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26 july 2002
amsterdam - berlin
One month to Johannesburg – still hope
for the Earth Summit?
FoEI campaign “Don´t let big business rule
the world” reaching climax in
Johannesburg
One month before the Earth Summit gets
underway in Johannesburg, South Africa,
Friends of the Earth International (FoEI)
calls on governments to intensify efforts to
salvage this crucial United Nations
conference. Friends of the Earth
International warns that so far no positive
actions have been agreed and governments risk
falling behind the commitments made in Rio in
1992. Friends of the Earth International
specifically accuses the United States,
Australia and Canada to stand in the way of
international agreements for people and the
planet and calls on other governments to
ignore the obstructions by this “axis of
environmental evil”.
Instead of using the Earth Summit to
respond to global concerns over deregulation
and liberalisation, governments are
rebranding the WTO´s free trade agenda as
sustainable development. Corporations are
likely to be given a free hand by governments
in Johannesburg, despite a groundswell of
support for Friends of the Earth
International´s call for binding global rules
for corporations (2). Industrialised nations
are also unlikely to acknowledge their
massive ecological debt to the developing
world (3).
The USA, Australia, Canada and OPEC
countries have continuously fought against
any new commitments to emerge from the Earth
Summit. At recent informal meetings (4) the
EU and developing countries at long last
stood up to these wreckers. Friends of the
International calls on them to stand firm and
move ahead without the United States if
necessary. A global target on renewable
energy of at least 10% new renewable energy
could then be agreed.
Friends of the Earth International is
preparing to bring the “people´s voice” to
Johannesburg. At local actions in more than
15 countries, FoEI has already collected
several thousand demands to world leaders
(5). For every demand collected, Friends of
the Earth International will deliver a small
figurine designed by local South African
artists to the conference centre in
Johannesburg in early September. This major
art installation, which will also feature a 6
metre high “corporate giant”, will have a
clear message to governments: “Don´t let big
business rule the world!”(6).
FoEI is collecting messages for the
Joahnnesburg action via its own Radio
station, Radio Earth Summit (7) and via the
Internet (8). Indian activist writer
Arundhati Roy, and pop icons Radiohead have
already contributed their own demand.
Daniel Mittler, Campaign Coordinator for
FoEI, comments:
"Governments must act fast to deliver
meaningful action for people and the planet
at Johannesburg. Bush and his corporate
cronies do not care for the future of our
planet. But ordinary people all over the
world do. Friends of the Earth International
will make sure their voices are heard loud
and clear at the Earth Summit."
Friends of the Earth International´s
comments on the latest negotiation text (June
12th), which will form the basis of
discussions in Johannesburg, are available at
www.rio-plus-10.org
.
Contact:
Daniel
Mittler
, Earth Summit Campaign
Coordinator, +49 173 923 4747 (in
Johannesburg from August 21st)
Notes:
(1)The official summit website is at
www.johannesburgsummit.org
.
(2)FoEI has launched a global campaign for
binding corporate accountability rules:
http://www.rio-plus-10.org/en/positions/26.php
, which is supported by civil society
worldwide, see
http://www.foei.org/corporates/index.html
.
(3)More on FoEI´s ecological debt campaign
at
http://www.foei.org/ecodebt/index.html
.
(4)Informal consultations between a groups
of more than 25 countries known as the
“Friends of the Chair” took place in New York
on July 17th.
(5)Local actions also feature a corporate
giant, see
www.foeeurope.org/events/giant.htm
.
(6)Further information on the action, see
http://www.foe.co.uk/campaigns/corporates/news/earth_summit/art_attack.html
.
(7)“Radio Earth Summit”:
www.radioearthsummit.org
works
with community radios all over the world and
will bring testimonies and sounds to FoEI´s
major art installation.
(8)
http://www.rio-plus-10.org/en/action.php?a=a1&lang=en
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