South African President Thabo Mbeki closed the 10-day UN Earth Conference in Johannesburg today after world leaders adopted a controversial charter to reduce damage to the environment and improve the lot of the world's poor.
They also adopted a "Johannesburg Declaration on Sustainable Development" to emphasise their seriousness in protecting the environment and combating poverty.
Mr Mbeki, chairing the session, said the draft had gone through numerous revisions.
"It acknowledges that goals set at the first Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992 have not been met and pledges the leaders "to combat terrorism, organised crime and corruption, singly and collectively ...
" [...] The declaration commits the leaders to building "a human, equitable and caring global society cognisant of the need for human dignity for all," he said.
Enviromental and aid groups on Wednesday branded the Plan of Implementation an abject failure, but UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said: "you must not expect a conference like this to produce miracles".
The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, conceded that compromises were made at the Summit but said that "genuine progress had been made".
He warned, however, that it was necessary for commitments to be fulfilled.
"What matters is how we follow up and fulfill the commitments made. If we do so, it will have made a real and lasting difference," he said.
He expressed disappointment at the Summit's failure to set a target on renewable energy but welcomed the commitment from wealthy countries to increase the proportion of their GNP for foreign aid.
But he said the EU had taken a "global leadership role" presenting an "ambitious leadership agenda" to the Summit.
France's President Jacques Chirac said that despite limited results, he believed the summit was "a step in the right direction".
British Environment Secretary Ms Margaret Beckett said: "I am in no doubt that our descendants will look back on this summit and say we set out on a new path."
EU Environment Commissioner Margot Wallstroem said "extremely important" goals had been establishing a deadline of 2015 for providing clean water and sanitation and for improving management of hazardous chemicals. AFP