JOHANNESBURG, Sept 4: Rowdy environmentalists interrupted a speech by US Secretary of State Colin Powell at the Earth Summit in Johannesburg on Wednesday as the world’s leaders met to adopt a charter for the future of the planet.

The protesters also staged a walk-out from the conference hall, saying the 65-page Plan of Implementation — designed to protect the environment and haul two billion people out of extreme poverty — had been gutted by compromises and left big business dominant.

The leaders, who include around 100 heads of state or government, were also due to adopt a political declaration. That draft acknowledges that environmental goals set at the first Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro have not been met and pledges the leaders “to combat terrorism, organised crime and corruption, singly and collectively.”

Security guards hauled a protester out of the plenary chamber, and demonstrators unfurled a banner reading: “Betrayed by governments”.

Powell told the demonstrators, “Thank you very much, I’ve now heard you. I ask that you hear me,” before he resumed and was able to finish his speech.

The United States has been under intense fire at the summit, mainly for its rejection of the Kyoto Protocol on global warming.

The protocol is designed to reduce the emission of “greenhouse gases” which prevent heat from radiating out into space, causing temperatures to rise worldwide, with resultant droughts and the melting of the ice caps, causing the sea level to rise.—AFP