Brazil on Sunday pushed a deal for a looming global summit on poverty and the environment, but its draft ran into objections from Europe and criticism from activists, who said it fell dismally short.
The blueprint for Earth’s future is to be issued in Rio de Janeiro on Friday after a three-day summit to climax the UN’s Conference on Sustainable Development.
Hosting the nine-day mega-event, Brazil on Saturday assumed control of troubled negotiations to agree on the communique.
It declared it wanted to seal a deal by Tuesday, when an expected 116 world leaders start jetting in.
They will be joined by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, who has called sustainable development “my number one priority.”“The way is pretty much open for a good final agreement. It is a balanced text,” Luiz Alberto Figueiredo, the chief Brazilian delegate, declared on Sunday.
“There will be nothing for the heads of state to debate… We are very optimistic about closing these negotiations as soon as possible.”
But the European Union said the 50-page draft lacked tougher commitments for ending dangerous abuse of the planet’s resources and creating a green economy.
“We would like to see goals and targets with concrete timelines and monitoring mechanisms to monitor progress,” said Monica Westeren, spokesman for EU Environment Commissioner Janez Potocnik.
“A lot of work (lies) ahead of us, (but) there is still time to improve the chances of a positive outcome.”
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