiators settled on wording about the Kyoto Protocol on climate change, which the US has refused to sign. The agreed text says nations that have ratified Kyoto "strongly urge" states that have not done so to ratify it in "a timely manner."

Kyoto got another boost yesterday when Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien, who had been wavering, confirmed he would submit it to parliament by the end of the year. But the accord cannot go into effect unless Russia signs, too.

Negotiators also reached compromises on trade that largely stick to language agreed last year at a WTO meeting in Doha, Qatar.

They include renewed commitments to negotiate on phasing out agricultural and other trade-distorting subsidies. They go beyond that in one area: urging countries to reform subsidies that are environmentally harmful, such as those for the fishing industry.

The last outstanding trade issue was resolved late Sunday when negotiators agreed to delete language giving the WTO precedence over multilateral environment agreements, diplomats said.

Early yesterday, negotiators added a commitment to halve the number of people living without sanitation -- now 2 billion -- by 2015, diplomats said.

However, civic and environmental groups condemned the compromises made at the summit, calling some of them a significant step backward from previous commitments.

Though everyone from King Mswati III of Swaziland to German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder was here yesterday, many were disappointed US President George W. Bush had opted not to come. US Secretary of State Colin Powell was expected to arrive in his place tomorrow.

Several speakers slyly criticized the US with general appeals for all countries to ratify Kyoto.

"We know that if climate change is not stopped, all parts of the world will suffer. Some will even be destroyed," Blair said.

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