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UN summit ends with action plan to boost efforts to protect environment, fight poverty

UN summit ends with action plan to boost efforts to protect environment, fight poverty

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Concluding an intensive 10-day session, the United Nations World Summit on Sustainable Development today adopted key measures to protect the environment while improving the lives of people living in poverty.

Concluding an intensive 10-day session, the United Nations World Summit on Sustainable Development today adopted key measures to protect the environment while improving the lives of people living in poverty.

Meeting in Johannesburg, South Africa, delegates at the Summit agreed on a wide-ranging Plan of Implementation that set several targets and timetables for a number of initiatives dealing with water, energy, health, agriculture and biodiversity.

"This Summit makes sustainable development a reality," UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said at a closing press conference. "This Summit will put us on a path that reduces poverty while protecting the environment, a path that works for all peoples, rich and poor, today and tomorrow."

Among the decisions taken, government representatives agreed to halve the proportion of people who lack access to clean water or proper sanitation and to work to increase access to modern energy services. They also set objectives aimed at protecting or restoring ecosystems, such as the restoration of fisheries by 2015, and the reversal of biodiversity loss by 2010.

As part of its action-oriented theme, the Summit also saw the announcement of additional resources and new partnership initiatives to achieve practical results. More than 300 projects among governments, business and citizen groups, including more than 60 announced at the Summit itself, were submitted to the UN, along with more than $235 million in additional resources.

Wednesday morning, the Summit wrapped up its discussion of the main issues as 33 speakers, including Secretary of State Colin Powell of the United States, took the floor for the conclusion of the conference's high-level segment.

Most countries expressed satisfaction at the result of the Summit, but some, such as those belonging to the European Union, and Latin American nations, as well as many non-governmental organizations (NGOs), expressed disappointment that no target had been set for increasing the use of renewable energy.

More than 21,000 people attended the Summit, including 9,101 delegates, 8,227 NGO representatives, and 4,012 accredited media.