Rio de Janeiro, June 21 (PL-RHC) -- World leaders attending the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, also known as Rio+20, continue debates on the final document of the forum, which has been both praised and rejected alike.

While some of the heads of State and civil organizations have pointed to the lack of ambition of the text, proposed by Brazil, other leaders praised the consensus reached, something they failed to achieve in previous meetings regarding the environment.

During the opening ceremony on Wednesday, Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff was elected to preside over the Conference by general consent. In her speech, she urged world leaders to commit to defending the future they want and maintain the common, but differentiated responsibilities on sustainable development.

Costa Rican President Laura Chinchilla called to strengthen strategic alliances among the countries to consolidate sustainable development, and said that humanity should re-learn the principles in which progress should be based upon.

Uruguay’s Head of State Jose Mujica said “the great challenge is that the crisis is not only linked to the environment, but politics” and stated that the problem of water and attacks on the environment suggest we should review our life styles and stop being caught up in a consumer society.

Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadineyad urged heads of States of the world to reach an agreement to change the current economic and social order, accusing wealthy countries of wanting to satisfy their unquenchable thirst for power, while poor countries continue facing the same problems, such as poverty.

China’s Prime Minister Wen Jiabao stressed the need to seek a world with an adequate development, social equity, and benefit for all peoples, and stressed the need to protect Mother Earth and developing countries.

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