BALI (Indonesia), June 5: A preparatory meeting for the upcoming Earth Summit in Johannesburg kicked off in Bali on Wednesday with calls on governments to commit to a clear action plan on environment or else postpone crucial decisions until the summit next August.

“It is important to have firm targets and timelines as well as concrete commitments in these areas so as to generate real momentum for action,” said Louise Frechette, deputy secretary-general of the United Nations, in her opening address to the meeting.

Her sentiments were echoed by the European Union ministers attending the Bali meeting, who came out strongly against any Bali Commitment that fails to set forth clear government commitments to environmental and poverty alleviation targets.

“We will do our utmost to reach an agreement here, but we also have to be realistic that it is very difficult, and we haven’t made a lot of progress so far,” said European Environment Commissioner Margot Wallstrom.

She added, “We have so many important issues to address, so we have to be clear that some of them might be left to Johannesburg if we cannot be ambitious enough in Bali.”

Ministerial-level talks of the fourth session of preparatory meetings for the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) started Wednesday and will be wound up on Friday.

The Bali meeting has been working since last week on hashing out a so-called “Bali Commitment” which may be used as the foundation for the upcoming Earth Summit in Johannesburg.

Delegates have thus far failed to finalize the Bali Commitment, due to differences of outlook by developing and developed countries over environmental and poverty alleviation targets.—dpa