U.N. Pessimism at Rio+20 Earth Summit (21st June, 2012)
As Brazil's president welcomed world leaders to the Rio+20 Earth Summit, the U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon cast doubts on the three-day event. A pre-summit draft document that is to serve as a blueprint for Earth's sustainability has been criticised as being too weak by the U.N chief. He said in the opening meeting: "Let me be frank. Our efforts have not lived up to the measure of the challenge….Nature does not wait….Nature does not negotiate with human beings." Rio+20 is so named because it has been 20 years since the last Earth Summit, which did lead to historic environmental decisions and promises, although not all were kept. Unlike Rio+20, the 1992 event was the result of years of discussion.
Many of the delegates who attended the opening on Wednesday said three days was far too short to sort out the Earth's most important problems. Some lamented the absence of leaders like the USA's Barack Obama and Germany's Angela Merkel, saying their nonattendance sends out a message they aren't overly worried about sustainability. World leaders are perhaps more concerned with their re-election prospects and their country's current economic problems than the future of the planet. Ban Ki-moon told the assembly: "Rio+20 is not an end, but a beginning. It is time for all of us to think globally and long-term….The world is waiting to see if our words will translate into action, as we know they must."
