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This summer’s Earth Summit may not take place in Rio de Janeiro after
all, warned representatives of Brazil’s nongovernmental organisations (NGOs)
last week. They said that building work at the official conference centre
is now seriously behind schedule.

‘The work has still not even begun,’ said Liszt Vieira, who is also
coordinator of the NGO conference which will run parallel to the official
event. ‘If the bureaucracy does not speed up, there is a risk of the work
not being ready in time and if this happens, the conference will have to
be transferred, which would be an absolute disaster for Brazil,’ he said.

Vieira said some government – he could not specify which – were already
thinking that the work would not be ready in time. ‘They say the new year
only starts after carnival in Brazil and this seems to be valid for the
Earth Summit preparations as well,’ he said.