World summit in quotes

Here are some of their key remarks:

"We have plans to end the despair and offer hope. Now is the time to put those plans into action" - Colin Powell, US Secretary of State.

"We are proud to be from America but embarrassed by American policies" - Michael Brune, Rainforest Action Network.

"I don't think that mega summits are the way to secure effective implementation" - Fogh Rasmussen, Danish Foreign Minister.

"Instead of a rendezvous with destiny, they [the US] brought us a rendezvous with deadlock and the status quo" - Paul Joffe, National Wildlife Federation.

"If this proposal had been adopted, it would have led to the Talebanisation of the world" - Serge Chappatte, Swiss delegate (on the US and the Vatican's push for conservative wording in a paragraph on women's reproductive health).

"We feel betrayed. The leaders of the world have behaved as if they were corporate executives" - Ricardo Navarro, Friends of the Earth.

"I am in no doubt that our descendants will look back on this summit and say we set out on a new path" - Margaret Beckett, UK delegate.

"Blair: Keep your England and let me keep my Zimbabwe" - Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe President.

"Let us not be deceived when we look at a clear blue sky into thinking that all is well. All is not well" - Kofi Annan, UN Secretary General.

"Climate change is no longer a sceptical prognosis, but a bitter reality. This challenge demands decisive action from us" - Gerhard Schroeder, German Chancellor.

"Poverty and environmental degradation, if unchecked, spell catastrophe for our world" - Tony Blair, UK Prime Minister.

"Today in Johannesburg, humanity has a date with destiny" - Jacques Chirac, French President.

"We must confront the privileged elite who have destroyed a large part of the world" - Hugo Chavez, Venezuelan President.

"Too many adults are too interested in money and wealth to take notice of serious problems that affect our future" - 11-year-old Justin Friesen, Canada.