President Clinton, speaking from a water-soaked rain forest, said Friday that he will lead the U.S. delegation to next month's environ-men-tal summit in New York.
Clinton said he hoped other world leaders also would attend the U.N. summit, a follow-up to the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio."Together, we need to reaffirm the spirit of Rio and lay out the concrete steps we're going to take to move ahead to make the preservation of the global environment and sustainable development the policy of every nation on Earth," he said.
The Rio Plus Five Summit will involve a special weeklong session of the U.N. General Assembly. Administration officials said it will assess what came out of the Rio summit five years ago and what still needs to be done.
Clinton plans to attend June 26. So far about two dozen world leaders have said they will attend.
On Friday, Clinton ventured into the Braulio Carrillo National Park to draw attention to Costa Rica's successes in dealing with environmental issues and successfully combining the protection of natural resources with economic development.
He said Costa Rica successfully has turned its preservation efforts into more tourism.
Costa Rican President Jose Figueres said the 500-square-mile tropical rain forest is home to 6,000 plant species, 135 mammal species, 350 bird species and more than 100 amphibian and reptile species.
Energy Secretary Federico Pena said Costa Rica is embarking on a five-year project to acquire 100 electric buses, 350 cars and 500 motorcycles for $35 million. The Department of Energy will help Costa Rica find funds from foundations or the private sector, conduct a conference on the electric initiative and provide technical support, he said.