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Rio message of gloom will follow absentees
US President Barack Obama heads a list of high profile absentees for the Rio sustainable development summit this week where UN leaders say some tough decisions will have to be taken for the future of the planet.
Britain’s Prime Minister David Cameron, Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel and China’s President Hu Jintao will also go to the Group of 20 rich nations summit in Mexico but then head straight home before the Rio de Janeiro event starts on Wednesday.
The US presidential election, the debt crisis in Europe and China’s looming leadership transition have all weighed heavily on acceptances to the Rio summit that will seek to set some ground rules for global growth that helps the poor and does not wreck the environment.
Helen Clark, who was prime minister of New Zealand from 1999 to 2008 before she took over the UN Development Programme (UNDP) in 2009, says she can understand the pressures.
“It is always great to have the G8 leaders there,” Clark, who has played a key role in bringing together the summit, said. “I have been a leader in election year where you look very carefully whether you are going to travel anywhere four months out from an election. That is a very practical consideration — where are you most needed. So I am not prepared to criticise anyone for not coming.”
The summit will still be attended by presidents Vladimir Putin of Russia, Francois Hollande of France, Jacob Zuma of South Africa alongside Prime Ministers Manmohan Singh of India and China’s Premier Wen Jiabao. And the shadow of the global troubles to be debated will follow the absent leaders home, Clark said.
“The toxic combination of falling incomes, social unrest and environmental degradation. This is reality. We have got a common problem here. We need to have a shared vision of how to tackle it,” she said.
“We are heading for chaos if we don’t tackle these issues.” So the summit, where corporate chiefs and grass roots activists will take the total attendance to 50,000 people, has an ambitious agenda.
US President Barack Obama heads a list of high profile absentees for the Rio sustainable development summit this week where UN leaders say some tough decisions will have to be taken for the future of the planet.
Britain’s Prime Minister David Cameron, Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel and China’s President Hu Jintao will also go to the Group of 20 rich nations summit in Mexico but then head straight home before the Rio de Janeiro event starts on Wednesday.
The US presidential election, the debt crisis in Europe and China’s looming leadership transition have all weighed heavily on acceptances to the Rio summit that will seek to set some ground rules for global growth that helps the poor and does not wreck the environment.
Helen Clark, who was prime minister of New Zealand from 1999 to 2008 before she took over the UN Development Programme (UNDP) in 2009, says she can understand the pressures.
“It is always great to have the G8 leaders there,” Clark, who has played a key role in bringing together the summit, said. “I have been a leader in election year where you look very carefully whether you are going to travel anywhere four months out from an election. That is a very practical consideration — where are you most needed. So I am not prepared to criticise anyone for not coming.”
The summit will still be attended by presidents Vladimir Putin of Russia, Francois Hollande of France, Jacob Zuma of South Africa alongside Prime Ministers Manmohan Singh of India and China’s Premier Wen Jiabao. And the shadow of the global troubles to be debated will follow the absent leaders home, Clark said.
“The toxic combination of falling incomes, social unrest and environmental degradation. This is reality. We have got a common problem here. We need to have a shared vision of how to tackle it,” she said.
“We are heading for chaos if we don’t tackle these issues.” So the summit, where corporate chiefs and grass roots activists will take the total attendance to 50,000 people, has an ambitious agenda.
