RIO DE JANEIRO — As the 12-day Earth Summit closed Sunday, delegates, UN officials and environmentalists called the conference a historic first step toward focusing world attention on the problems of economic development and environmental degradation.
But they said the two treaties, two major declarations and a set of principles on protecting the world`s forests finalized here would have little impact on the environment and development unless nations develop the political will to implement them. They warned that time is running out.
``While I share this moment of hope and while I really do believe this
(conference) has been a seminal experience . . . whether or not it succeeds in its purposes of setting the planet on a new track, that remains to be seen,`` said Maurice Strong, secretary general of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development.
``We didn`t do it in Stockholm. And we don`t have another 20 years to squander,`` Strong added, referring to the first Earth Summit in Stockholm in 1971.
After two years of negotiations and often bitter discussions here, delegates from 178 nations Sunday approved both the Rio Declaration and Agenda 21-the Earth Summit`s two primary documents, which lay out a blueprint for economic development and environmental protection into the 21st Century.
The U.S., Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait were the only nations to file statements of reservation-or clarifications-to the summit texts. Saudi Arabia and Kuwait said sections of Agenda 21 ``discriminated`` against oil-producing nations because they called for increased use of renewable resources and failed to cite the dangers of nuclear power.
The U.S. issued a clarification on sections of the Agenda 21 text that refer to the ``transfer of technology`` between nations. The U.S. believes such transfers can only be done by mutual agreement and subject to the protection of property rights-something they say remains vague in the Agenda 21 text.
The U.S. also clarified a section of the Rio Declaration giving nations ``the right to development.`` In its clarification, the U.S. said this right is limited to economic development; American officials say that nations often have used ``the right of development`` to commit human rights violations.
By Sunday, 154 nations had signed a climate change treaty that commits nations to reduce carbon dioxide emissions that many scientists believe causes global warming. The same number of nations have signed the biodiversity treaty designed to protect the world`s plant and animal species.
The delegates also approved a set of principles on protecting the world`s forests through sustainable development-the primary goal of U.S. negotiators here-that for much of the conference had been bitterly opposed by India and Malaysia.
The U.S. alone among the major industrialized powers has not signed the biodiversity treaty, saying the document`s financing mechanism is flawed and the treaty fails to protect patent rights of products developed from plants and animals native to the developing world.
William Reilly, head of the U.S. delegation, said Sunday he expected the U.S. to sign an amended biodiversity treaty soon.
He said Britain, Brazil and other nations that signed the treaty would likely introduce amendments to satisfy U.S. concerns.
The biodiversity treaty, like all major documents and treaties signed here, was forged from laborious negotiations that often pitted industrialized nations eager to impose environmental regulations against developing countries seeking financial assistance.
And while negotiators often talked about forging a new, global approach, the negotiations were often paralyzed by delegations defending short-term national interests, delegates and environmentalists say.
The result is non-binding treaties and agreements full of compromise and ambiguous language.