Johannesburg: UN Secretary General Kofi Annan led a call by world leaders at the Earth Summit in Johannesburg on September 2 for an alternative development plan, saying the present model was ravaging the environment and condemning most of humanity to poverty.

"The model of development we are accustomed to has been fruitful for few and flawed for many," Annan said. "A path to prosperity that ravages the environment and leaves a majority of humankind behind in squalor will soon prove to be a dead-end road for everyone."

Annan told the assembly of heads of state and government attending the largest yet UN conference on the Earth's future that a pertinent danger sign "not far from this conference room" was the spectre of famine looming over 13 million people in six Southern African countries. He called for "a season of transformation, a season of stewardship".

French President Jacques Chirac said a collective responsibility was necessary to ensure that the "21st century does not become for future generations the century of humanity's crime against life itself."

He urged an end to current consumption levels, saying that if the world went the way of developed countries "it would take two more planets to satisfy our needs".

Chirac also underscored the need to alleviate poverty through new means.

"Let us find new sources of financing. For example, by means of a solidarity levy on the wealth created by globalisation."

President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, who was elected in 1998 promising to challenge Venezuela's wealthy, blamed what he called "neo-liberalism" for the world's woes.

"We must confront the elites," he said. "I wish to ask -- what development are we talking about? Every minute thousands are dying of hunger due to neo-liberalism ... Let us recognise the truth and take action. Neo-liberalism is the guilty party."

"This model has to change," he said calling for the creation of an "international humanitarian fund" with an obligation for all countries to contribute to it a part of defence spending.

Romano Prodi, the president of the European Commission and former Italian Prime Minister, said the time had come to "sever the link between economic growth and the degradation of the environment.

"The increasing divide between the North and South must become our new frontier, our new challenge. We got rid of a wall in Europe. We cannot accept another wall which cuts the world in two."

Indonesian head of state Megawati Soekarnoputri said the poor did not reap the rewards of globalisation and stressed that a "lack of political will" was the root cause for the continued environmental deterioration 10 years after the first Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro.

Thabo Mbeki, the president of the Earth Summit's host country South Africa, recalled mass protests in Johannesburg two days earlier by global activists demanding concrete action, saying it was a sign that people were fed up.

He urged his peers not to "fear a break with the past" and to make the summit a "defining moment" through bold and new steps to save the world.