Rio+20 delegates agree draft development plan

A draft blueprint has been agreed to help improve sustainable development at the Rio+20 conference in Brazil.

The meeting, which is being held exactly 20 years after the original Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, has been criticised for failing to force countries to make firm commitments on climate change.

Janez Potoçnik, the European Commissioner for the Environment told a press conference: “We think that the document doesn’t entirely match the ambition actually the world would desire at this moment. But on the other hand, it is certainly the step into the right direction and it is the step as far as here is Rio was possible”.

On Tuesday, activists said the plan that will be finalised by the end of the week had been “watered down” as world leaders focused on the fragile state of the global economy.

As well as negotiators from more than 190 countries, several protest groups are in Rio including a more than 1500 indigenous people from across Latin America. They say the summit is one of a few opportunities to get their voices heard and push for protection for their reservations.

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