THE EARTH SUMMIT SHIP IS SINKING

As the high-level, ministerial segment of the Bali PrepCom for the
World Summit on Sustainable Development [WSSD] started today, NGOs
expressed deep concern for the very survival of the Johannesburg Summit.

In a letter to U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan on Friday, leaders of
Greenpeace, WWF, and Friends of the Earth appealed directly to the
Secretary General to push governments to approve commitments on
providing energy, health, food and water for people, and preserving
ecosystems the earth's ecosystems -- and to resist efforts by the U.S.
to block agreements on implementation.

[Press release from GP, WWF, FoE, and text of letter follow.]
__________________

31 May 2002
Bali, Indonesia:

"MR. ANNAN, THE EARTH SUMMIT SHIP IS SINKING"

The Earth Summit is in danger of collapse, say major environment groups
after the end of the first week of the final preparatory meeting in Bali
for the Johannesburg Earth Summit.

Greenpeace, WWF and Friends of the Earth sent a salvo to the UN
Secretary General Kofi Annan in a bid to rescue the stagnant Bali
meeting, which is set with the task of deciding the format for an
agreement at the summit on key global issues including water, energy,
health, agriculture and biodiversity.

"Unless Kofi Annan intervenes to raise the political stakes before
ministers arrive on Monday, the summit will end up as 'Rio minus 10',
not Rio plus 10," said Remi Parmentier, Political Director of Greenpeace
International.

"The EU and G77 countries must come together to ensure this conference
has a benefit for people and the planet. Otherwise they will be caving
in to the Bush administration whose key objective seems to be a summit
that produces no real consequences," said Kim Carstensen, CEO of WWF
Denmark and Head of WWF's delegation in Bali.

"People all over the world are protesting against corporate
globalization - but governments continue to sacrifice the Earth Summit
on the altar of Exxon, Monsanto and co," said Daniel Mittler Earth
Summit Coordinator for Friends of the Earth.

In the letter to Kofi Annan, the groups warned that:

No-one amongst governments seems to have taken any notice of your
request that at the Earth Summit "We must rehabilitate our one and only
planet".

Governments continue to put corporate globalization before the interests
of people and the planet. Your vision that "together, we can and must
write a new and hopeful chapter in natural - and human - history" is
being flatly ignored. Governments have failed to respond to the global
call to establish social and environmental limits to economic
globalization.

Nittin Desai, the summit Secretary General said: "The summit is expected
to provide the impetus for specific action that will comprise a major
departure from business as usual" and that "We have to think big and go
to scale".

And Dr Emil Salim, the Chairman of the Summit´s Preparatory Committee
said that: "If we continue as we have done in the past, we will sink".

Mr Annan, the Earth Summit is sinking.

The central problem is a lack of concrete actions, targets and
timetables and the absence of means of implementation and financial
resources.
_______________

Media contacts:
Remi Parmentier, GP + 62 817 971 0054, or + 31 6 535 04732
Kim Carstensen, WWF + 62 817 970 7827
Daniel Mittler, FoE + 49 173 923 4747
Susan Cavanagh, GP + 62 817 971 0052

for the IMA:
Sheila Shettle + 62 817 971 5130
Michael Strauss + 1 212 355 2122

[text of letter follows]
_________________________________________________

Worldwide Fund for Nature
Greenpeace International
Friends of the Earth International

May 31st, Bali

Dear Secretary-General Kofi Annan,

We are writing to you from Bali with regard to the on-going preparation
for the Johannesburg Earth Summit.

Next week will be the last chance to achieve what you have called for in
your 14 May speech on Johannesburg. We welcomed your call for "five
specific areas where concrete results are both essential and achievable"
focused on the key issues of Water and sanitation, Energy, Health,
Agriculture and Biodiversity - "five areas in which progress is possible
with the resources and technologies at our disposal today".

But things are not going well. Political promises are crumbling into
dust.

No-one amongst governments seems to have taken any notice of your
request that at the Earth Summit "We must rehabilitate our one and only
planet".

Governments continue to put corporate globalization before the interests
of people and the planet. Your vision that "together, we can and must
write a new and hopeful chapter in natural -- and human -- history" is
being flatly ignored. Governments have failed to respond to the global
call to establish social and environmental limits to economic
globalization.

Nitin Desai, the Summit Secretary-General said that WSSD "is expected to
provide the impetus for specific action that will comprise a major
departure from business as usual" and that "We have to think big and go
to scale".

And Dr Emil Salim, the Chairman of the Summit's Preparatory Committee
said that "If we continue as we have done in the past, we will sink".

Mr Annan, the Earth Summit is sinking.

Government representatives here in Bali are doing worse than business as
usual: unless there is an immediate U-turn in the direction taken by
the negotiations, Johannesburg will destroy the legacy of Rio.

What was meant to be the "Rio Plus 10 conference" is quickly becoming
the "Rio Minus Ten" conference.

Like you, we are keen to see Johannesburg making concrete progress
towards the implementation of the Millennium Declaration. But the lack
of concrete targets and timeframes in the text proposed for Johannesburg
represents a major set-back for the implementation of the Millennium
Declaration goals.

We are extremely concerned about the position of the George W. Bush
administration throughout these negotiations, which has been to
systematically delete any reference to targets, timetables and funding
in the Chairman's Paper. It is our sense that there is far too little
political pressure being brought to bear on this process to make it even
a minor success. This is why the "lowest common denominator" is so
weak.

The proposed "Plan of Action", watered down even further this week in
Bali, is a "Plan of Inaction", a recipe for social and environmental
disaster.

Unless governments agree to adopt next week an action plan with the
following four key elements:

-- targets and timeframes,
-- Means of implementation and financial resources,
-- Institutional requirements, and
-- Monitoring, reporting, enforcement and compliance,

for the five key areas that you have wisely identified in your speech of
14 May 2002, we would like you to consider whether it is worth holding
the summit at all.

It is critical that you immediately convey this sense of urgency to the
Heads of State and Government of the members of the United Nations, as
well as with the hosts of the Bali and Johannesburg conferences.

In coalition with other NGOs, we have worked constructively through the
preparatory process for more that two years. Annexed to this letter you
will find some examples of our action-oriented proposals which will help
fulfill the mandate as set out in the UN General Assembly Resolution
establishing this process.

The Earth, and the Earth Summit, must be salvaged, not sunk.

We look forward to your prompt action.

Remi Parmentier
Greenpeace International

Kim Carstensen
WWF

Daniel Mittler
Friends of the Earth

cc: Nitin Desai

_________________________________________________
Michael Strauss, Director
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA ADVOCACY PROJECT
for NGOs at the 2002 Summit

211 East 51st Street, 3C tel: 1-212 355-2122
New York, N.Y. 10022 fax: 1-212 753-4804
earthmedia@igc.org