Earth Summit Leaders Admit Lack of Progress

UNITED NATIONS â€”  When world leaders ended their Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro five years ago, they hoped that after years of warnings and fearful scientific reports, nations would begin the expensive business of cleaning up the global backyard.

But on Monday, as world leaders trooped to the podium of the U.N. General Assembly to open the first environmental summit since Rio, they sounded like penitent, post-partying students whose work had failed to live up to their promise--and they pledged to do better next time.

“We as a species--as a planet--are teetering on the edge, living unsustainably and perpetuating inequity, and may soon pass the point of no return,� said the General Assembly’s president, Razali Ismail of Malaysia.

Vice President Al Gore declared broadly: “We must roll up our sleeves and go to work.�

Aside from the collective mea culpa, there was a dash of finger-pointing--most notably at the United States by British Prime Minister Tony Blair. The newly elected premier said the Conservative government that was ousted in his country’s elections last month had delivered on its pledge to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

“Some other countries cannot say the same, including some of the great industrialized nations,� Blair said, a reference to the United States, a steadfast British ally but one that has been reluctant to subscribe to specific limits on the carbon dioxide emissions believed responsible for global warming.

“To them I say: Our targets will not be taken seriously by the poorer countries until the richer countries are meeting them,� Blair said.

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The 1992 Earth Summit was the world’s largest gathering of heads of state and government, and it ended with unanimous pronouncements of determination and pledges to do right.

In the five years since, however, the world has gotten more crowded, its air and water dirtier and its forests barer. And the planet has grown warmer--to the point that small island nations and low-lying coastal communities fear that melting Arctic ice will lift sea levels until one day the oceans’ waters will wash over them.

The speakers Monday appeared well aware of their combined failure. Rio’s spirit of partnership between the developed nations and the developing world foundered under a worldwide economic recession, some said. In some Third World countries, the resolve melted in the face of poverty.

The assessments were similar to the view of a State Department official who, speaking on the condition of anonymity, held out little hope for significant progress at the five-day U.N. summit.

“There are a lot of doubters out there who don’t think it will amount to a lot,� he said on the eve of the meeting, which includes addresses from 43 heads of state and government--from Argentine President Carlos Menem to Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe.

Underlying the pessimism were the long-unresolved differences between the industrialized and developing world over economic development and environmental responsibilities.

Maurice Strong, the Canadian who led the Rio meeting, said the first challenge is to reignite the cooperative spirit and the determination of Rio.

Strong suggested that world leaders--including President Clinton, who is scheduled to speak here Thursday--may return to the environmental agenda “because they’ve realized they’ve got so little to report [since Rio] and they feel the need politically to reaffirm their commitment.�

If they are to move ahead, they must address a series of daunting questions, including: To what extent are the wealthy nations responsible for providing technological and financial assistance to those less developed?

And what is the responsibility of the less-developed countries to protect their forests, air and water as they seek sufficient economic growth to bring their standards of living closer to the levels of the developed world?

Blair’s remarks drew attention to the differences among the industrialized countries. Nations are engaged in negotiations that are meant to culminate in Kyoto, Japan, in December with a treaty that would bind them to reducing emissions of carbon dioxide. The United States is by far the greatest source of such emissions, which act like a greenhouse and trap Earth’s heat.

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In his comments, Blair went beyond the position of the European Union, to which Britain belongs. He pledged that by 2010, his nation will bring its greenhouse gas emissions to a level 20% below that of 1990. The European Union has called for a 15% decrease.

The United States has called for binding commitments to reduce such emissions but has set no specific targets or timetables.

British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook moved to soften Blair’s remarks, telling reporters afterward that his government’s differences are not with “the American administration.� But, he said, “the American public hasn’t come to terms� with the need to adjust its automobile-reliant lifestyle.

As the high-powered speeches were being delivered in the U.N. chamber, a drama of a much smaller scale was unfolding outside: Alan Moore of the Butterfly Gardeners Assn. of Allentown, Pa., said a group building an environmental expo outside the United Nations had invited his group to release 1,000 butterflies there Thursday.

The Pennsylvania group paid $1,200 to have the insects shipped here only to discover that the cement-and-asphalt neighborhood is so inhospitable that releasing them would not be “environmentally correct.�

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Pollution Index

The summit is reviewing how well the world is meeting environmental goals. Here is how one key measure, carbon dioxide emissions, has fared:

Sources: The United Nations, Worldwatch