FRIENDS OF THE EARTH INTERNATIONAL

PRESS RELEASE: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

ACT NOW TO SAVE EARTH SUMMIT!
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27th May 2002, Bali, Indonesia

Friends of the Earth International (FoEI) accuses governments of wrecking
the Earth Summit in Johannesburg (1). At the start of the last round of
negotiations before the Summit in August, FoEI calls on governments to
finally commit to a meaningful action plan.
The negotiations in Bali, Indonesia are based on a new negotiation draft
issued by Conference Chairman Emil Salim on May 9th . The text contains
little of value. Most of the targets and timetables from earlier drafts
have been removed.

Friends of the Earth International accuses governments of failing to set
social and ecological limits to economic globalisation. Instead of using
the Earth Summit to respond to the global concern over deregulation and
liberalisation, governments seem hell-bent on rebranding the WTO's free
trade agenda as sustainable development. Corporations are being given a
free hand by governments. The very few targets that remain in the text, are
mostly to by achieved by corporations through voluntary initiatives. This,
says Friends of the Earth International, is a shameful abdication of
responsibility by governments and ignores that big business is one of the
key players undermining sustainable development today.

Friends of the Earth International has made constructive proposals
throughout the preparatory process for the Summit but has seen little
willingness by governments to respond to civil society concerns. The USA,
Australia, Canada and OPEC countries have continuously fought against any
new commitments to emerge from the Earth Summit. Sadly, other players such
as the EU have been unwilling and unable to stand up to these wreckers.

Friends of the Earth International sets out two challenges for governments
to show that they are willing to change direction. Governments must agree
to launch negotiations for binding global rules on corporate accountability
at the Summit (2) and must establish that Multilateral Environmental
Agreements (MEAs) are never to be subservient to WTO rules (3).

Daniel Mittler, Campaign Coordinator for FoEI, comments:
"Bali is the last chance to save the Earth Summit. Governments have broken
the promises they made at Rio in 1992. It is thus urgent, that governments
agree a clear action plan with money attached for Johannesburg."

Friends of the Earth International is launching its global campaign for the
Earth Summit in Bali under the slogan "Don't let big business rule the
world". FoEI will be collecting demands for world leaders all over the
world and deliver them to Johannesburg as part of a major art installation
(4).

Daniel Mittler comments:
" We will bring thousands of messages from all over the world to the Summit
to show governments that citizens demand social and environmental limits to
globalisation. If governments fail to respond to this call, they will face
a groundswell of anger in Johannesburg."

Friends of the Earth International's comments on the negotiation text are
available at www.rio-plus-10.org or
www.foei.org/wssd as well as from
[email protected]

Contact: Daniel Mittler, Earth Summit Campaign Coordinator, +49 173 923
4747

Notes

(1) Official information on the summit is at www.johannesburgsummit.org

(2) FoEi has launched a global campaign for binding corporate
accountability rules:
(3) A full statement on MEAs signed by more than 150 organisations globally
is at:
(4) FoEI is collecting messages for the Earth Summit, including on the
Internet at