ENB:02:10
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THINGS TO LOOK FOR TODAY
INSIDE THE SUMMIT: The first meeting of the Earth Summit officially starts today with 28 Heads of State or Government scheduled to deliver formal statements in the Plenary in the morning and 29 Heads of State or Government scheduled for the second meeting, to be convened in the afternoon. The third and fourth meetings of the Summit will be convened on Saturday morning and afternoon, respectively. There is much speculation as to what parallel process will be put in place to provide a forum for the continued ministerial-level negotiations surrounding those issues which the Main Committee was unable to resolve. Some suggest that forest, finance and atmosphere ministerial contact groups may in fact be convened in parallel to the actual Summit proceedings. The results of these ministerial contact groups will be tabled directly to the final session of the Plenary, which will be held on Sunday morning to formally adopt all of the Conference documents. It is likely that this final Plenary will provide little or no time for substantive discussion. All consultations are expected to be completed by Friday evening to allow sufficient time for translation and photocopying before Sunday's Plenary.
OUTSIDE THE SUMMIT: Look for increasingly limited access for NGOs and press at RioCentro today and throughout the remainder of the Earth Summit. Members of the UNCED Secretariat have indicated that yesterday's youth demonstration may lead to stricter security measures. This demonstration, which followed the youth statement in Plenary, resulted in the removal by UN Security of eight people, the revocation of many passes and a broken glass door. The demonstration had been called to draw attention to the resignation of a youth representative on the US Delegation. It was fueled by the fact that the transmission of the youth statement to monitors in RioCentro had been cut. The press, in their zeal to cover the unfolding story, only exacerbated matters according to several UN Security officers.