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Special Session of the General Assembly to Review and Appraise the Implementation of Agenda 21

Late Breaking News from Earth Summit +5

Updated 29 June 1997

The 19th United Nations General Assembly Special Session to Review and Appraise the Implementation of Agenda 21 came to a close early this morning. Delegates, NGOs and other observers left UN Headquarters in New York with mixed feelings after a long and arduous week of negotiations and events. Some felt that the meeting had been a failure because governments had shown a lack of political will to force more than convoluted compromises. Furthermore, many had hoped that governments -- especially the US -- would make specific pledges to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, in preparation for the upcoming climate change negotiations. Nevertheless, the week-long Special Session did demonstrate that there has been slow bits of progress in a number of areas since the Earth Summit in Rio.

Perhaps General Assembly President Razali Ismail (Malaysia) said it best: "This special session should go down as a very honest attempt to try and make an appraisal of the results, and of how far we have gone from Rio. There was very little attempt to try to sweep things under the carpet or put a gloss over something that's not there."

The summary report of the Special Session, prepared by the Earth Negotiations Bulletin, is now available. You can also download the Earth Negotiations Bulletin in either text or PDF format.

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For highlights of negotiations during last week's informal consultations and during the Special Session, check Late Breaking News for: