Final Text of Environment Deal Hammered Out

Detailed and heated debates are being conducted over the text of the World Summit on Sustainable Development - but it remains only words, as many delegates have pointed out.

"It is nothing but rhetoric unless you follow it with action," said John Turner, US undersecretary of state. By this he meant partnerships with the private sector, which are being heavily promoted in Johannesburg.

Pressure groups also insisted that action must follow, although they argue it should be far more government-led. Paul Jefferiss, head of environmental policy at the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, said: "After Rio, where there were strong promises made, governments did too little to protect the global environment. This time we do not have the luxury of waiting another 10 years. Then it would be too late."

Improving the poor's access to clean water is widely judged to be the outcome most likely to have a real impact on the ground.

After a concession by the US, governments have agreed to halve the number of people without access to sanitation by 2015. Currently, 40 per cent of the world's population - 2.4bn - lack access to clean water.

Stephen Turner, deputy director of WaterAid, a UK-based development group, said: "At long last world governments have decided to tackle the globe's biggest killer."

The other big prize - new targets on renewable energy production - was still being argued over last night. While the principle of the Kyoto protocol on tackling climate change was reaffirmed, the European Union remained locked in tough negotiations with the US and Opec countries over whether new targets for renewables were needed at all.

The EU was seeking a 2 per cent increase in the proportion of energy production that comes from renewable sources.

However, the US remained opposed, insisting that while it took climate change seriously, a more integrated approach to energy policy was needed.

"These targets are arbitrary and focus on only one small sector," said Mr Turner.

The second agreement regarded as crucial is that on trade, finance and globalisation - the issue that led to the failure of preparatory talks in Bali in June.

The final text on trade removes certain key words, which had appeared to give World Trade Organisation rules primacy over future attempts to link trade, development and the environment. The final text was seen as a victory for the EU and some developing countries, which want environment and trade given equal weight in future trade talks.

An agreement to take further steps to protect fish stocks in international waters and create marine protection parks has been welcomed, although further action will be needed by other international organisations for these steps to be effective.

But the agreed text on protecting biodiversity was seen as weak, containing only a target aimed at reducing the rate of species loss, rather than preventing it.

A new target has been achieved for the reduction in the use of toxic chemicals, where possible. But once again, this agreement was seen as likely to have only limited impact.