Dublin, and possibly Belfast are probably the only places in this island of ours where such a mammoth conference could be held. The interesting question is what will it achieve.

It is 10 years since the first of these summits were held. In a piece headed Summit Aims Again For A Better World in a recent issue of International Herald Tribune Barry James starts off the main front page story as follows:

"The road from the first Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro 10 years ago to a similar global conference in Johannesburg later this month is paved with good intentions about improving the lot of the world s poor while safeguarding the environment.

"But the path also risks running into a dead end, as the largest meeting ever held by the United Nations faces major challenges in trying to put life into empty promises to reverse the ecological degradation and falling living standards that afflict much of the world."

Continuing Barry James paints a sad picture on what has happened over the past 10 years:

"The record of the past 10 years, however, contains little to suggest that the Johannesburg meeting will significantly improve things. At the much-publicized Rio summit meeting in 1992, governments agreed on a bold programme to combat the deterioration of land, air and water, to conserve the diversity of living things, and to seek economic growth within the earth s capacity to support life.

"At subsequent UN conferences, similar formal promises were made about promoting education, helping women and reducing poverty.

"But today, 80 countries have lower per capita incomes than they did at the time of the Rio conference. Threats are higher than ever to natural resources such as forests, fish, and clean water and air. The richest one-fifth of mankind including wealthy minorities in poor countries consume energy and resources at such a high rate that providing a comparable lifestyle to the rest of the world s population would require the resources of four planets the size of Earth."

One of the worst casualties to happen mankind was the Black Death in Europe in the mid-14th century: The HIV/AIDS epidemic has already claimed about as many victims.

Barry James s report contains a collection showing how conditions for many people have worsened in the 10 years since the Rio de Janeiro get together. Here are some examples:

The amount of fresh water available to each person in 1950 was 17,000 cubic meters. In 1995, this had declined to 7,000 cubic meters, and it is now going down so fast that up to 5 billion people will experience "high water stress" by 2020, and water could replace oil as the world s leading source of conflict.

Nearly 50 percent of fish stocks are fully exploited. Over 20 percent are over-exploited or depleted. Fishing fleets in rich countries collect subsidies equivalent to about 20 percent of the value of the landed catch to build bigger boats to pursue diminishing shoals.

The area covered by tropical forests is disappearing at the rate of four Switzerlands every year. The global forestry industry picks up $35 billion in subsidies every year.

Annual development assistance by rich countries to poor countries is $53.7 billion. Farmers in rich countries collect $335 billion in subsidies.

Commenting on the above Barry James states:

"Such statistics help explain why expectations for the conference are limited. Indeed, some say it would be no bad thing if this were the last meeting where governments made pledges they knew they would never keep."

After reading this hair-raising account of the likely outcome of the Johannesburg Summit which will be attended by Heads of State (President Bush hasn t yet decided if he will attend) and corporation executives right down to representatives of civic organisations it will be interesting to see who represents Ireland I am reminded of a saying doing the rounds in my youth that the road to hell is paved with good intentions. Here s hoping that some good will accrue from next weeks mammoth gathering in Johannesburg.

Sadness in Soham

THE main news story for the past fortnight has been the dis-appearance of the ten-year-olds, Jessica Chapman and Holly Wells. They both vanished without trace from their homes in the Cambridgeshire market town of Soham at around 7p.m. on Sunday August 4. They were both wearing red Manchester United shirts and the mystery as to their whereabouts had been on going until the dreadful news broke around 1pm on Saturday that two bodies had been found in a clump of trees beside an American airbase 7 miles from Soham, which is a small market town just a few miles from Newmarket, Suffock, the HQ of flat racing in the UK.

Annually there are one or two abductions of single children in the U.K. but this is the first time that I can recall two together disappearing. What a heart-breaking experience for any parent to have to undergo. Onlookers like myself seeing the story unfold nightly on our TV screens are really shocked by what has happened so you can imagine from that what the plight of the parents must be like.

On the Sunday after those two lovely girls disappeared Rev Tim Alban Jones, in the course of his sermon in Soham, said:

"We have been through such a lot that it seems almost incredible that it was only a week ago that life was normal here. If it has seemed a long time to us, then how much more interminable must it have been for the families of Holly and Jessica?"

Taking his text from the Gospel reading of the day which was about Our Lord s disciples being caught in stormy waters he said.

"Like those disciples in the boat on the lake we are in the middle of the most terrible storm; like them we are all feeling pretty battered and it seems increasingly that the wind is against us."

Concluding his sermon he said: "But the message of the gospel is that God is with us in all our difficulties, more particularly with those who suffer; so God is with Holly and Jessica wherever they are, and God is with their families at this dreadful time. So let s keep on hoping and praying for Jessica and Holly, however difficult it may be."

Now 13 days after an agonising wait the hope that springs eternal in the human breast (to quote Alexander Pope), has been shattered by the devestating news of the bodies. Acouple are being held in custody in connection with the murders. The motivation for this vile deed that has shocked mankind still remains a mystery.

Rain, rain, go away!

"LET China sleep when she awakes the world will know" so said Napoleon Bonaparte approximately two centuries ago. China is awakening to the twentieth century AD pretty fast by all accounts.

Even the mobile phone came in very useful there last month. Here is what happened as reported by the media on three fronts Press, Radio and TV. The death penalty is used extensively in China. Last year over 2,500 were executed there. You could be executed in China for stealing large sums or accepting sizeable bribes.

The chilling thing about the death penalty in China is the way the sentence is carried out. Generally there is no delay.

Recently there was a young man sentenced to death in Yanjin for killing someone with a brick in a bar brawl. The young man s lawyer persuaded a judge on Peking s Supreme Court that his client had acted in self defence and a stay of execution was ordered. The problem was that the man had already been taken out to be shot and the judge had to call up the firing squad on his mobile phone. Luckily for the young man the judge made contact on time.

This case has caused a lot of furore in that vast country (over 100 times the size of the island of Ireland with a population of over one and a quarter billion) more stringent safeguards are being sought but the abolition of capital punishment there is still not on the cards. You can rest assured though that China is no longer sleeping.

Flooding has caused unprecedented havoc and chaos in Central Europe. Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic is probably the worst hit of all 70,000 people have been successful-ly evacuated from low-lying areas in the centre of the city. Russia, Austria, the Eastern part of Germany and Romania have also been inundated.

The Mayor of a flooded Austrian village is quoted over local radio as saying:

"We re sitting here in a bathtub without a plug." Over 100 people have already lost their lives in these floods which are regarded in Prague as being the worst for 500 years. Most of the casualties were in Russia where at least 58 people were killed most were Russian tourists vacationing on the Black Sea caught napping in earnest by the swiftness and power of floods. I want to hear no more complaints about the weather here in Ireland!

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