The Spotlight Shifts From Mother Earth : Conference: Rio is transformed as the world’s leaders arrive to put their stamp on the convocation of environmentalism.

Dawn.

Hotels at Copacabana and Ipanema rolled out long tongues of red carpet.

Helicopters in camouflage paint swept low over the churning surf, and tractors gave the beaches a final grooming.

Avenida Atlantico, one of the world’s more spectacular and congested boulevards, was empty, sealed off by miles of ribbon and orange traffic cones, guarded by soldiers, and transformed into a raceway for presidential motorcades.

During the night, the playground beloved for thong bikinis, volleyball, beer, coconut milk, and the samba had been hit by the first wave of world political leaders--here to bless the work of an Earth Summit being called history’s greatest attempt at international cooperation.

Omens for the climactic days were good.

The bacteria count in the ocean Thursday was low enough that the water along a portion of the beach was deemed safe for swimming. Street urchins were not to be seen, and pickpockets remained on holiday. Only the dogs on their morning walks persisted in their usual habits as the happening in Rio approached its crescendo.

In the din created by the arrival of world leaders, even Mother Earth gave up some of the spotlight--after more than a week of being incessantly loved and celebrated by environmentalists and analyzed by government emissaries.

With the leaders from around the world came all the accoutrements of political power: personal airliners, limousines, medal-laden military aides in resplendent garb, hard-eyed security men incessantly speaking into radios, First Ladies, whispering advisers, press agents and television crews.

As Rio awakened on Thursday, British Prime Minister John Major was ensconced at the Copacabana Palace. Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and Ireland’s Albert Reynolds were in town, as was German Chancellor Helmut Kohl. Scores more were on the way, including not only prime ministers and presidents, but scattered princes, princesses, sultans and the solitary, aging revolutionary Fidel Castro.

So many were coming that chartered press planes were being moved to Sao Paulo while waiting for the meeting to end because the Rio airport had run out of parking space.

The crunch not only filled the Rio streets and the airport apron, but hotels as well. President Bush, it was understood, had to settle for the second grandest suite at the Rio Sheraton because while he delayed his decision on whether to attend the Earth Summit, the hotel’s luxurious presidential suite was claimed by the Emir of Kuwait.

The Secret Service, necessarily bunking near Bush, found a nearby motel, which is said in ordinary times to serve guests engaged in amorous affairs that last less than a full night.

Finding their digs a little plusher, the White House staff will enjoy a motel with floor to ceiling mirrors, hot tubs and a porno movie channel.

The Bush entourage arrived here early today amid tight security after a tumultuous visit to Panama, and the President was expected to join more than 115 heads of state and government taking their private diamond lane out through the suburbs of Leblond and Barra to the sprawling conference site at Rio Centro.

Getting their leaders to and from the convention site has been one of the planners’ nightmares, and Thursday they routed ordinary traffic around a tunnel that cuts through Two Brothers Mountain.

There were rumors that French President Francois Mitterand, who will stay here for only about eight hours, would also take some alternate route because he has a fear of traveling through tunnels.

Although chaotic traffic was still expected when the full complement of government chiefs reach Rio today, the city took the presence of the first arrivals in stride.

Newspapers had advised Brazilians not to leave home with their automobiles in the last days of the meeting, and, like the citizens of Los Angeles during the 1984 Olympics, many of them took heed.

Thus traffic moved smoothly--which it does not ordinarily do--on Thursday. From balconies in the suburbs along the route to Rio Centro, mystified residents watched as hundreds of buses and taxicabs raced toward the summit along with an occasional motorcade escorted by flashing lights and blaring sirens.

There was no hint that the leaders’ presence would create civil unrest. But lest it be overlooked that environmental activists have disapproved of the positions taken by the Bush Administration in the course of summit, they launched demonstrations near their Global Forum site on Wednesday night.

About 15 young people were briefly detained by United Nations security police Thursday after a scuffle that bruised feelings and broke one glass door.

It was set off when the young environmental activists protested that closed-circuit television transmission of a Canadian youth’s speech had been cut off because the speaker attacked Bush.

Back in Rio proper, along the beaches, there were concerns far removed than environmentalists’ worries about the Bush Administration’s refusal to sign the biological diversity treaty.

The problem with the summit, said one club operator, who had for months anticipated the arrival of thousands of visitors, is that the environmentalists are not inclined to take in the night spots.

When they do go out, he complained, they drink nothing, and eat only salads.