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JOHANNESBURG: Environmentalists berated US President George W. Bush for deciding to skip the Johannesburg Earth Summit, saying it showed a failure of leadership by the world’s most powerful nation.
Bush said that he would send Secretary of State Colin Powell to the giant August 26-September 4 summit, gathering at least 60 heads of state and 40,000 delegates, to discuss ways to curb global poverty while protecting the planet.
Environmentalists said the widely-expected announcement sealed Bush’s reputation as a environmental laggard after he pulled the United States out of the Kyoto pact meant to limit emissions of greenhouse gases caused by burning fossil fuels.
And in the United States, opposition Democrats cast Bush’s planned absence as a retreat from leadership that could backfire as he tries to maintain an ‘anti-terrorism’ coalition and seek support to oust Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.
“I think it’s a mistake that he will regret,” said Stephen Sawyer, climate policy adviser at environmental group Greenpeace. “I think that it will be seen as just another example of US intransigence and unilateralism.”
He said that Washington had been a global leader on environmental issues until the 1980s. The summit aims to find ways to halve the number of people who live in poverty by 2015 while protecting the environment.
The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) also regretted Bush’s absence and said that US voters might punish Bush in November’s congressional elections for staying home at his Texas ranch.
KYOTO UNFAIR?: But many US Republicans see the summit as promoting a leftist agenda including increased aid for developing nations. Bush pulled out of Kyoto, arguing it was too costly to implement and was unfair because it excluded developing nations.
“WWF thinks it is extremely disappointing that the largest superpower...withdraws from its responsibility to take sustainable development seriously,” said Stephan Singer, the WWF’s climate change expert.
“We hope Americans will give their response to this in the next elections,” he added.
Bush said the US delegation would make proposals to help the main priorities of development — clean water, modern energy, good health, and productive agriculture. Bush agreed to hike US aid levels at a summit in Mexico in May.
In Rome, political sources said Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi would also not attend because he was pressed for time in early September. His decision also prompted criticism from environmentalists and the opposition.
“At a time when public attention and concern is focused on environmental issues it is unforgivable that the Italian government will not be represented at the highest level in Johannesburg,” opposition spokesman Dario Franceschini said.
Western nations largely shrugged off Bush’s absence even though many have stressed the importance of broad attendance.—Reuters
