Preparatory negotiations for a U.N. summit on global environmental problems ended Saturday with a broad statement of goals but enmeshed in disagreement over funding and other issues.
Weary negotiators trying to organize a global war on pollution and environmental destruction met overnight, trying to salvage agreements ahead of the Earth Summit in Rio on June 3-14.Delegates did settle early Saturday on a 27-point Rio Declaration on the Environment and Development - a statement of the Earth Summit's environmental goals.
However, it was the least specific of the agreements the delegates had sought, and does not set up any means for implementing its goals.
Even that text may be changed before the summit, because many nations had reservations about various points, said Jean-Claude Faby, spokesman for the summit's secretary-general, Maurice Strong.
For example, some Western nations - including the United States - objected to a clause that says "in view of the different contribution to global environmental degradation, states have common but differentiated responsibilities" for solving environmental problems, Faby said.
Faby said the United States objected to this clause in connection with its stance on global warming.
Canada's chief delegate, John Bell, called the Rio Declaration a breakthrough but wished the pedestrian language had been "more inspirational" and focused more on "integrating the environment with development.
Some delegates, after working for five weeks culminating in 18-and 20-hour sessions in recent days, wandered in the halls of the United Nations early Saturday morning, their expressions reflecting weariness and frustration.
In the meeting room, papers were spilled across desks, ashtrays overflowed, and tension was palpable in the hot room. About 1,200 delegates had worked on the summit preparations.
The preparatory meeting deadlocked over limiting "greenhouse gases," mainly because the United States refused to accept any binding targets for limiting emissions of the gases that are believed to be the chief cause of global warming.
The chief U.S. delegate said Friday that the talks also were stalemated over how to foot the bill for cleaning up pollution. The United States and other industrialized nations refused to discuss creating a "Green Fund," as advocated by Third World nations.
"We've lost a great opportunity," said Assistant Secretary of State Curtis Bohlen in an interview. He said the summit would be held in Rio de Janeiro in June as planned, but negotiators now would arrive without the far-reaching preliminary agreements they had sought.