Rio+20 Earth summit talks turn into rubber-stamp job
Source: The Guardian
Rio 20 Earth summit talks turn into rubber-stamp job
UN chief urges leaders to be more ambitious after concerns they
will sign a pre-negotiated text but won't commit on key issues
Jonathan Watts and Adam Vaughan
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 20 June 2012 22.20 BST
Delegates and non-governmental organisations at the UN's huge Rio+20 conference have expressed dismay that world leaders arriving on Wednesday to thrash out a deal will do little more than rubber-stamp a negotiating text that contains few concrete measures and has been largely locked down.
Campaigners had hoped the arrival of world leaders such as the Chinese premier Wen Jiabao, US secretary of state Hillary Clinton, UK deputy prime minister Nick Clegg and Russian president Vladimir Putin would mean the ambition of the final agreement could be raised.
The text, made public on Tuesday, was greeted with disappointment by those who urged negotiators to be more ambitious on issues such as clean energy and water provision for the poorest. But it emerged that delegates' presence would be reduced to a largely ceremonial role, making – at most – minor tweaks to the agreement.
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Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/jun/20/rio20-earth-summit-talks
