And the United States has yet to ratify the Convention on Biological Diversity . Despite their financial and other constraints, the developing countries have done better in implementing Agenda 21 and the Rio conventions than most countries from the North. Ghana, for example, has ratified the conventions and put in place institutional arrangements which ensure that the environment is taken into account in her development process. All investments in the country have to be subject to environmental impact assessment before they are allowed to proceed. Financial resources and sustainable technologies must be made available District assemblies, the lowest level of political administration in the country, have all prepared local Agenda 21s for implementation.
Major groups are part of the country's decision-making process on sustainable development.
All this has been achieved at a substantial cost to the country. People have been known to wonder why they should not use natural resources however they like to improve their economic well-being. Some have no desire for tomorrow, which they may not see. It is difficult, at times, to win the argument against such people because the financial and technical resources needed to solve their problems may not be readily available. A critical look The Earth Summit planned for 2002 gives the global community an opportunity to take another critical look at the implementation of all that was decided in Rio.