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The
World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) or Earth Summit
2002 in Johannesburg produced both advances and setbacks.
Targets for a range of sustainable development issues were
not set. The Summit adopted the WSSD Plan of Implementation
(PI) and the Johannesburg Declaration (JD).
The
Plan of Implementation is a framework for action to implement
the commitments originally agreed. Unlike Agenda 21, it recognises
poverty as a running theme, linked to its multiple dimensions,
from access to energy, water and sanitation, to the equitable
sharing of the benefits of biodiversity.
The
Johannesburg Declaration outlines the path taken to the WSSD,
highlights present challenges, expresses a commitment to sustainable
development, underscores the importance of multilateralism
and emphasizes the need for implementation
Targets set
Fish
Governments
promised to restore the world's depleted fish stocks by 2015,
which should lead to more local food available to coastal
communities and less fish going to rich countries to provide
catfood.
Sanitation
Perhaps
the most important new commitment was the sanitation target
- to halve the proportion of people without access to sanitation
by 2015 together with the Millennium Declaration Goal to halve
the proportion without access to safe drinking water by 2015.
The US has announced US$970 million in investments on water
and sanitation projects; the EU announced its "Water
for Life" initiative.
Type
2 Partnerships
Germany
promised 500 million euros over five years to promote renewable
energy in developing countries. This is one of the 228
'Type 2 Partnerships' that followed Guiding Principles, where
governments promise to work with the private sector on aid
and environment projects. The Summit promised to help get
affordable energy to some of the two billion people who have
no access. With 80 percent of the world's energy coming from
fossil fuels, oil, coal and gas producers may well enjoy new,
if low-spending, markets.
More
at: http://www.johannesburgsummit.org/html/sustainable_dev/sustainable_dev.html
Other gains
The
Johannesburg Plan of Implementation says locals should share
in any benefits Western companies gain from exploiting natural
resources found there. There is also a commitment to significantly
reducing the extinction rate of the world's plants and animals
by 2010.
There
is confirmation in the Plan of Implementation that makes it
clear that UN Conventions of MEAs are not subservient to World
Trade Organisation decisions. For more
details of what this means.
The
action plan calls to "actively promote"
corporate
responsibility - although there will not be a global police
force to catch corporate polluters and human-rights abusers.
A reference to "intergovernmental agreements" and
"international initiative" could open the way to
some kind of global convention on corporate behaviour, but
you need to keep your fingers crossed.
Both
China and Russia announced that they will ratify the Kyoto
Protocol, which aims to tackle climate change through the
reduction in greenhouse gases. These additional signatures
should be enough for the Protocol to take effect despite U.S.
resistance.
There
was commitment, by 2020, to use and produce chemicals in ways
that do not lead to significant adverse effects on
human health and the environment. This will be achieved through
sound international management of chemicals through implementation
of the Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions.
Other
commitments include
*
reducing biodiversity loss by 2010;
* establishing a representative network of marine protected
areas by 2012;
* improving developing countries' access to environmentally-sound
alternatives to ozone depleting chemicals by 2010;
* and undertaking initiatives by 2004 to implement the Global
Programme of Action for the protection of the Marine Environment
from Land Based Sources.
* support for the Partnership for Principle 10 (PP10) that
calls for various stakeholders to work together to implement
practical solutions to provide the public with access to information,
participation, and justice to ensure
environmentally sustainable decisions. (For more, see http://projects.wri.org/project_description.cfm?ProjectID=133)
Losers
Perhaps
the biggest dissapointment was the lack of Renewable energy
targets. There was a lot of debate as to what are "renewables"
and do they include nuclear energy. A target to boost the
use of renewable energies such as wind and solar power was
not set.
Rich
countries are going to approach the next round of trade talks
"with a view to phasing out all forms of export subsidies",
However, neither the EU nor USA are under any obligation to
phase out massive payments to their farmers which make many
Third World exports uncompetitive.
Three
areas of challenge and opportunity have been identified:
1. 'Doha round' of WTO negotiations needs to look at aid,
trade and subsidies.
2. Corporate responsibility and accountability
3. Multilateral system of governance to find new ways to advance
the cause of sustainable development
Ways forward
1.
As part of the wider action to change unsustainable consumption
and production patterns, "workplace-based partnerships
and programmes, including training and education programmes"
(PI 17d), "use a range of partnerships --- amongst Governments,
intergovernmental organizations, workers, and other stakeholders,
to promote transparency and accountability " (PI 44a).
2.
The Plan of Implementation recognises measures for corporate
accountability and the
strengthening of government roles by taking action "at
all levels" to "Actively promote corporate responsibility
and accountability, based on the Rio Principles" (PI45).
3.
Registering of "type two" partnerships. In the words
of UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, "This
Summit represents a major leap forward in the development
of partnership". Officials said more than 220 partnerships,
worth $235 million in resources, were identified during the
Summit process, in the form of partnership initiatives by
and between governments, civil groups and businesses.
4
The Summit Implementation Plan provides the basis for raising
workplace issues as part of the tools for addressing issues
for WEHAB (Water, Energy, Health, Agriculture & Biodiversity),
many of which are being promoted by Type 2 partnerships.
5.
There was also growing support for the "workplace assessments
programmes", which enable people like environmental practitioners
to assess how their organisations are contributing to environmental
improvement and sustainable development.
UN
Secretary-General Kofi Annan said: "We have to go out
and take action. This is not the end, it is the beginning."
EP@W is adding new elements to the
Environmental Practioner Programme
to help that process.
For
more details of what went on
http://www.iisd.ca/linkages/2002/wssd/
http://www.earthsummit2002.org/
http://www.un.org/jsummit/index.html
Official UN Site for key outcomes
http://www.johannesburgsummit.org/
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