Brazil Passes Summit Torch to South Africa

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil, June 25, 2002 (ENS) - At a ceremony at the Modern Art Museum in Rio de Janeiro today, the leaders of Sweden and Brazil passed the torch of the Earth Summit to South Africa, which will host the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg this August.

Brazilian President Fernando Henrique Cardoso (Photo courtesy Office of the President)

Swedish Prime Minister Göran Persson represented the country that hosted the 1972 Stockholm Summit, the first gathering to discuss global development. A similar ceremony was held in 1992 in Stockholm to pass the torch to Rio.

Also in Rio for the event were Johannesburg Summit Secretary-General Nitin Desai of India and Maurice Strong of Canada, who served as Secretary-General for the Rio Earth Summit.

South African President Thabo Mbeki (Photo courtesy ANC)

On Monday, the presidents of Brazil and South Africa and the prime minister of Sweden explained their ideas and answered written questions on sustainable development and the environment from participants at the public audience.

The calm of summit discussions was interrupted Monday as gunmen with assault rifles and machine guns opened fire on Rio City Hall, an attack the mayor said was a response to a government crackdown on organized crime. No one was hurt, but windows were shattered in the historic building across the city from the Modern Art Museum.

Flamengo Park in Rio de Janeiro (Photo courtesy Rio Postais Digitais Ricardo Azoury)

"Rio decided much of what needs to be done," Desai said, "as set out in Agenda 21, the program of action agreed there. Now Johannesburg will take a big step forward in making it happen, in getting governments and others to agree on a set of deliverables and how to achieve them - with the aim to meet people's needs and still preserve the earth's ecosystems and resources for future generations."

Delegates agreed on more than two-thirds of the actions required, but remained deadlocked on a few key issues, including setting some of the timetables and targets, and various issues relating to trade and finance.

Prime Minister Persson explained that the European Union will actively work for the adoption of clear and achievable targets with specific time frames to reverse environmental degradation, for a significant increase in resources to address global environments problems in the amount of a US$3 billion replenishment of the Global Environment Facility.

Swedish Prime Minister Goran Persson (Photo courtesy Office of the Prime Minister)

The event takes place in the context of Brazil's own preparations for the Johannesburg summit. An International Seminar on Sustainable Developments that opened Sunday heard experts present their ideas on the advances and setbacks in the 10 years since the Rio Earth Summit. They focused on combating poverty and environmental preservation, the two main themes of the Johannesburg summit.

On Wednesday and Thursday, the Second National Pilot Program for the Protection of Tropical forests in Brazil will be presented. Political leaders will discuss financing of this environmental policy and start the Mata Atlantica Subprogram to safeguard the remaining forests of Brazil's Atlantic coast. They will debate proposals for sustainable development of the Amazon region.

Another two day seminar on climate change convenes specialists from Brazil, Argentina and the United States to evaluate the last 10 years of international negotiations on global warming and the outlook for realization of the Kyoto Protocol.

A third seminar on cleaner production features a two day fair with products and services from the Amazon region outside the Modern Art Museum.