WSSD Info. News

ISSUE # 10 (C)
"A SNAP-SHOT OF THE SUMMIT" – UNITED NATIONS & AGENCIES

Issue # 10 (A) ~ Issue # 10 (B) ~ Issue # 10 (C) ~ Issue # 10 (D) ~ Issue # 10 (E)

Compiled by Richard Sherman

Edited by Kimo Goree 

Published by the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD)

Distributed exclusively to the 2002SUMMIT-L list by IISD Reporting Services

For more information on the WSSD, visit IISD's Linkages Portal at http://wssd.info

Editor's note: Welcome to the tenth and final issue of WSSD.Info News, compiled by Richard Sherman. WSSD.Info News is an exclusive publication of IISD for the 2002SUMMIT-L list and should not be reposted or republished to other lists/websites without the permission of IISD (you can write Kimo for permission.) If you have been forwarded this issue and would like to subscribe to 2002SUMMIT-L, please visit http://iisd.ca/scripts/lyris.pl?join=2002summit-l.

Funding for the production of WSSD.Info News (part of the IISD Reporting Services annual program) has been provided by The Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Government of Canada (through CIDA), the United States (through USAID), the Swiss Agency for Environment, Forests and Landscape (SAEFL), the United Kingdom (through the Department for International Development - DFID), the European Commission (DG-ENV), the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Government of Germany (through German Federal Ministry of Environment - BMU, and the German Federal Ministry of Development Cooperation - BMZ). General Support for the Bulletin during 2002 is provided by the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Environment of Finland, the Government of Australia, the Ministry of Environment and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Sweden, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade of New Zealand, the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Environment of Norway, Swan International, and the Japanese Ministry of Environment (through the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies – IGES). If you like WSSD.Info News, please thank them for their support.

UNITED NATIONS  

UNITED NATIONS WSSD SECRETARIAT

1. SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT SUMMIT CONCLUDES IN JOHANNESBURG: 4 September 2002

2. SUMMIT PRINT MATERIALS TO BE DONATED TO SOUTH AFRICAN LIBRARY SYSTEM 4 September 2002

3. SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT SUMMIT CONCLUDES IN JOHANNESBURG: UN SECRETARY-GENERAL KOFI ANNAN SAYS IT'S JUST THE BEGINNING 4 September 2002

4. UN SUMMIT 'MAJOR LEAP FORWARD' FOR PARTNERSHIPS IN GLOBAL FIGHT AGAINST POVERTY - ANNAN 4 September 2002

5. WITH A SENSE OF URGENCY, JOHANNESBURG SUMMIT SETS AN ACTION AGENDA 3 September 2002

6. WORLD LEADERS STRESS SHARED RESPONSIBILITY, IMMEDIATE ACTION, AS HIGH-LEVEL SEGMENT OF JOHANNESBURG SUMMIT CONTINUES 3 September 2002

7. UN SECRETARY-GENERAL CALLS FOR CHANGE AT SUMMIT 2 September 2002

8. SUMMIT SECRETARY-GENERAL SAYS COMPLETED NEGOTIATIONS PROVIDE A SOLID FOUNDATION FOR ACTION 2 September 2002

9. NEGOTIATIONS ON JOHANNESBURG SUMMIT ACTION PLAN ENTERS FINAL PHASE 2 September 2002

10. FOR EACH OTHER, FOR PLANET -- EMBODIES SUMMIT'S HOPES, SAYS SECRETARY-GENERA, AS JOHANNESBURG'S HIGH-LEVEL SEGMENT BEGINS 2 September 2002

11. INITIATIVE TO GROW SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS IN WORLD'S POOREST COUNTRIES ANNOUNCED AT JOHANNESBURG WORLD SUMMIT 2 September 2002

12. SOLUTIONS ARE UNDERSTOOD -- WILL TO IMPLEMENT THEM STILL MISSING, BELGIUM'S PRIME MINISTER TELLS SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT SUMMIT 2 September 2002

13. MANY SUMMIT GOALS REALIZED AT MIDPOINT 31 August 2002

14. ADDITIONAL PARTNERSHIP INITIATIVES ANNOUNCED IN JOHANNESBURG AIMED AT SUMMIT'S ECOLOGICAL IMPACT, CHILDHOOD LEAD POISONING 31 August 2002

15. CHILDREN, AGRICULTURE, BUILDING CAPACITY IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES, AMONG ISSUES ADDRESSED AT SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT SUMMIT 32 Agencies, Organizations Speak in Plenary Session 30 August 2002

16. SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT SUMMIT FOCUSES ON IMPORTANCE OF REGIONAL ORGANIZATIONS IN SUMMIT FOLLOW-UP 29 August 2002

17. JOHANNESBURG SUMMIT CALLS FOR RESTORATION OF FISHERIES BY 2015 28 August 2002

18. UN, SOUTH AFRICAN FLAGS RAISED OVER SANDTON CONFERENCE CENTRE IN JOHANNESBURG 23 August 2002

UNITED NATIONS DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME (UNDP)

19. JOHANNESBURG SUMMIT PROMOTES PARTNERSHIPS FOR DEVELOPMENT 5 September 2002

20. JOHANNESBURG SUMMIT FOCUSES ON CIVIL SOCIETY ROLE 4 September 2002

21. OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENTS IN SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT IN THE TROPICS REWARDED 31 August 2002

22. UNDP LAUNCHES PARTNERSHIPS TO EXPAND ACCESS TO ENERGY FOR RURAL POPULATIONS 28 August 2002

23. WORLD SUMMIT IN JOHANNESBURG TO STAKE OUT COURSE FOR PRACTICAL, REALISTIC DEVELOPMENT GAINS 26 August 2002

24. NEW PARTNERSHIPS TO HELP SEVERAL HUNDRED MILLION POOR PEOPLE ACCESS CLEAN WATER 26 August 2002

UNITED NATIONS ENVIRONMENT PROGRAMME (UNEP)

25. WORKMANLIKE PLAN AGREED TO FIGHT AGAINST POVERTY AND FIGHT FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT SAYS KLAUS TOEPFER 4 September 2002

26. TRADE AND ENVIRONMENT TASK FORCE STRENGTHENED IN JOHANNESBURG 3 September 2002

27. MASSIVE DESTRUCTION OF GREAT APE HABITATS LIKELY OVER THE NEXT 30 YEARS UNLESS CURRENT TRENDS REVERSED 3 September 2002

28. PUTTING ENERGY INTO SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT - UNEP LAUNCHES NEW GLOBAL CLEAN ENERGY NETWORK AT JOHANNESBURG WORLD SUMMIT 1 September 2002

29. NEW GLOBAL VIRTUAL UNIVERSITY TO PROMOTE ENVIRONMENTAL AND DEVELOPMENT EDUCATION1 September 2002

WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION (WHO)

30. SUPPORT ROLLS IN FOR WHO'S NEW "HEALTHY ENVIRONMENTS FOR CHILDREN" INITIATIVE 2 September 2002

31. BRUNDTLAND STARTS NEW MOVEMENT TO ADDRESS ENVIRONMENTAL CRISIS AFFECTING CHILDREN'S HEALTH ENVIRONMENT KILLS THE EQUIVALENT OF A JUMBO JET FULL OF CHILDREN EVERY 45 MINUTES 1 September 2002

FOOD AND AGRICULTIRE ORGANISATION (FAO)

32. HUNGER AND POVERTY: MORE POLITICAL WILL AND FINANCIAL RESOURCES NEEDED 30 August 2002

33. HUNGER AND POVERTY NEED TO BE REDUCED TO ACHIEVE SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT 27 August 2002

34. FAO TO JOHANNESBURG SUMMIT: AGRICULTURE CAN MAKE OR BREAK A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE 16 August 2002

UNITED NATIONS POPULATION FUND (UNFPA)

35. DEVELOPMENT SUMMIT REAFFIRMS GLOBAL COMMITMENT TO WOMEN'S HEALTH AND RIGHTS 4 September 2002

36. UNFPA CALLS FOR ACTION ON WOMEN AND POPULATION 30 August 2002

37. REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH AND WOMEN'S RIGHTS ARE KEY ISSUES FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT SUMMIT, EXPERTS SAY 27 August 2002

INTERNATIONAL FUND FOR AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT (IFAD)

38. IFAD'S REPORT TO THE WORLD SUMMIT ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT CALLS FOR GREATER INVESTMENT IN THE MARGINAL AND DEGRADED LANDS 20 August 2002

UNITED NATIONS CHILDREN'S FUND (UNICEF)

39. UNICEF ISSUES GLOBAL CHALLENGE TO WORLD LEADERS ATTENDING JOHANNESBURG SUMMIT 30 August 2002

UNITED NATIONS CONFERENCE ON TRADE AND DEVELOPMENT (UNCTAD)

40. SWEDEN PLEDGES SUPPORT TO UNCTAD'S INVESTMENTRELATED FOLLOW-UP WORK ON DOHA DEVELOPMENT AGENDA 3 September 2002

41. UNCTAD TO SIGN THREE PARTNERSHIPS ON BIODIVERSITY 22 August 2002

UNITED NATIONS EDUCATIONAL, SCIENTIFIC AND CULTURAL ORGANISATION (UNESCO)

42. NO SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT WITHOUT EDUCATION 3 September 2002

43. WATER IS NOT JUST A COMMODITY, BUT A COMMON PUBLIC GOOD, SAYS UNESCO UNESCO 30 August 2002

44. UNESCO LAUNCHES THE WORLD'S LARGEST ENCYCLOPEDIA ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPPEMENT 29 August 2002

45. LIBRARIES AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT 29 August 2002

46. CULTURAL DIVERSITY ESSENTIAL FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT, MAINTAINS UNESCO 28 August 2002

UN -HABITAT

47. JOHANNESBURG SUMMIT ENDORSES ADEQUATE SHELTER AND SUSTAINABLE URBANIZATION 4 September 2002

48. BRIEF SUMMARY ON THE PARTICIPATION OF UN-HABITAT at the World Summit on Sustainable Development (Johannesburg, 26 August - 4 September 2002)

49. $500 MILLION TO BE MADE AVAILABLE FOR WATER FOR ASIAN CITIES 31 August 2002

50. SUSTAINABLE URBANIZATION KEY TO SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT 26 August 2002

UNITED NATIONS VOLUNTEERS (UNV)

51. VOLUNTEERISM AND ITS ROLE IN SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT August 2002

52. PANELLISTS URGE GOVERNMENT BACKING OF VOLUNTARY ACTION TO MEET DEVELOPMENT GOALS 30 August 2002

THE JOINT UNITED NATIONS PROGRAMME ON HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS)

53. AIDS CHAIN REACTION THREATENS SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT, UNAIDS SAYS Nations face 'un-development' as AIDS destroys world's most valuable resource – people 30 August 2002

UNITED NATIONS CONVENTION TO COMBAT DESERTIFICATION (UNCCD)

54. THE WORLD SUMMIT ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT CALLS ON THE GEF TO BECOME A FINANCIAL MECHANISM OF THE UNCCD. 10 September 2002

RIO CONVENTIONS JOINT PRESS RELEASE

55. BIODIVERSITY, CLIMATE, AND DESERTIFICATION REGIMES STRENGTHENED BY NEW PARTIES AND FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES 30 August 2002

RAMSAR CONVENTION

56. EVENTS OF SUNDAY, 1 SEPTEMBER 2002, AND THE SIGNING OF AN MOU BETWEEN RAMSAR AND UNCTAD

ECONOMIC COMMISSION FOR AFRICA (ECA)

57. WORLD SUMMIT ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT 30 August 2002

WORLD BANK

58. UK, EC, UNDP & WB URGE POLICY MAKERS TO STRESS POVERTY AND ENVIRONMENT LINKAGES 3 September 2002

59. GLOBAL VILLAGE ENERGY PARTNERSHIP HARNESSING ENERGY FOR POVERTY REDUCTION: PEOPLE, PRODUCTIVITY AND PARTNERSHIPS 30 August 2002

60. GLOBAL CONSULTATIVE PROCESS LAUNCHED ON AGRICULTURAL SCIENCE LOOKING AT RISKS AND OPPORTUNITIES 29 August 2002

61. WORLD BANK URGES MORE BALANCED GLOBAL APPROACH TO DEVELOPMENT 21 August 2002

UNITED NATIONS

UNITED NATIONS WSSD SECRETARIAT

Summit Website: http://www.johannesburgsummit.org
Summit documents: http://www.un.org/jsummit/html/documents/summit_docs.html

Live Coverage: http://www.un.org/events/wssd/

Summit Press Releases: http://www.un.org/events/wssd/pressreleases/

Summit Speeches and Statements: http://www.un.org/events/wssd/statements/

Daily Highlights: http://www.un.org/events/wssd/highlights/020826hilit.htm

Press Releases by UN Agencies: http://www.un.org/events/wssd/pressreleases/agencies.htm

Meeting Summaries: http://www.un.org/events/wssd/summaries/

1. SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT SUMMIT CONCLUDES IN JOHANNESBURG

4 September 2002
http://www.un.org/events/wssd/pressreleases/finalrelease.pdf
Johannesburg, 4 September.

Efforts to promote sustainable development received a major boost today as the World Summit on Sustainable Development concluded today with significant commitments to improve the lives of people living in poverty and to reverse the continuing degradation of the global environment. "This Summit makes sustainable development a reality," United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan said at a closing press conference in Johannesburg yesterday. "This Summit will put us on a path that reduces poverty while protecting the environment, a path that works for all peoples, rich and poor, today and tomorrow." "Governments have agreed here," Mr. Annan said, "on an impressive range of concrete commitments and action that will make a real difference for people in all regions of the

world." The overriding theme of the Summit was to promote action and major progress was made in Johannesburg to address some of the most pressing concerns of poverty and the environment. Commitments were made to increase access to clean water and proper sanitation, to increase access to energy services, to improve health conditions and agriculture, particularly in drylands, and to better protect the world's biodiversity and ecosystems. The major outcome document, the Plan of Implementation, contains targets and timetables

to spur action on a wide range of issues, including halving the proportion of people who lack access to clean water or proper sanitation by 2015, to restoring depleted fisheries to the preserving biodiversity by 2015, and phasing out of toxic chemicals by 2005. In addition, for

the first time countries adopted commitments toward increasing the use of renewable energy "with a sense of urgency," Although a proposed target for this was not adopted. But rather than concluding with only the words of an agreed document, the Summit has also

generated concrete partnership initiatives by and between governments, citizen groups and businesses. These partnerships are bringing with them additional resources and expertise to attain significant results where they matter-in communities across the globe.

"The Summit represents a major leap forward in the development of partnerships," Mr. Annan said, "with the UN, Governments, business and civil society coming together to increase the pool of resources to tackle global problems on a global scale." As a result of the Summit, governments agreed on a series of commitments in five priority areas that were backed up by specific government announcements on programmes, and by partnership initiatives. More than 220 partnerships, representing $235 million in resources, were identified during the Summit process to complement the government commitments, and many more were announced outside of the formal Summit proceedings. The true test of what the Johannesburg Summit achieves, Mr. Annan said, are the actions that are taken afterward. "We have to go out and take action," he said. "I am not saying that Johannesburg is the of it. Johannesburg is the beginning." 

2. SUMMIT PRINT MATERIALS TO BE DONATED TO SOUTH AFRICAN LIBRARY SYSTEM

4 September 2002

Internet: http://www.un.org/events/wssd/pressreleases/library.pdf

Johannesburg, 4 September. All of the print materials remaining at the close of the World Summit on Sustainable Development will be donated to the Johannesburg City Library, which will share the materials with other libraries in South Africa, Summit organizers announced today. The 21,000 Summit attendees -- including summit delegations, UN agencies, NGO's, and major groups -- brought thousands of kilos of educational and outreach materials, addressing every aspect of sustainable development, to Johannesburg. Many Summit attendees will go home with briefcases and backpacks stuffed with information. But those materials that remain behind will also

be put to good use through the donation program. "In keeping with the principles of sustainable use of resources, we are very pleased that these leftover materials will find a home in Johannesburg's libraries," noted Summit Secretary-General Nittin Desai. "Education is a cornerstone of sustainable development and these materials, which represent some of the best scientific, advocacy, and political thinking on the subject, will continue to be used after the Summit ends to educate communities about sustainable development issues."

Mr. Desai noted that the donation of print materials is one of many efforts made to "green the Summit," and reduce any negative environmental impact of the Johannesburg meeting.

3. SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT SUMMIT CONCLUDES IN JOHANNESBURG: UN SECRETARY-GENERAL KOFI ANNAN SAYS IT'S JUST THE BEGINNING

4 September 2002

Internet: http://www.johannesburgsummit.org/html/whats_new/feature_story39.htm

Johannesburg, 4 September- Efforts to promote sustainable development received a major boost today as the World Summit on

Sustainable Development concluded today with significant commitments to improve the lives of people living in poverty and to reverse the continuing degradation of the global environment. "This Summit makes sustainable development a reality," United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan said at a closing press conference in Johannesburg yesterday. "This Summit will put us on a path that reduces poverty while protecting the environment, a path that works for all peoples, rich and poor, today and tomorrow."  "Governments have agreed here," Mr. Annan said, "on an impressive range of concrete commitments and action that will make a real difference for people in all regions of the world."  The overriding theme of the Summit was to promote action and major progress was made in Johannesburg to address some of the most pressing concerns of poverty and the environment. Commitments were made to increase access to clean water and proper sanitation, to increase access to energy services, to improve health conditions and agriculture, particularly in drylands, and to better protect the world's biodiversity and ecosystems.  The major outcome document, the Plan of Implementation, contains targets and timetables to spur action on a wide range of issues, including halving the proportion of people who lack access to clean water or proper sanitation by 2015, restoring depleted fisheries by 2015, reducing biodiversity loss by 2010, and, by 2020, using and producing chemicals in ways that do not harm human health and the environment. In addition, for the first time countries committed to increase the use of renewable energy "with a sense of urgency," although a proposed target for this was not adopted. But rather than concluding with only the words of an agreed document, the Summit has also generated concrete partnership initiatives by and between governments, citizen groups and businesses. These partnerships are bringing with them additional resources and expertise to attain significant results where they matter-in communities across the globe.  "The Summit represents a major leap forward in the development of partnerships," Mr. Annan said, "with the UN, Governments, business and civil society coming together to increase the pool of resources to tackle global problems on a global scale." As a result of the Summit, governments agreed on a series of commitments in five priority areas that were backed up by specific government announcements on programmes, and by partnership initiatives. More than 220 partnerships, representing $235 million in resources, were identified during the Summit process to complement the government commitments, and many more were announced outside of the formal Summit proceedings. The true test of what the Johannesburg Summit achieves, Mr. Annan said, are the actions that are taken afterward. "We have to go out and take action. This is not the end. It's the beginning."

4. UN SUMMIT 'MAJOR LEAP FORWARD' FOR PARTNERSHIPS IN GLOBAL FIGHT AGAINST POVERTY - ANNAN

4 September 2002

Internet: http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=4615&Cr=johannesburg&Cr1=summit

4 September - Praising the partnership initiatives introduced by governments at the World Summit on Sustainable Development, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan today said the conference marked "a major leap forward" in teaming up the public sector, civil society, businesses and other key actors in the global fight against poverty.  Speaking to the press in Johannesburg, South Africa, on the Summit's final day, the Secretary-General noted that participating governments had agreed on an impressive range of concrete commitments, particularly in the five priority areas of water, energy, health, agriculture and biodiversity that he had identified for action.

The Summit "will put us on a path that reduces poverty while protecting the environment, a path that works for all peoples, rich and poor, today and tomorrow," Mr. Annan stressed.  While acknowledging that some were disappointed that not everything that was expected to take place in Johannesburg had been achieved, the Secretary-General said he was satisfied with the results. "I think we have to be careful not to expect conferences like this to produce miracles, but we do expect conferences like this to generate political commitment, momentum and energy for the attainment of goals," he said.  Meanwhile, in responding to a question about Iraq, Mr. Annan said he had told the country's Deputy Prime Minister, Tariq Aziz, yesterday that UN inspectors should go in and that Baghdad should comply with UN resolutions. Other leaders around the world were also asking Iraq to comply, he added.  As for Zimbabwe, the Secretary-General said he had been in touch with President Robert Mugabe and had raised with him press reports that the distribution of food was being politicized. Mr. Mugabe had provided assurances that that was not the case, Mr. Annan said.

5. WITH A SENSE OF URGENCY, JOHANNESBURG SUMMIT SETS AN ACTION AGENDA

3 September 2002

Internet: http://www.johannesburgsummit.org/html/whats_new/feature_story38.htm

Johannesburg, 3 September- In the face of growing poverty and increasing environmental degradation, the World Summit has succeeded in generating a sense of urgency, commitments for action, and partnerships to achieve measurable results, according to Johannesburg Summit Secretary-General Nitin Desai.  The Summit is expected to adopt the ten-chapter Plan of Implementation, aimed at detailing the actions needed to fight poverty and protect the environment, at its final session tomorrow. The document was negotiated in meetings held in New York, Bali, and finally Johannesburg. By any standard, participation and interest in the Summit has been high. The 104 Heads of State and Government that took part in the Summit were joined by more than 21,000 people, including more than 9,000 delegates, 8,000 NGOs and 4,000 members of the press.  As a result of the Summit, governments agreed on a series of commitments in five priority areas that were backed up by specific government announcements on programmes, and by partnership initiatives. More than 220 partnerships, representing $235 million in resources, were identified during the Summit process to complement the government commitments, and many more were announced outside of the formal Summit proceedings.  For example, Desai said, for water and sanitation, countries agreed to commit themselves to halve the proportion of people who lack clean water and proper sanitation by 2015. These commitments were backed up by a United States announcement of an investment of $970 million in water projects over the next three years, and a European Union announcement to engage in partnerships to meet the new goals, primarily in Africa and Central Asia. The UN received 21 other partnership initiatives in this area with at least $20 million in extra resources. In energy, Desai said countries committed themselves to expanding access to the two billion people that do not have access to modern energy services. In addition, he added that while countries did not agree on a target for phasing in renewable energy, they did commit to green energy and the phase out of subsidies for types of energy that are not consistent with sustainable development. And to bolster these commitments, a group of nine major electric companies signed agreements to undertake sustainable energy project in developing countries. In addition, the EU announced a $700 million partnership initiative on energy and the US announced investments of up to $43 million for energy in 2003.  On health issues, in addition to actions to fight HIV/AIDS and reduce water borne diseases, and the health risks due to pollution, countries agreed to phase out, by 2020, the use and production of chemicals that harm human health and the environment. Proposals for the Global Environment Facility to fund implementation of the Convention to Combat Desertification have already been adopted, and will have a major impact on improving agricultural practices in the drylands. The United States said it would invest $90 million in 2003 for sustainable agriculture and 17 partnership submissions to the UN contained at least $2 million in additional resources. There were many commitments made to protect biodiversity and improve ecosystem management, Desai said. These include commitments to reduce biodiversity loss by 2010; to restore fisheries to their maximum sustainable yields by 2015; to establish a representative network of marine protected areas by 2012; and to improve developing countries' access to environmentally-sound alternatives to ozone depleting chemicals by 2010. These commitments are supported by 32 partnership initiatives submitted to the UN, with $100 million in additional resources, and a US announcement of $53 million for forest management in 2002-2005. "It's impossible to know just how many resources the Summit has mobilized," Desai said, "but we know they are substantial. Furthermore, many of the new resources will attract additional resources that will greatly enhance our efforts to take sustainable development to the next level, where it will benefit more people and protect more of our environment."

6. WORLD LEADERS STRESS SHARED RESPONSIBILITY, IMMEDIATE ACTION, AS HIGH-LEVEL SEGMENT OF JOHANNESBURG SUMMIT CONTINUES

3 September 2002

Internet: http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2002/envdev690.doc.htm

China Announces Kyoto Protocol Ratification; Russia Tells Summit Hopes to Ratify Kyoto 'in Near Future'

JOHANNESBURG, 3 September -- World leaders stressed the need for shared responsibility and immediate concerted action to ensure a secure and prosperous future for the planet, as the World Summit on Sustainable Development continued its high-level segment this morning. The international community has gathered in Johannesburg, South Africa, to pursue new initiatives and build commitment at the highest level to better implement Agenda 21, the road map for achieving sustainable development adopted at the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development -- the Earth Summit -- held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.  This morning, 22 additional heads of State or government addressed the high-level segment, which began yesterday.  "Put your money where your mouth is", urged Dutch Prime Minister Jan-Peter Balkenende.  His country had been living up to that for years and would continue to dedicate 0.7 per cent of its gross national product to official development assistance.  The international community must be clear about the future it wanted and decisive about the action it would take to get there.  More than ever before, he stressed, the choice facing the world was a united future or no future at all. Nicaraguan Vice-President Jose Rizo Castellon emphasized that since the effects of national activities did not stop at national borders, global cooperation was required to find solutions to problems such as climate change and the depletion of the ozone layer.  It was clear that global environmental issues could not be solved through isolated or local initiatives, but required immediate global responses.

Speaking on behalf of the least developed countries, Mathieu Kerekou, the President of Benin, said that the initiatives of past years had remained good intentions, because they had not been followed by concrete action to address the serious imbalances in the world.  He appealed to all countries to commit to truly supporting a more humane and just world -- to end disparity and inequality.  The world was indisputably one, and shared a common responsibility.  Solidarity was the only way to reach a new human vision. Micronesia's President, Leo A. Falcam, said the hope of averting disaster for low-lying countries such as his own was now gone.  "Even if we all came to our collective senses, this week in this beautiful city, and agreed to immediately begin meeting the earlier targets and timetables, it is too late for most of the Federated States of Micronesia."  The time for words was over; the time for action was now. Speaking on behalf of the Pacific Islands Forum, Laisenia Qarase, Prime Minister of Fiji, said that sustainable development, a fashionable phrase with a comforting, almost reassuring ring to it, was really about the salvation of the earth and stopping humankind from grossly abusing and destroying earth's resources.  For the affluent North, sustainable development at its most basic meant finding a less destructive way of maintaining and increasing the greatest accumulation of wealth in history.  For the South, it might mean giving a man a chance to own two good shirts, a digging fork and the money to buy a kilogram of rice.  It could no longer be denied, stated Ukrainian President Leonid D. Kuchma, that man had been the greatest impediment to his own progress.  Among the historic initiatives undertaken by Ukraine to ensure its future was the voluntary renouncement of its nuclear stockpiles.  It subsequently set out to put to good use the money it saved as a result of no longer having to maintain those stocks.  If even a small percentage of military expenditures were diverted to sustainable development efforts, great progress could be made.  Unfortunately, his country's example went largely ignored. Zhu Rongji, Premier of the State Council of China, announced that China had ratified the Kyoto Protocol.  China's strategy of sustainable development had now run through all aspects of its economic and social development efforts.  As the world's largest developing country and a major player in environmental protection, China was an important force in international environment cooperation.  He invited everyone to the Second Global Environment Facility Assembly, to be held in Beijing in October. Mikhail Kaysanov, Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation, said the Russian Federation had signed the Kyoto Protocol and was preparing for its ratification, which, he hoped, would take place in the near future.  Moscow would host a world conference on climate change in 2003.  In providing an economic basis for sustainable development, a key role was played by removing barriers and trade obstacles.  Russia was preparing to join the World Trade Organization (WTO) and was reducing import tariffs.  That would have a positive impact on trade with developing countries. In organizational matters, the Summit approved the request of L'Organisation pour la mise en valeur du fleuve Senegal to attend the Summit. Other heads of State or government who spoke this morning were:  Natsagiin Bagabandi, President of Mongolia; Nursultan Nazarbayez, President of Kazakhstan; Aleksander Kwasniewski, President of Poland; Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, President of Maldives; Lyonpo Kinzang Dorji, Prime Minister of Bhutan; Goran Persson, Prime Minister of Sweden; Fatos Nano, Prime Minister of Albania; Jean-Bertrand Aristide, President of Haiti; Bernard Makuza, Prime Minister of Rwanda; Pedro Verona Rodrigues Pires, President of Cape Verde; Isaias Afwerki, President of Eritrea; Vicente Fox, President of Mexico; Joaqim Alberto Chissano, President of Mozambique; Maaouya Ould Sid' Ahmed Taya, President of Mauritania; Gustavo Noboa Bejarano, President of Ecuador. Also; Arturo Vallarino, Vice-President of Panama; Juan Carlos Maqueda, Vice President of Argentina; Charles Goerens, Minister of Environment of Luxembourg; Shahida Jamil, Federal Minister for Environment, Local Government and Rural Development of Pakistan; Rukman Senanayaka, Minister of Environment and Natural Resources of Sri Lanka; Irakli Menagarishvili, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Georgia; Sayyid Assaad bin Tariq Al-Said, representing the Sultanate of Oman; Minister of Planning and Reconstruction of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Denis Kalume Numbi; Minister for Foreign Affairs and Education of Saint Kitts and Nevis, Timothy Harris; Minister of Housing, Urbanization, Environment and Country Planning of Djibouti, Abdallah Abdillahi Miguil; and head of the delegation of the Transitional Government of Somalia, Abbas Yusuf.

Complete text available: http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2002/envdev690.doc.htm

7. UN SECRETARY-GENERAL CALLS FOR CHANGE AT SUMMIT

2 September 2002

Internet: http://www.johannesburgsummit.org/html/whats_new/feature_story36.htm

Johannesburg, 2 September- Calling the present model of development "flawed for many," United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan said he hoped the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg would mark the opening of a new chapter of responsibility, partnerships and implementation.  The Secretary-General delivered his remarks at the opening meeting of more than 100 world leaders who have come to Johannesburg to participate in a major global undertaking to improve living standards while protecting the environment.

For the last week, government delegates have negotiated a Plan of Implementation, now complete, that sets forth commitments, some to be implemented by partnerships of governments, NGOs and the private sector. In particular, governments have committed themselves to take action to reduce the number of people who lack access to clean water, proper sanitation and modern energy services such as electricity, to promote a healthy environment and reduce the incidence of disease, to increase agricultural productivity, and to protect the world's biodiversity and ecosystems.  "Let us face the uncomfortable truth," Mr. Annan said. "The model of development we are accustomed to has been fruitful for the few, but flawed for the many. 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."  Urging action and implementation toward sustainable development, Mr. Annan said action starts with governments, and that the richest countries must lead the way. "They have the wealth. They have the technology. And they contribute disproportionately to global environmental problems," he stated. But he said governments cannot do the job alone, and civil society groups have a critical role to play, along with commercial enterprises. "We are not asking corporations to do something different from their normal business; we are asking them to do their normal business differently." South Africa President Thabo Mbeki said in opening the high-level segment, ""I am certain that the billions of people of the world expect a very clear and unambiguous answer to the question of whether we are ready and able to respond to the pressing challenges of sustainable development." Several European leaders announced that they would increase their assistance to developing countries. United Kingdom Prime Minister Tony Blair stated that his country would double its assistance to Africa and raise its overall assistance by 50 per cent. French President Jacques Chirac said assistance should be increased to 0.7 per cent of its gross national product in 10 years. German Chancellor Gerhard Schröeder said Germany would contribute 500 million euros to promote cooperation on renewable energies.

Costa Rican President Dr. Abel Pacheco de la Espriella told the Summit that Costa Rica will not allow open gold mining, the exploitation of oil, and the destruction of primary forest and the misuse of water resources. Namibian President Dr. Sam Nujoma said his country was seriously implementing the Convention to Combat Desertification by providing a safety net to farmers and rural peasants.

8. SUMMIT SECRETARY-GENERAL SAYS COMPLETED NEGOTIATIONS PROVIDE A SOLID FOUNDATION FOR ACTION

2 September 2002
Internet: http://www.johannesburgsummit.org/html/whats_new/feature_story37.htm

Johannesburg, 2 September- Agreement was reached on the last remaining provisions of the Plan of Implementation for the World Summit on Sustainable Development, concluding negotiations that have taken place over nine months on three continents, and that will guide implementation for actions to achieve sustainable development. "This Plan of Implementation provides us with everything we need to make sustainable development happen over the next several years," according to Johannesburg Summit Secretary-General Nitin Desai. "The test is whether governments, along with civil society and the private sector, can pursue the commitments that are in the document, and take actions that achieve measurable results." The negotiated document, which must still be formally adopted by the full plenary, was completed after a debate over a target for promoting renewable energy. The resulting agreement calls for countries to act "with a sense of urgency" to substantially increase the global share of renewable energy sources. It does not set for a specific target. The document also calls for countries to phase out energy subsidies that inhibit sustainable development.  "The issue of a target for renewable energy was a worthwhile goal," Desai said, "but the reality is that with sustained action, we can build up the renewable energy industries to the point where they have the critical mass to compete with fossil fuel-generated energy. We have a commitment to make it happen and now we need the follow-through."  The Plan of Implementation is one of three outcomes of the Summit, along with a Political Declaration and the tangible partnership initiatives already announced.

9. NEGOTIATIONS ON JOHANNESBURG SUMMIT ACTION PLAN ENTERS FINAL PHASE

2 September 2002

Internet: http://www.johannesburgsummit.org/html/whats_new/feature_story35.htm

Johannesburg, 2 September- Agreement has been reached on virtually all of the World Summit on Sustainable Development's Plan of Implementation, with the notable exception of several key provisions on energy.  Among the provisions that were agreed upon in ministerial negotiating session last night, was a commitment to set a goal for reducing by half the proportion of people who lack access to proper sanitation by 2015, efforts to reduce the loss of biodiversity, on good governance, to promote corporate responsibility, and to reaffirm the Rio Principles, including the precautionary principle and the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities. The remaining unresolved issues involve energy issues, including setting a target for achieving a certain level of renewable energy use and whether countries should establish programmes to improve access to reliable and affordable energy services. There is also an outstanding paragraph concerning health care services.  "The Summit has made some very significant advances," according to South Africa Minister of Environment and Tourism Valli Moosa. "In some areas, it has made seminal advances."  Valli Moosa said the breakthroughs in the negotiations came during three days of round-the-clock ministerial meetings. The idea of ministers, he said, sitting for days dealing with the "nitty-gritty" of the issues involved, was a surprise. "It represents the seriousness of which the WSSD is taken by developing and developed countries."  The high-level negotiations were necessary, he said, because the remaining issues needed to be resolved at the political, not technical levels.

Countries have agreed to establish a voluntary world solidarity fund to eradicate poverty and to promote social and human development that, without duplicating existing UN funds, would encourage the role of the private sector and individual citizens. Also agreed was a provision that encourages countries to develop a 10-year framework of programmes to accelerate the shift toward sustainable consumption and production pattern, which essentially asks countries to live within the means of the supporting ecosystems. Another provision calls for policies to improve products and services that reduce environmental and health impacts using approaches such as life-cycle analysis.  On Kyoto, countries agreed that States that have ratified the Kyoto Protocol "strongly urge States that have not already done so to ratify the Kyoto Protocol in a timely manner. A target of 2010 was set as the target for significantly reducing the current rate of biodiversity loss, with an acknowledgement that additional financial and technical resources would be necessary. Countries agreed to promote corporate responsibility and accountability and exchange best practices through multi-stakeholder dialogue such as in the Commission on Sustainable Development, the UN body established to pursue implementation of sustainable development.

10. FOR EACH OTHER, FOR PLANET -- EMBODIES SUMMIT'S HOPES,  SAYS SECRETARY-GENERA, AS JOHANNESBURG'S HIGH-LEVEL SEGMENT BEGINS

2 September 2002

Internet: http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2002/envdev686.doc.htm

South Africa's President Says World Leaders Must Send Message They Intend to End 'Global Apartheid'

JOHANNESBURG, 2 September -- United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan this morning told the heads of State and government gathered for the high-level segment of the World Summit on Sustainable Development that if there was one word that should be on everyone's lips, one concept that embodied everything the international community hoped to achieve in Johannesburg, it was responsibility -- for each other, especially the poor, for the planet and for the future. "Let us stop being economically defensive, and start being politically courageous", he said.  And it was time to face an uncomfortable truth:  the accustomed model of development had been fruitful for the few, but flawed for many.  A path to prosperity that ravaged the environment and left a majority behind in squalor would be a dead end.  "It is said that to everything there is a season", he said.  "The world today needs to usher in a season of transformation, a season of stewardship.  Let it be a season in which we make a long overdue investment in the survival and security of future generations." The international community has gathered in Johannesburg, South Africa, to pursue new initiatives and build a commitment at the highest level to better implement Agenda 21, the road map for achieving sustainable development adopted at the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development -- the Earth Summit -- held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.  Following its opening on 26 August, it held a series of interactive plenary sessions on the key areas of water, energy, health, agriculture and biodiversity, and heard statements from agencies and organizations.  

South African President Thabo Mbeki, opening the high-level segment today, said that two days ago people took to the streets to demand that the Summit "act in unity" to eradicate poverty and bring about human advancement, while protecting the earth.  "Surely, there is no one among us, who thinks that billions in the world should continue to be condemned to poverty, underdevelopment and a denial of human dignity", he said.  Less than a decade ago, he went on to say, his country had been home to the anti-human system of apartheid.  It would thus be fitting that from here -- also the home of our common ancestors -- the leaders of the world would send the message that they understood and respected the principle and practice of human solidarity and were therefore determined to defeat "global apartheid".  "Nothing, whatsoever, can justify any failure on our part to respond to this expectation." Han Seung-soo, President of the United Nations General Assembly, said the Summit provided a timely opportunity to explore ways to build on the progress to be made in implementing the Doha development agenda and the Monterrey Consensus.  It was also important for ensuring the active involvement of all stakeholders and actors in the implementation process through true partnership.  With regard to follow-up, he proposed using the high-level dialogue of the Assembly for deliberating effective ways and means to achieve the various international development goals and sustainable development in a more mutually reinforcing manner. Also this morning, five young people addressed the Summit. Three of them, representing the International Children's Conference on the Environment sponsored by the United Nations Environment Programme, presented a list of challenges to the leaders of the world.  Those challenges were inspired, written and voted on by some 400 children from 80 countries and represent their hopes and fears for the future of the planet.  Justin Friesen, 11 years old from Canada, Analiz Vergara, 14 years old from Ecuador, and Liao Mingyu, 11 years old from China, were chosen by the Conference to convey their message to the Summit. Two South African children, 6-year old Tiyiselani Manganyi, from Soweto and 10-year old Julius Ndlovena, from Blargowrie, recited a poem written for the launch of South Africa's National Plan of Action for Children. The Summit's opening session was also addressed by 22 heads of State or government, some of whom likened the struggle to reaching the Summit's aims -- eradicating poverty while preserving the global environment -- to South Africa's struggle for freedom against apartheid and, thus, how appropriate it was to have convened the Summit here.  They addressed a wide range of issues, among them:  the "common but differentiated responsibilities" called for by the Rio agreements; the need to address the inequities of globalization; HIV/AIDS; support for the Kyoto Protocol of the Framework Convention on Climate Change; the need to increase development assistance; the distortion of agricultural subsidies and the need for open markets for developing world products; and the need to monitor sustainable development efforts.

Addressing the Summit were:  The President of Indonesia, Megawati Soekarnoputri: President of Bolivia, Hugo Chavez; Prime Minister of Denmark, Anders Fogh Rasmussen; President of the Marshall Islands, Kessai H. Note; President of the Commission of the European Commission, Romano Prodi; President of Guyana, Gharrat Jagdeo; Chancellor of Germany, Gerhard Schröder; President of Namibia, Sam Nujoma; Prime Minister of Lesotho, Pakalitha Bethuel Mosisili; the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Tony Blair; the Prime Minister of Canada, Jean Chrétien; the President of Uganda, Yoweri Kaguta Museveni; the President of Turkey, Ahmet Necdet Sezer; the Prime Minister of Portugal, José Manuel Durão Barroso; President of Algeria, Abdelaziz Bouteflika; the President of France, Jacques Chirac; President of Brazil, Fernando Henrique Cardoso; Prime Minister of Armenia, Andranik Margaran; President of Kenya, Daniel arap Moi; Prime Minister of Mali, Ahmed Mohamed Ag Hamani; King Mohammed VI of Morocco; and President of Zambia, Levy Patrick Mwanawasa.. Also speaking were the Vice-President of Burundi, Domitien Ndayizeye; the Vice-President of Botswana, Seretse Khama Ian Khama; the Vice-President of Colombia, Francisco Santos Calderon; and Bolivia's Minister of Sustainable Development and Planning, Jose Guillermo Justiniano Sandoval. Complete text available: http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2002/envdev686.doc.htm

11. INITIATIVE TO GROW SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS IN WORLD'S POOREST COUNTRIES ANNOUNCED AT JOHANNESBURG WORLD SUMMIT

2 September 2002

Internet: http://www.un.org/events/wssd/summaries/envdevj26.htm

JOHANNESBURG, 2 September (Global Compact Office) -- Mobilizing resources and expertise to address the scourge of entrenched poverty, major international companies today agreed to partner with governments, labour and civil society to pursue sustainable business development in the world's least developed countries  at the World Summit on Sustainable Development. The initiative was the focus of a high-level meeting at the Summit, chaired by Secretary-General Kofi Annan and attended by British Prime Minister Tony Blair, French President Jacques Chirac and other heads of State and government; ministers; United Nations officials; representatives from labour and non-governmental organizations; and the chief executive officers of such companies as Hewlett-Packard and Shell International.   "Growing sustainable business in the world's least developed countries is arguably the most promising pathway in overcoming the poverty trap," said Secretary-General Kofi Annan.  "By working together to mobilize sustainable investment in the least developed countries, government, business and civil society give hope and opportunity to the world's poorest". The round table was organized by the United Nations Global Compact, in cooperation with the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and other United Nations agencies. At the round table, Sir Mark Moody-Stuart, Chairman of Business Action for Sustainable Development, presented a plan that would commit partners to identifying, over the next year, business opportunities in specific least developed countries that would be sustainable and designed in ways to help grow local small and medium-sized businesses.

The plan received wide endorsement from the round table participants.  Government heads agreed to help facilitate the process through active participation, while labour and civil society groups agreed to work as partners with companies in the development and implementation of specific initiatives.  Participants agreed on the critical importance of:  growing sustainable business and economic capacity in the least developed countries; working in partnership; and developing a defined process for implementation. The companies represented at the meeting are participants in the Global Compact, a corporate citizenship initiative launched by Secretary-General in July 2000.  The Global Compact asks companies to support nine principles in the areas of human rights, labour standards and the environment.  (See www.unglobalcompact.org). During the next 12 months, companies will identify specific least developed countries that they will target for business development in partnership with other stakeholders and in alignment with the nine principles of the Global Compact.  Participants in the initiative agreed to publicly share progress made and their respective contributions to the process over the next year. The least developed countries is a United Nations category that describes the world's poorest and economically marginalized nations.  The number of least developed countries has almost doubled since the category was first created in 1971, from 25 to 49 today.  According to recent figures, the average per capita gross domestic product in the least developed countries is approximately $235, compared with $24,522 in the developed world.  Eighty per cent of the 613 million population of the least developed countries -- the majority of which are located in sub-Saharan Africa -- live on less than $2 a day, while 50 per cent live on less than $1 a day.  Development experts say that one of the primary challenges facing the least developed countries is their inability to attract significant levels of foreign direct investment.  According to the latest estimates, during the 1990-2000 period, least developed countries received only 0.5 per cent of global foreign direct investment (FDI) flows.

12. SOLUTIONS ARE UNDERSTOOD -- WILL TO IMPLEMENT THEM STILL MISSING,  BELGIUM'S PRIME MINISTER TELLS SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT SUMMIT

2 September 2002

Internet:  http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2002/envdev687.doc.htm

Says Agreed Language in Summit Text on Trade Disappointing; African Leaders Call for Efforts on Food Security, Water Needs, HIV/AIDS

JOHANNESBURG, 2 September - As the World Summit for Sustainable Development convened this afternoon to continue its high-level segment, the Prime Minister of Belgium told delegates it had become clear that everyone knew what solutions had to be implemented and it should thus be easy to harmonize a world that had been split in two for too long, but the common political will to apply the solutions and show true solidarity was still missing. Guy Verhofstadt added that he was disappointed, for example, with the agreement concluded this morning in trade and finance, which was well below the legitimate expectations of developing countries.  He, therefore, proposed a political declaration that was much stronger than the plan of action.  Globalization of the economy also called for globalization of solidarity, he said.

The international community has gathered in Johannesburg, South Africa, to pursue new initiatives and build a commitment at the highest level to better implement Agenda 21, the road map for achieving sustainable development adopted at the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development -- the Earth Summit -- held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.  It opened its high-level segment this morning, and this afternoon heard from 21 heads of State or government, and 25 ministers and others. Several African leaders drew attention to the plight of their continent this afternoon.  Nigeria's President, Olusegun Obasanjo, said the first step towards the eradication of poverty was food security, and factors that threatened agriculture, such as drought and desertification, should be addressed.  He asked, therefore, for support for implementation of the Convention on Desertification and called on the international community to work with Africa to address its dire need for water.  Less talk was needed and more action to regain the respect of the children of the world.  "Let success in Johannesburg be judged by the action taken to change commitments into reality", he said. King Mswati III of Swaziland said the message of hope at this Summit would be meaningless if there was insufficient commitment to contain the spread of the virus that caused AIDS, and to help those countries unable to cope.  He called for a truly global effort -- a global coalition against HIV/AIDS -- that mobilized resources in the priority areas of drugs, finances, infrastructure, equipment and training, and for equal distribution of available resources.  The global family must acknowledge that it was not an isolated problem for a few of its members; it was a crisis for the whole of humankind.

Robert G. Mugabe, President of Zimbabwe, said he joined those in the world who had rejected attempts by some countries and regional blocs whose real objective was interference in the domestic affairs of others.  The poor should be able to use their sovereignty to fight poverty without interference.  There could be no sustainable development without agrarian reform.  In his country, that issue had pitted the black majority against an obdurate and internationally well-connected white minority, manipulated by the Blair Government.  "Blair, keep your England and let me keep my Zimbabwe", he said. A number of other speakers addressed global climate change.  Tuvalu's Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs, Immigration and Labour, Saufatu Sopoanga, noting that the rise of the sea level had increased in magnitude and momentum, stressed the reverse impact of climate change on his country.  Climate change affected small island developing States and everyone else.  He insisted, therefore, that all parties, particularly the greatest emitters of greenhouse gasses, ratify the Kyoto Protocol as a matter of urgency. Other heads of State and government speaking this afternoon were: the President of Bulgaria, Georgi Parvanov; Prime Minister of New Zeland, Helen Clark; President of Senegal, Abdoulaye Wade; President of Croatia, Stjepan Mesic; President of the Republic of the Congo, Denis Sassou-Nguesso; Prime Minister of Italy, Silvio Berlusconi; President of Finland, Tarja Halonen; Prime Minister of Japan, Junichiro Koizumi; Prime Minister of Iceland, David Oddsson; President of Yugoslavia, Vojislav Kostunica; President of Costa Rica, Abel Pacheco de la Espriella; President of Gabon, El Hadj Omar Bongo; President of The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Boris Trajkovski; Prime Minister of Togo, Koffi Sama; President of Malawi, Bakili Muluzi; and President of Romania, Ion Iliescu. Other speakers included:  Vice-President of Iran, Massoumeh Ebtekar; Vice-President of Honduras, Alberto Diaz Lobo; Vice-President of Ghana, Alhaji Aliu Mahama; Crown Prince Albert of Monaco; Deputy Prime Minister of Malysia, Datuk Abdullah Ahmad Badawi; Deputy Prime Minister of Vanuatu, Rialuth Serge Vohor; Vice Prime Minister of Iraq, Tariq Aziz; Deputy Prime Minister of Lao People's Democratic Republic, Somsavat Lengsavad; Minister for Environment, Agriculture and Forestry of Liechtenstein, Alois Ospelt; Minister of Foreign Affairs of Switzerland, Joseph Deiss; Minister of State for Municipal and Environmental Affairs of Bahrain, Jawad Salem Al-Orayyed; Minister of the Environment of Greece, Vasso Papandreou; Minister of Health of Kuwait, Mohammed Al-Jarallah; Minister of Environment of Sudan, El-Tigni Adam El-Tahir; Minister of Planning of Jordan, Bassam Awadallah; Head of the Amiri Diwan of Qatar, Abdullah bin Mohammed bin Saud Al-Thani; Minister for Foreign Affairs of Republic of Korea, Choi Sung-hong; Minister of State of Burkina Faso, Saif Diallo; Minister for Foreign Affairs of Peru, Allan Wagner; Minister for Social Housing of Uruguay, Carlos Cat; Minister of the Environment of Lebanon, Michel Moussa; Minister for Foreign Affairs of Bahamas, Frederick Mitchell; Minister for Foreign Affairs of Papua New Guinea, Rabbie Namaliu; Minister of the Environment of Slovenia, Janez Kopac; and the Observer from the Holy See, Renato Martino.

Complete text available: http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2002/envdev687.doc.htm

13. MANY SUMMIT GOALS REALIZED AT MIDPOINT

31 August 2002

Internet: http://www.un.org/events/wssd/pressreleases/midwayrelease.pdf

Johannesburg, 31 August. The World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg reached its midpoint with significant agreements on a wide range of issues and major announcements on resources and partnerships, yet full agreement on a Programme of

Implementation is still dependent on a breakthrough on some of the toughest issues. Several of the Summit's objectives have already been met, according to Johannesburg Summit Secretary-General Nitin Desai. "One of the main goals of the Summit was to have the

international community reaffirm their support for implementing Agenda 21 and the Millennium Declaration goals, and that has happened," Desai said. "The Summit was also intended to accelerate implementation of sustainable development, and from the announcements of

significant new resources and partnerships, that has happened. And lastly, we sought to put sustainable development back on the international agenda and in the global consciousness, and without question, that too has happened." Desai added that it was still important to get commitments from governments in the final outcome document, but stressed that the important aim of the Summit, from the outset, has been to encourage actual implementation, not the negotiation or renegotiation of goals and principles. "What we want, more than anything else, is to encourage governments, community citizen groups, and the private sector to act in a sustainable way. We need large-scale implementation efforts that will have a tangible and beneficial impact on people's lives and the The negotiations have cleared about 95 per cent of the Plan of Implementation, although technically, nothing is officially agreed until everything is agreed. Still, consensus has been reached on agreements on a wide range of issues, including commitments to improve access to clean water, proper sanitation, and modern and clean energy. Also agreed are provisions and funding that will improve agricultural productivity and combat desertification, and reduce the health risks from pollution and water-borne diseases, as well as a host of provisions aimed at improving biodiversity and ecosystem management. But negotiations on the final document are still focused on several important outstanding issues, including targets for expanding access to sanitation and achieving a certain level of renewable energy, subsidies, and a provision urging the ratification of the Kyoto Protocol on Among the significant agreements reached in the negotiations are provisions to take action on the five areas that UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan suggested that the Summit tackle. A list of these commitments, which is not exhaustive, includes:

• Commitment to launch programmes to achieve the goal of halving the proportion of people without access to safe drinking water.
   

• Commitment to develop and implement initiatives to increase access to proper sanitation facilities in homes and institutions, especially schools.
   

• Commitment to increase access to modern energy services for the two billion people who lack them.
   

• Commitment to establish programmes that will boost energy efficiency and increase the use of renewable energy.
   

• Commitment to establish policies that will level the playing field for renewable and cleaner fossil fuel energy and technologies.
   

• Commitment to phase out by 2020 the use and production of chemicals that harm human health and the environment.
   

• Commitment to restore fisheries to their maximum sustainable yields by 2015.
   

• Commitment to establish a representative network of marine protected areas by 2012.
   

• Commitment to implement the Global Programme of Action for the Protection of the Marine Environment from Land Based Sources of Pollution by 2004.
   

• Commitment to improve developing countries' access to environmentally-sound alternatives to ozone depleting chemicals by 2010.
   

• Commitment to take immediate action on domestic forest law enforcement and the international trade in forest products.
   

• Commitment to finance activities for the Convention to Combat Desertification through the Global Environment Facility.
   

• Commitment to enhance the role of women at all levels and in all aspects of rural development, agriculture, nutrition, and food security.
   

• Commitment to replenish the Global Environment Facility at a record level of $2.92 billion.

14. ADDITIONAL PARTNERSHIP INITIATIVES ANNOUNCED IN JOHANNESBURG AIMED AT SUMMIT'S ECOLOGICAL IMPACT, CHILDHOOD LEAD POISONING

31 August 2002

Internet: http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2002/envdev684.doc.htm

JOHANNESBURG, 31 August -- As various partnership initiatives were announced at the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg this afternoon, representatives of individual governments, regional organizations, and non-governmental organizations pledged to take action on such priority issues as climate change, energy, health, and biodiversity. In a departure from traditional conference practice, these partnerships represent an innovative mechanism for moving from paper commitments to joint action on the ground by governments, business and civil society actors.  Along with intergovernmental agreements, which are being negotiated at the Summit, they are designed to support the global goals of reducing poverty and environmental degradation within the framework of sustainable development.  During this third round of official partnership announcements, which will continue through Sunday, presentations were made by South Africa, Bahrain, Germany, Belgium, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature South Africa, the Global Lead Initiative, the International Institute for Sustainable Development Law, the International Institute for Sustainable Future and Global Futures Network, the Arab Civil Initiative for Waste Management, the Conservation Collaborative Labelling and Appliance Standards Program, and the European Space Agency in partnership with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

The "Johannesburg Climate Change Legacy, 2002" initiative, launched by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature South Africa and partners, seeks to reduce the environmental impact of international conferences, in particular the amount of carbon emissions generated.  The partnership, which includes the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Constructing an Efficient and Renewable Future and the International Institute for Energy Conservation, aims to neutralize that impact with sustainable carbon-reducing projects focused on four themes:  solar energy; biogas; biofuels; and overall energy efficiency. Keenly aware of the irony that the very staging of conferences related to sustainability has a negative impact the environment -- particularly for developing countries -- the Climate Change Legacy will use the Summit's ecological "footprint" as a first call for action.  It is expected that the Summit will generate some 350,000 tons of carbon dioxide.  The initiative will be funded first by individuals who purchase "Climate Legacy Certificates" of from $10-$150 -- corporations can purchase certificates from $1,000 to $100,000 -- to mitigate the carbon impact their presence had on South Africa.

The "Alliance to End Childhood Lead Poisoning", launched by the Global Lead Initiative, hopes the Summit provides the opportunity to expedite a global effort to phase out leaded gasoline and to eliminate other exposure sources through a partnership process with specific implementation milestones and targets.  The Global Lead Initiative aims to convert existing international commitments on lead-poisoning prevention, as well as the relevant text included in the Summit's draft plan of implementation, into successful action. According to the Alliance's International Action Plan, around the world, human exposure to excessive amounts of lead imposes immense costs, with many millions of children and adults suffering adverse health effects and impaired intellectual development.  And since neurological damage caused by even low levels of lead is often irreversible, the only solution to lead poison is to prevent it altogether.  Believing that the elimination of leaded fuels opens the gateway to removing other harmful substances from the environment, the Alliance aims to phase out leaded gasoline in the context of a cleaner fuel strategy.  It is currently seeking funds, as well as staff time or technical assistance, from governments, institutions and foundations. Stressing the fundamental role the Summit will play in developing partnerships that could assist South Africa in harnessing more of the world's resources towards a practical global action programme to help eradicate poverty, Essop Pahad, Minister in the Office of the President of South Africa, announced a series of partnership-driven initiatives.  The "Centres of Excellence for Technological Innovation for Sustainability in Africa " intends to bring stakeholders from African governments and universities together with world-class expertise in technological innovation to develop and implement a plan of action for building such centres at African universities.  That partnership is being promoted by the United Kingdom, Finland, South Africa and Nigeria.  Also announced was a partnership with the European Union -- the "Africa/European Union Water Initiative" -- which aims to address, among other things, the Millennium Development Goal of halving, by 2015, the proportion of people without access to sanitation. A diverse group of legal partners, representing the International Institute for Sustainable Development Law, the Centre for International Sustainable Development Law and the International Law Association, launched the "International Sustainable Development Legal Partnership".  The initiative focuses on implementing significant legal developments in the field of sustainable development.  The main goal is to strengthen sustainable development governance at the international, regional and national levels, laying the foundation for policy implementation by facilitating access to, compliance with and enforcement of economic, social and environmental law.  The project, which includes governments, law firms and universities, is expected to be completed by 2007.   The International Institute for Sustainable Future and Global Futures Network, along with the EcoEarth Alliance -- a coalition of organizations that promote activities designed to provide a response to the rapid depletion of natural resources -- launched the "Sustainable Rural Development and Ecovillage Training Programme".  The partnership will pioneer efforts to provide technology-training programmes in sustainable development, particularly rural development and advocacy work, and will promote other relevant, regionally based projects.  Through several "Sustainable Village" programmes, the partners will implement small-scale solutions to global problems, leveraging renewable energy, appropriate technology and micro-enterprise ideas to improve quality of life, create jobs, increase productivity and protect the environment. The Arab Civil Initiative for Waste Management aims to initiate and support community-based projects in the field of waste management through providing expertise and support in the areas of project management, technology  transfer, public awareness, information exchange, fund-raising and good practices.  The partners involved are the Regional Office for West Asia of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), in collaboration with the Council of Arab Ministers Responsible for the Environment.  The partnership expects to implement sound practices for civil society organizations in the field of waste management, raise public awareness, and involve women and youth in those activities as a major group. The Conservation Collaborative Labelling and Appliance Standards Program aims to promote the appropriate use of energy efficiency standards and labels for appliances, equipment and lighting.  Partners include the International Institute for Energy, Alliance to Save Energy, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, as well as governments, industries, intergovernmental organizations, non-governmental organizations, technical support groups and funders.  The partnership supports research and dissemination of information, provides global tools and information packaged to identify all labelling and standards programmes going on around the world, and assists governments.  It expected that through implementing standards and labelling, a savings of 5 per cent in energy use could be reached over 20 years. The European Space Agency and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) announced two initiatives to be implemented through their joint-initiative launched in 1998, "Integrated Global Observing Strategy" partnership.  The programmes will focus on enhancing coordination on space information and earth observation systems, and also on satellite earth observation education and training.  They will further the goals of the Observing Strategy partnership -- namely bringing together the major earth and space-based systems for global environmental observations of the atmosphere, oceans and land in a strategic planning process -- as well as address specific issues affecting everyday life, such as global warming.  The Integrated Global Observing Strategy partnership's international partners include the Committee on Earth Observation Satellites, the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) and World Meteorological Organization (WMO).

Representatives of Germany's Foreign Affairs Ministry, as well as German civil society experts on human resources development, announced a partnership with Mozambique on "Human Resources Development in Disaster Management", which aims to strengthen the coordination and management capacities of Mozambique's National Disaster Management Institute. The Institute was founded in 1999 and now has 11 provincial branches coordinating on disaster management and emergency relief operations throughout the country.  The partnership will promote Mozambique's new policy in disaster management -- from response to prevention.  Representatives of the Belgian Government were joined by representatives of the country's regional and Flemish local authorities to introduce a slate of domestic partnerships for sustainable development.  The partnerships take into account basic principles identified by the stakeholders as essential for development, including the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities, inter- and intra-generational equity in honouring the right to development, and good governance.  The presenters highlighted a project initiated by the Centre for Environmental Health at the University of Brussels as a direct response to the health and science development objectives of Agenda 21.  They also highlighted a pilot project initiated by the country's Trade Union Network for Environmental Awareness, which aims to raise awareness among workers in public hospitals. Complete text available: http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2002/envdev684.doc.htm

15. CHILDREN, AGRICULTURE, BUILDING CAPACITY IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES, AMONG ISSUES ADDRESSED AT SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT SUMMIT 32 Agencies, Organizations Speak in Plenary Session

30 August 2002

Internet: http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2002/envdev680.doc.htm

JOHANNESBURG, 30 August -- At the World Summit for Sustainable Development this morning, 32 agencies and organizations called for attention to issues of children, agriculture, capacity-building, human and natural resources and population in the context of achieving the international aim of eliminating poverty, while protecting the Earth's resources. The debate was held ahead of the Summit's high-level segment next week, when more than 100 world leaders will gather to build a commitment to better implement Agenda 21, the road map for achieving sustainable development adopted at the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development -- the Earth Summit -- held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.  The Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme, Mark Malloch Brown, stressed that in order to meet the goals set at the Millennium Summit in September 2000, it was necessary first to succeed in changing the terms of the global debate.  Population issues must be kept at the heart of the development agenda.  Sustainable development was simply not possible without transparent democratic institutions capable of protecting the environment, while providing basic needs and economic opportunities.  He noted that communities where people protected their ecosystems had better schools, health care and economies.  Carol Bellamy, Executive Director of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), said there was no more direct route to environmental well-being than investments in children.  In the decade since Agenda 21, there had been some impressive achievements, but there had not been satisfactory progress towards many goals and new challenges had emerged, such as HIV/AIDS, the proliferation of armed conflict and globalization.  The Summit must emphasize a child-centred development paradigm, and stress that development could not be sustainable unless children were protected from vulnerability everywhere, and unless their rights to a basic education of good quality, nutrition, health, water and sanitation were fulfilled. Kunio Waki, Deputy Executive Director, United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), said poverty reduction and protection of natural resource could not be achieved without addressing population issues.  Global population was expected to reach 9 billion by the year 2050.  It was, however, not growing as fast as it did before, thanks to the world's women and governments that gave them support and choices.  Since UNFPA was established in 1969, overall fertility rates had dropped by half in the developing world.  Developing countries with lower fertility and slower population growth had seen higher productivity, more savings and more productive investment.

Speaking on behalf the International Federation of Agricultural Producers, the President of the Dutch Farmers' Union said agriculture was the key to sustainable development.  The drop in priority for agriculture from national budgets, donors and international institutions must, therefore, be reversed.  Agriculture was key to food security, to conserving biodiversity and central to international action in trade and investment. K.G. Ruffing, the Acting Director, Environment Directorate, Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), said one of the areas where OECD countries could show leadership was to increase the coherence and integration of their own policies.  OECD countries were the largest donors of official development assistance (ODA), but at the same time had policies to protect and subsidize their own national industries.  In many cases, the benefits of ODA were swamped by the effects of trade-distorting subsidies and other barriers to trade. Also speaking this morning were:  the Executive Director of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS); the Assistant Director-General for Natural Sciences of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO); the President of the International Fund for Agricultural Development; the Executive Director of United Nations Programme for Human Settlements (UN-Habitat); the Executive Secretaries of the Convention on Biological Diversity, the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change; as well as the Executive Secretaries of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, the Economic Commission for Africa, and the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia. The President of the International Parliamentary Union, the Regional Director, Eastern and Southern African Office, International Civil Aviation Organization; the Director of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research; the Executive Director of the European Trade Unions Confederation; the Director-General of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources; and the Secretary-General of the Nordic Council of Ministers also addressed the Summit. In addition, representatives of Environmental Alert, Foundation to Promote Indigenous Knowledge, Estado Libre de Puerto Rico, Baltic Marine Environment Protection Commission, Commonwealth of Independent States, Permanent Commission for the South Pacific, United States Virgin Islands, Secretariat of the Basel Convention, and Mines Ministries of the Americas Conference participated in the discussion. Complete text available: http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2002/envdev680.doc.htm

16. SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT SUMMIT FOCUSES ON IMPORTANCE OF REGIONAL ORGANIZATIONS IN SUMMIT FOLLOW-UP

29 August 2002

Internet: http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2002/envdev676.doc.htm

JOHANNESBURG, 29 August -- The importance of regional arrangements and cooperation in the implementation and follow-up of the outcome of the World Summit on Sustainable Development was the focus of an interactive discussion held this morning.  As noted by the former Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and moderator of the discussion, Gustave Speth, the regional level was becoming increasingly important, as there were many things that could not be done at the global level and could not be done well enough at the national level.  The United Nations regional commissions, with their proven analytical capacity, had an important role to play in the implementation and follow-up of the Summit.  Action at the regional level, stated the Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), Jose Antonio Ocampo, was the bridge between national realities and global priorities.  Regional action played such a critical role because the actors involved in global processes occupied highly unequal positions.  Hence, in political terms, regional action allowed the voice of smaller countries to be heard within the global order. The important role of the regional commissions was also emphasized by Kim Hak-Sen, Executive Secretary, Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), who noted that with their multi-sectoral expertise, regional commissions were strategically placed to promote regional and subregional cooperation, enhance capacity-building and awareness, and render technical assistance.  They also contributed to cost-effective solutions and avoided unnecessary duplication of efforts.  Environmental degradation, unequal access to markets, poverty eradication and peace and security could be examined only within the context of international relations coupled with regional and subregional level action, added Mervat Tallawy, Executive Secretary of the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA).  Regional implementation provided a forum for the promotion of regional integration into wider development efforts, the best way regions could together and independently face the challenges of globalization. Participants emphasized the importance of regional initiatives and strategies for development.  Among the regional initiatives highlighted was the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD), which South Africa's Vice- Minister for Foreign Affairs believed was a prerequisite for sustainable development on the African continent.  Among its important features, he said, was the fact that it focused on African ownership and leadership, that it would be financed primarily through African resources, and, above all, that it fostered partnership between Africa and the rest of the world. For a land-locked country and one with an economy in transition, regional cooperation offered assistance to respond to the challenges of globalization, stated Azerbaijan's representative.  It also provided avenues for the use of the limited resources of the countries in the region and the integration of those countries into the global economy.  He appealed to the international donor community to be more attentive and responsive to the regional context.  While expressing appreciation for the efforts of regional organizations, the Minister of Finance and Planning of Tuvalu said that it was important to review and assess their direct impact on the lives of people.  Some of the regional organizations seemed to have their own agendas.  It was necessary to ensure that they truly were agents for sustainable development and that the post-Johannesburg benefits flowed down to those on the ground.  This morning's interactive session followed a series of "partnership plenaries" focusing on priority areas identified by the Secretary-General as key for progress at the Summit -- water, energy, health, agricultural production and biodiversity.  The international community has gathered in Johannesburg, South Africa, to build a commitment to better implement Agenda 21, the roadmap for achieving sustainable development adopted at the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development -- the Earth Summit -- held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.    Presentations were made by the Executive Secretaries of the five United Nations regional commissions on the following themes associated with sustainable development:  poverty eradication; financing; natural resources; integrating environment and sustainable development in decision-making; and trade, investment and globalization in the context of sustainable development. The Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Europe, Brigitta Schmognerova, and the Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Africa, K.Y. Amoako, also made presentations.  Also on the panel were representatives of United Nations specialized agencies, regional organizations and development banks, and business. The government ministers and representatives of Denmark (speaking on behalf of the European Union), Indonesia, Romania, Tajikistan, Azerbaijan, Israel, Uganda, Croatia, Switzerland, Argentina, the Palestinian Authority and the Council of Europe also spoke.

Complete text available: http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2002/envdev676.doc.htm

17. JOHANNESBURG SUMMIT CALLS FOR RESTORATION OF FISHERIES BY 2015

28 August 2002

Internet: http://www.un.org/events/wssd/pressreleases/fishing.pdf

Johannesburg, 28 August .A provision calling for restoration of depleted fisheries not later than 2015 was agreed to by negotiators at the World Summit on Sustainable Development yesterday. The agreement was the last in a series of provisions that recognizes that the world's oceans and fisheries are in trouble and need urgent attention. United Nations studies have shown that threequarters of the world's fisheries are presently fished to their sustainable levels or beyond. A breakthrough, the agreement on the target marks a major commitment that requires countries to marshal resources and political will to ensure the responsible management of fisheries. "This agreement provides us with the crucial underpinning for government action," according to Johannesburg Summit Secretary-General Nitin Desai. "Overfishing cannot continue. The depletion of fisheries poses a major threat to the food supply of millions of people. This agreement recognizes that we need coordinated action between governments on an urgent basis to manage the oceans responsibly, to meet the needs of people now and in the future." Desai added that it was absolutely necessary that government commitments to implement sustainable fishing be complemented through partnerships by and between governments, fishermen, communities, and industry. "We have no choice but to work together on this," he said. In addition, agreement was reached on a provision that calls on countries to ratify the Convention on the Law of the Sea, and other conventions that promote maritime safety and protect the environment from marine pollution and environmental damage by ships. Agreement was also reached on a text that asks regional fisheries management organizations to consider the needs of developing countries when allocating fish quotas. Developing countries have maintained that existing fisheries regimes do not reflect their interests.

18. UN, SOUTH AFRICAN FLAGS RAISED OVER SANDTON CONFERENCE CENTRE IN JOHANNESBURG

23 August 2002

Internet: http://www.un.org/events/wssd/pressreleases/flag_ceremony.pdf

Johannesburg, 23 August. South African Foreign Minister Nkosazana Zuma symbolically handed over the Sandton Conference Centre, the site of the World Summit on Sustainable Development, to the United Nations today at a flag raising ceremony. The raising of the UN and South African flags in front of the Centre marked the official start of the UN presence in Johannesburg, with the Centre assuming the status of international territory. Calling the Summit "one of the most important conferences," Zuma, speaking at the ceremony, said the Summit would determine "how this family of humanity will deal with our common heritage." The Summit, Zuma said, was not only about putting together a plan for action, but also for establishing a mechanism for sustainable development, with the necessary financing. "At the end of the day, it is about implementation." Accepting the handover on behalf of the United Nations, Johannesburg Summit Secretary-General Nitin Desai praised the South African government for the work they have done to prepare for the Summit. "They have done a fantastic job. They pulled out all the stops." Thanking South Africa for their efforts in Zulu, he said "Ngiyabonga South Africa, Ngiyabonga.

Johannesburg." Desai pointed out that much had changed since the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. "Ten years ago when we met at the Earth Summit, South Africa was not even present. Today it is the host country." More than 100 presidents and prime ministers, along with thousands of government representatives, NGOs and business leaders, are expected to attend the Summit, which marks an historic opportunity to commit to actions that will improve people's lives and protect the environment. The official opening of the Summit will take place on Monday, 26 August, with an address by South African President Thabo Mbeki. Mr. Desai will then formally address the plenary, followed by United Nations Environment Programme Executive Director Klaus Topfer.
 

UNITED NATIONS DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME (UNDP)

Internet: http://www.undp.org/wssd/
Updates: http://www.undp.org/wssd/updates.html

19. JOHANNESBURG SUMMIT PROMOTES PARTNERSHIPS FOR DEVELOPMENT

5 September 2002

Internet: http://www.undp.org/dpa/frontpagearchive/2002/september/5sept02/index.html

Thursday, 5 September 20002: After 12 days of intense negotiations in Johannesburg, the World Summit on Sustainable Development concluded last night with the adoption of a political declaration and a plan of implementation to fight poverty and preserve the environment.  Over 100 Heads of State and Government attended the summit and adopted the final documents, which focused the attention of the world on five priority areas: water, energy, health, agriculture and biodiversity. Progress in these areas is essential for halving severe poverty by 2015 and achieving the other Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). "The summit represents a major leap forward in the development of partnerships, with the UN, governments, business and civil society coming together to increase the pool of resources to tackle global problems on a global scale," said UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan.  UNDP Administrator Mark Malloch Brown observed that the meeting focused on important poverty reduction issues, such as access to modern energy services for more than two billion people lacking them. "In the end, this was not so much the Earth Summit as the 'Down to Earth Summit,'" he said.  "The summit is a real platform for UNDP and the world to move forward towards achieving the MDGs and helping people build better lives," said Mr. Malloch Brown. "As the UN's global development network, we will be rolling up our sleeves and working with partners around the world to help countries follow up on the summit's mandates."  The world leaders reaffirmed the principles of sustainable development adopted in the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro 10 years ago, and also affirmed the role of trade in reducing poverty agreed on at the World Trade Organization (WTO) meeting in Doha last year and their commitments on development financing at the International Conference on Financing for Development in Monterrey, Mexico, in March. In addition, they set a new target for reducing by half the proportion of people with no access to adequate sanitation by 2015 and recognized the link between access to energy services and poverty eradication. The governments also committed to reducing agricultural subsidies and protecting biodiversity, including in fisheries.  The summit reaffirmed the UNDP mandate for capacity building, which UNDP is pushing forward through the Capacity 2015 initiative, focusing on helping countries reach the MDGs. It also called for UNDP to provide technical assistance in trade, environment, and development, along with the WTO, the UN Conference on Trade and Development and the UN Environment Programme.  The summit emphasized the role of the private sector and civil society as key partners to achieving sustainable development and the creation of public-private partnerships to help improve the living standards of the world's poor.  UNDP Associate Administrator Zéphirin Diabré said the summit's recognition of the private sector as a genuine development partner is significant, especially regarding the issues of capacity building, technology transfer and development financing. "Public-private partnerships will be critical in the coming months, and UNDP will have to increase its efforts through the existing Public-Private Partnership Programme and other mechanisms," he said.

20. JOHANNESBURG SUMMIT FOCUSES ON CIVIL SOCIETY ROLE

4 September 2002

Internet: http://www.undp.org/dpa/frontpagearchive/2002/september/4sept02/index.html

Wednesday, 4 September 2002: Three events at the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg spotlighted the key role of civil society in efforts to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).  The Grassroots Academy on the MDGs, co-sponsored by GROOTS International (Grass Roots Organizations Operating Together in Sisterhood) and the UNDP Civil Society Division, brought together community leaders and activists on 31 August to brainstorm on how to mobilize local networks of community groups in support of the MDGs and link these efforts to global development networks.  UNDP Administrator Mark Malloch Brown and Ana Tibaijuka, Executive Director of UN-Habitat, opened the event by underscoring the value of working with grassroots communities and the critical role they can play in campaigning for the MDGs, which are the agenda endorsed by world leaders for halving severe poverty by 2015 and reaching other global priorities.  Speakers included leading activists from Shackdwellers International (the slum dwellers' movement), indigenous peoples' organizations and groups campaigning against HIV/AIDS. Participants agreed to set up a pilot project to support national community dialogues on MDGs, activate an electronic learning platform among key community groups, and make information about the MDGs available in a community-friendly format.  The event highlighted the role of UNDP as a global development network facilitating dialogue and knowledge sharing, South-South learning exchanges and capacity development.  A policy dialogue on the MDGs on 1 September, co-sponsored by UNDP and the Sustainable Development Issues Network, brought together leading groups from North and South, including Martin Khor from Third World Network, a member of the UNDP Civil Society Advisory Committee, to discuss the MDGs with Mr. Malloch Brown.  Participants discussed cooperation between civil society and the UN vis-à-vis the MDGs, policies that will underpin the MDGs, and how they converge with existing development frameworks and can be integrated into national programmes.  "The MDGs are about expanding choices, not replacing one development paradigm with another," said Mr. Malloch Brown. He emphasized that the role of the UN is to provide a space for dialogue and for critical voices to be heard.  At a round table on Indigenous Peoples and MDGs on 2 September, co-sponsored by UNDP and the Tebtebba Foundation of the Philippines, panelists and the audience questioned development paradigms that underpin the MDGs, as well as indicators used to measure progress.  Discussion focused on obstacles to achieving the MDGs, including conflict, discrimination, lack of disaggregated data that reflects conditions in indigenous communities and their lack of land titles and - most importantly -- lack of recognition of indigenous peoples' rights. The newly established Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues and the UNDP regional programme in Asia were seen as valuable avenues to address these issues.  UNDP is also a key member of a partnership on Indigenous Rights and Sustainable Development launched by Denmark on 1 September. The partnership aims to enhance the ability of indigenous peoples to influence development policies and decision-making and promote knowledge sharing between donor agencies and indigenous peoples. The partnership's plan of action will be discussed at a seminar in Copenhagen in early 2003.

21. OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENTS IN SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT IN THE TROPICS REWARDED

31 August 2002

Internet: http://www.undp.org/dpa/pressrelease/releases/2002/august/31aug02.html

Johannesburg, 31 August 2002: Last night communities spread across the equator got international recognition for their extraordinary work to reduce poverty while conserving and ensuring the use of biodiversity in a sustainable manner at a ceremony held at the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD).  Winners in several categories were announced and received US$30,000.

The winners are:

Associação Vida Verde da Amazônia (AVIVE) - Brazil

Fiji Locally-Managed Marine Area Network - Fiji

Toledo Institute for Development and Environment - Belize

Uma Bawang Residents' Association - Malaysia

Il Ngwesi Group Ranch - Kenya, and Suledo Forest Community - Tanzania (sharing an award for their innovative approaches to poverty reduction and biodiversity conservation in similar cultural and ecological environments)

A prize was also awarded to a community initiative associated with a World Heritage Site for successfully reconciling biodiversity conservation with local livelihoods. This prize was awarded to Iniciativa Talamanca of Costa Rica  "These communities are models of the kind of sustainable future UNDP believes is possible. They demonstrate how powerful partnerships between individuals, communities, governments and civil society can reap huge dividends for both local livelihoods and the environment," said Mark Malloch Brown, Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).  The winners were selected from 27 finalists, out of more than 420 nominations from 77 countries. They represent outstanding examples of community-led partnerships that are best able to tackle the planet's most pressing development challenges, including poverty and biodiversity loss. In an unexpected announcement, Steve McCormick, President of the Nature Conservancy, said that his organization will contribute $30,000 to each of the remaining 20 finalists communities.  "These groups have dedicated themselves to improving their communities through the sustainable use of biological resources," said Mr. McCormick. "We want to recognize their innovations, and give them additional needed resources". Representatives of these 27 finalists are sharing their experiences at the WSSD with other communities who are also working towards local sustainability. They are at the Ubuntu Community Kraal, an innovative forum for local dialogue that has been sponsored by the Equator Initiative. "The lessons that these communities identify during the Summit will form the basis for the Equator Initiative's continuing work," says Programme Manager, Sean Southey of UNDP's Bureau for Development Policy. "It will also lead to the development of a learning and exchange strategy that will expand the programme's growing global movement for poverty reduction and biodiversity conservation."  Information about all 27 finalists is available at http://www.equatorinitiative.org.

22. UNDP LAUNCHES PARTNERSHIPS TO EXPAND ACCESS TO ENERGY FOR RURAL POPULATIONS

28 August 2002

Internet: http://www.undp.org/dpa/pressrelease/releases/2002/august/28aug02.html

Johannesburg, 28 August 2002:Today, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the World Bank, together with other donors and non-governmental organizations (NGOs), will launch the Global Village Energy Partnership (GVEP) expanding poor people's access to affordable energy services.  The initiative announced at the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD), is based on a decade-long programme aimed at bringing electricity, and clean liquid and gaseous fuels to people living in rural areas. By increasing access to modern energy services, rural populations could get higher incomes, more job opportunities and a better quality of life. The GVEP includes private  sector partners, NGOs and other development agencies and aims to provide access to energy services to 50,000 communities and 300 million people over the next decade. In Johannesburg, UNDP will also announce a new public-private partnership to increase the availability of Liquified Petroleum Gases (LPG). LPG, a clean fossil fuel, could meet the world's rural heating and cooking requirements. UNDP will work with governments and industry on policies and on improvement of equipment design, gas marketing, distribution and costing to meet the specific needs of rural populations. Over two billion people worldwide do not have access to electricity and the benefits that energy services provide, such as illumination, mechanization, and communication. A similar number rely on traditional fuels for heating and cooking. The repercussions are most strongly felt by women and girls, who are removed from school to help meet the family's energy needs, having a life long impact on literacy and job opportunities. Current energy use is having a negative impact on economic activity and people's health, and leads to pollution and global environmental damage. Over 2.5 million people die annually from respiratory diseases caused by poorly ventilated stoves using traditional fuels. Almost two years ago, world leaders endorsed the Millennium Declaration, an ambitious plan for development that includes eight specific goals with multiple targets to address the most pressing needs of the poor, including cutting by half the proportion of people living with less than US$1 per day by 2015. Last year, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan asked UNDP Administrator Mark Malloch Brown, in his capacity as chair of the UN Development Group (UNDG), to be the "campaign manager" for the Millennium Development Goals-working closely with the UN system to help spread awareness about the goals while making them an integral part of the UN's work on the ground. The Millennium Declaration doesn't include any specific goal on energy, but energy services are essential for achieving all the development goals. "It will not be possible to bring hundreds of millions of women and men out of poverty in the next decade unless people have access to reliable, affordable energy services. Electricity and cleaner fuels are essential to do this," said Mr. Malloch Brown. "This however will require concerted public action to change policies and to use energy as a means to support development."  Worldwide, UNDP has spent $873 million in the last decade on energy projects, including those supported through the Global Environment Facility, and is currently working on energy in over 80 countries. For instance, in Nepal, the UNDP-sponsored Rural Energy Development Programme, using small hydropower and photovoltaics, has reduced household firewood consumption by 25 percent and lightened the burden for women and children of gathering fuelwood. Over 18,000 people in rural areas now have access to electricity.  Providing energy services is one of the key responsibilities of the public sector, but progress is highly dependent on the involvement of the private sector, since large investments are needed to make the necessary changes to the energy system. Due to expanding economies and population growth the largest investment will occur in developing countries over the coming decades. UNDP has published a new book focusing on the role of policies in energy and other sectors. Entitled Energy for Sustainable Development: A Policy Agenda, this guide for policy-makers will be released in Johannesburg.

23. WORLD SUMMIT IN JOHANNESBURG TO STAKE OUT COURSE FOR PRACTICAL, REALISTIC DEVELOPMENT GAINS

26 August 2002

Internet: http://www.undp.org/dpa/pressrelease/releases/2002/august/26aug02a.html

Johannesburg, 26 August 2002: World leaders, United Nations officials, citizen's groups and business representatives are meeting in Johannesburg this week to agree on a practical and clear agenda that will offer access to clean water, sanitation facilities, electricity and other services, with a focus on preserving the environment.  Nearly 100 Heads of State and Government will attend the World Summit for Sustainable Development (WSSD), to be held from 26 August to 4 September in Johannesburg.  The Summit will conclude with the adoption of a political declaration reaffirming the commitment to sustainable development and a plan of action with specific targets. Another important outcome will be initiatives between governments, civil society, the private sector and international organizations, such as the Global Village Energy, which will help address specific problems. The overall goal will be to improve living conditions worldwide while protecting natural resources and ecosystems. At the United Nations Millennium Summit, 189 countries endorsed the Millennium Declaration, which includes eight concrete development goals from halving extreme poverty by 2015 to providing universal primary education and halting the spread of HIV/AIDS. Last year in Doha, a new process aiming at creating fair global trade mechanisms was launched. At the Conference on Financing for Development, in Monterrey, Mexico, rich countries agreed to provide more aid, improve trade relations, increase the transfer of technology, as well as investment in poor countries committed to serious political and economic reforms. "The World Summit for Sustainable Development represents an historic opportunity to build on all this progress, and map out practical plans of action for a sustainable future," said UNDP Administrator Mark Malloch Brown. "The leaders of the world must come up with an agreement that show their citizens, particularly the poor, that they are truly committed to helping provide prosperity to all the world's people while protecting the planet for future generations." Agenda 21, the plan of action adopted 10 years ago at the Earth Summit for sustainable development-a development balanced between the economic, social and environmental requirements-is still considered a powerful and valuable tool. Progress has been made to meet the targets of Agenda 21, but some areas, such as energy, were overlooked and achievements have been insufficient.  The Summit should not only reinvigorate previous political commitments but also outline priority actions in five key areas to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs): Water and Sanitation, Energy, Health, Agriculture and Biodiversity.  As the UN's global development network, UNDP is working with developing countries to build the capacity needed to meet those goals and to help them find their own solutions to global and national development challenges.  The experience drawn from Capacity 21, the programme launched by UNDP in 1992 to implement Agenda 21, has helped create a more ambitious and expanded initiative-Capacity 2015-that will focus on the MDGs and on achieving sustainable development, especially at the local level. It is estimated that two billion people worldwide do not have any access to energy services while another 1.5 billion have to depend on unreliable supplies of electricity. More than one billion people lack access to safe drinking water. Each year, roughly 3.4 million people die from diseases associated with inadequate drinking water and sanitation. It is also estimated that 250 million people have been directly affected by desertification and nearly one billion are at risk, with dire impact on their ability to produce food, preserve water and build sustainable livelihoods. UNDP is launching the Capacity Development for Improved Agriculture and the Management of Natural Resources in the Drylands of the World, an initiative aimed at halving poverty in these areas by 2015. This is a major contribution towards achieving the MDGs for water, hunger and poverty, through better management of local resources. It will help to increase productivity of drylands while avoiding or resolving conflicts over the use of natural resources. Over the past decade, UNDP-funded programmes have provided US$3.8 billion in the field of environment and sustainable energy, including $1,650 million through the Global Environment Facility and $333 million through the Montreal Protocol Fund .At WSSD, UNDP will reaffirm its commitments to capacity development, support for water, energy, drylands management and biodiversity as critical means to support the global fight against poverty.

24. NEW PARTNERSHIPS TO HELP SEVERAL HUNDRED MILLION POOR PEOPLE ACCESS CLEAN WATER

26 August 2002

Internet: http://www.undp.org/dpa/pressrelease/releases/2002/august/26aug02.html

Johannesburg, 26 August 2002: The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) will launch a new partnership on effective water governance to support developing countries in their efforts to increase by fifty percent the proportion of people with access to safe water and to halt the unsustainable exploitation of water resources. Currently, at least 1.1 billion people lack access to safe water supplies and almost 2.5 billion people do not have access to adequate sanitation. More than 2.2 million people in developing countries die each year from diseases associated with unsafe drinking water, inadequate sanitation and hygiene. Two thirds of the world's population may be living in countries that face serious water shortage by 2015 unless we take action. Priorities include improving the efficiency of water use, better watershed management, and reducing leakage, especially in the many cities where water losses are a 40 percent or more of total water supply.  The Global Water Partnership -- a global alliance of stakeholders from over 140 countries, including UN agencies, governments, non-governmental and private sector organizations, -- and the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives are partners in this Dialogue on Effective Water Governance, which will be presented on 30 August. Water governance systems and action strategies to improve them will be analyzed in a series of roundtables. "The competition for increasingly precious water resources has intensified dramatically over the past decade, reaching a point where water shortages and degraded water quality are seriously affecting prospects for economic and social development," said UNDP Administrator Mark Malloch Brown. Globally, about 70 percent of freshwater is used for agriculture, but most irrigation systems are inefficient. In the next two decades, it is expected that water for use by people will increase by 40 percent and that 17 percent more water will be needed to grow food crops. The new partnership being launched by governments, civil society, businesses, international organizations and other major groups is expected to be one of the main outcomes of the Johannesburg Summit. A political declaration reaffirming the commitments to sustainable development and an implementation plan with specific targets to meet the Millenium Development Goals are also expected outcomes. "Achieving the Millennium Development Goal of halving the proportion of people without access to safe drinking water will require the mobilization of international and domestic financial resources, technology transfer and the capacity to ensure that infrastructure and services meet the needs of the poor, especially women", said Mr. Malloch Brown.  Water can be both an effective basis for dialogue to build trust and confidence. Increased cooperation between countries sharing the same water is critical, especially in water scarce regions.  UNDP is already part of a successful international public-private partnership to restore the degraded Black Sea ecosystem on which so much economic activity and human health depends. The partnership brings together 15 countries in the Danube River Basin, two regional commissions, UNDP and other UN organizations, the World Bank, and non-governmental organizations. UNDP is also working with UN Industrial Development Organization to help build cleaner factories and sustainable industries in the region. The World Water Forum to be held in Japan in early 2003 will present the next major international opportunity to address water and resource management issues.

See Also:

COMMUNITY ROLE VITAL IN WATER, ENERGY, HEALTH, AGRICULTURE AND BIODIVERSITY INITIATIVES
30 August 2002: UNDP

http://www.undp.org/dpa/frontpagearchive/2002/august/30aug02/index.html

NEW INTERNATIONAL TASK FORCE ON GLOBAL PUBLIC GOODS LAUNCHED IN JOHANNESBURG 29 August 2002

http://www.undp.org/dpa/frontpagearchive/2002/august/29aug02/index.html

LOCAL SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT: A DECADE OF LESSONS LEARNT

28 August 2002:

http://www.undp.org/dpa/frontpagearchive/2002/august/28aug02/index.html

'VOICES OF REALITY' HIGHLIGHTS COMMUNITY ACTION AT JOHANNESBURG SUMMIT 26 August 2002

http://www.undp.org/dpa/frontpagearchive/2002/august/26aug02/index.html

UNDP SEEKS PROGRESS TOWARDS MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS AT JOHANNESBURG SUMMIT 23 August 2002:

http://www.undp.org/dpa/frontpagearchive/2002/august/23aug02/index.html

UKRAINE'S REPORT FOR JOHANNESBURG SUMMIT CITES PROGRESS AND POTENTIAL

22 August 2002

http://www.undp.org/dpa/frontpagearchive/2002/august/22aug02/index.html

UNITED NATIONS ENVIRONMENT PROGRAMME (UNEP)

WSSD Web page: http://www.unep.org/wssd/

Update: http://www.unep.org/wssd/wssdpageupdates.asp

UNEP financial Initiatives: http://www.unepfi.net/wssd/index.php

25. WORKMANLIKE PLAN AGREED TO FIGHT AGAINST POVERTY AND FIGHT FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT SAYS KLAUS TOEPFER

4 September 2002

Internet: http://www.unep.org/Documents/Default.asp?ArticleID=3120&DocumentID=264

Johannesburg/Nairobi, 4 September 2002 - Satisfactory is how Klaus Toepfer, Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), today described the outcome of the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD).  "At various moments during these negotiations we were facing a much weaker prospect for the environment and thus for sustainable development. I am satisfied that what has been delivered is a step forward. While there will be disappointment that nations failed to agree global time tables and targets for boosting the level of renewable energy, it has been agreed that there is a need for regional and national targets for renewable energy. We also have a commitment to halve the number of people without access to sanitation" he said at the close.  Mr Toepfer highlighted some other areas of success. He said there had been important agreements in the area of chemicals. Governments have, for example, accepted the need for a new, international, approach for the management of chemicals and the harmonization of labeling and classification of chemicals which will be operational by 2008.  Governments also aim, by 2020, to produce and use chemicals in such a way that they do not adversely affect human health.  "This should benefit all people and especially those in developing countries and regions like the Arctic where chemical pollution is a real threat to the health of humans and wildlife," he said.  Mr Toepfer also welcomed world leaders endorsement of the NEPAD, the sustainable development initiative for Africa, and their support to regenerate agriculture and fisheries and to implement food security strategies on the Continent by 2005.  In the field of biodiversity, a commitment to reverse the trend of losses by 2010 should also be welcomed, he said.  A decision to cease destructive fishing practices and establish marine protected areas and networks by 2012, was good news said Mr Toepfer.  An important decision in the plan was the support for the Multi-Lateral Environment Agreements (MEAs) and a re-affirmation that they have parity with the multilateral trading system.  Mr Toepfer also pointed to the action plan for small island states where governments have agreed to reduce and prevent waste and pollution by undertaking, before 2004, initiatives aimed at implementing the Global Plan of Action for the Protection of the Marine Environment from Land Based Activities (GPA).  Earlier in the week UNEP along with UNESCO organized a high level round table hosted by Jacques Chirac, the President of France, on cultural diversity and biodiversity for sustainable development.  Mr Toepfer said he was pleased to see that the Plan of Implementation recognizes the need to consider ethics and cultural diversity in the implementation of Agenda 21.  "It also outlines the need to develop policies to improve the cultural, economic and physical well being of indigenous people and their communities," he said.  Mr Toepfer said the world's political situation is, in 2002, far different than the one that maked the Rio Earth Summit of 1992.  "We had the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of the Cold War. Today we have a new realism as a result of globalization. So the action plan, agreed here in Johannesburg, is less visionary and more work-man like reflecting perhaps the feeling among many nations that they no longer want to promise the Earth and fail. That they would rather step forward than run too fast," he added.  Mr Toepfer, who during the summit has been a special advisor to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, said one very positive outcome was the new partnership between governments, civil society, industry and the United Nations (UN) in areas such as corporate responsibility and environmental standards.  "This must be welcomed. The development of a 10-year framework with programmes in support of sustainable consumption and production patterns, based on science-based approaches and life-cycle analysis, has been agreed. We now also have an initiative to encourage industry to improve their social and environmental performance, taking into account the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) standards and the Global Reporting Initiative in which UNEP has been involved," he said.

26. TRADE AND ENVIRONMENT TASK FORCE STRENGTHENED IN JOHANNESBURG

3 September 2002

Internet: http://www.unep.org/Documents/Default.asp?ArticleID=3120&DocumentID=264

Johannesburg, 3 September 2002-- The second phase of a joint UNCTAD-UNEP Capacity-building Task Force on Trade, Environment and Development (CBTF) will be launched today in Johannesburg (Sandton Convention Centre, Ballroom 2, 18:30-20:00) during the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD). Representatives from UNCTAD, UNEP and the WTO will highlight their collaboration on capacity-building activities on trade, environment and development.  Ministers from Finland, Romania, Thailand, Uganda and other countries, and the Director-General of the European Commission's DG Development, will outline their expectations for extended activities in Phase II of the CBTF. Jan Pronk, Special Envoy to the UN Secretary-General on the Summit, will also speak. Since its inception in 2000, the CBTF has supported a number of projects to assist developing countries in dealing with trade and environment-related development challenges. Training workshops in Cuba and Viet Nam centred on national case studies and discussed practical policy measures to help maximize the sustainable development gains of trade. An international policy dialogue allowed developing country governments to identify opportunities for increasing the production and export of organic food products. Ongoing country projects in Indonesia and Lebanon are assisting policy makers to assess the environmental and developmental impacts of trade and trade policies. And a subregional project is under way in 10 Central American and Caribbean countries on enhancing regional cooperation in sound collection and recycling of spent vehicle batteries. A major new financial contribution to be announced by the European Union at the Summit will enable the second phase of the CBTF to respond to the high demand for capacity-building in trade and environment. Phase II funding also includes contributions from Sweden and the United States.

Activities for Phase II which are either already under way or set to begin immediately after the Summit include:

• New country-based projects in Mozambique and Cambodia designed to enhance the poverty-reducing potential of trade;
   

• Country-based projects assessing the environmental and developmental effects of trade liberalization in the rice sector;
   

• A policy dialogue for Lusophone countries on trade implications of climate change;
   

• A training workshop for African least developed countries (LDCs) on developing mutually supportive trade and environment policies;
   

• International policy dialogues on environment-related market access issues;
   

• Regional workshops on WTO-related issues organized in conjunction with WTO regional seminars;
   

• Regional training programmes implemented in partnership with regional and subregional institutions; and
   

• Workshops for Geneva-based negotiators.

A new call for project proposals will enable Phase II to address a range of priority issues, including those relating to the UN Programme of Action for the LDCs and the WTO Doha Work Programme in the area of trade and environment. The CBTF is involving UN regional economic and social commissions, regional environmental organizations, economic integration arrangements, academic and research training institutes, NGOs and the private sector. The CBTF is a WSSD "Type II" partnership, which will engage the expertise of a very broad range of stakeholders in its strengthened second phase.

27. MASSIVE DESTRUCTION OF GREAT APE HABITATS LIKELY OVER THE NEXT 30 YEARS UNLESS CURRENT TRENDS REVERSED

3 September 2002

Internet: http://www.unep.org/Documents/Default.asp?ArticleID=3119&DocumentID=264

Johannesburg/Nairobi, 3 September 2002 - Less than 10 per cent of the remaining habitat of the great apes of Africa will be left relatively undisturbed by 2030 if road building, mining camps and other infrastructure developments continue at current levels a new report suggests.

Findings for the orangutans of South East Asia appear even bleaker. The new report indicates that in 28 years time there will be almost no habitat left that can be considered "relatively undisturbed".  The results have come from study by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), which is co-ordinating the Great Apes Survival Project partnership (GRASP), and scientists from Norway and the United States.  They are based on a pioneering new method of evaluating the wider impacts of infrastructure development on key species which, in this study, are the chimpanzee, bonobo or pygmy chimpanzee, the gorilla and the orang-utan.  The report, whose findings were announced today at the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD), has looked in detail at each of the four great ape species to assess the current, remaining, habitat deemed relatively undisturbed and thus able to support viable populations of apes. The experts have then mapped the likely impact and area of healthy habitat left in 2030 at current levels of infrastructure growth.  While most studies focus on the actual area of land taken by a new road, mining camp or infrastructure development, the GLOBIO method also factors in the wider impacts such as habitat fragmentation and noise disturbance.  Klaus Toepfer, the Executive Director of UNEP who is a special advisor to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan at the Summit, said: " This report suggests the possible fate of the great apes and their habitats. Roads are being built in the few remaining pristine forests of Africa and South East Asia to extract timber, minerals and oil. Uncontrolled road construction in these areas is fragmenting and destroying the great apes' last homes and making it easier for poachers to slaughter them for meat and their young more vulnerable to capture for the illegal pet trade".  "It is not too late to stop uncontrolled exploitation of these forests. By doing so, we may save not only the great apes, but thousands of other species. Saving the Great Apes is also about saving people. By conserving the Great Apes, we will also protect the livelihoods of the many people that rely on forests for food, medicine and clean water. Indeed the fate of the Great Apes has great symbolic implications for humankind's ability to develop a more sustainable future. I call on all nations here, on all sectors of society, to join our Great Apes Survival Project partnership. Without concerted action, without political will, we are all the poorer," he said.  Mr Toepfer added: "Here, near the close of WSSD, we have an agreement to significantly reduce biodiversity loss by 2010. This is an important agreement. The Great Apes, our closest living relatives will be the litmus test of whether the world succeeds in this important goal or not".

GORILLA

The study estimates that around 28 per cent, or some 204,900 square kilometres of remaining gorilla habitat, can be classed as relatively undisturbed.  If infrastructure growth continues at current levels, the area left by 2030 is estimated to be 69,900 square kilometres or just 10 per cent. It amounts to a 2.1 per cent, or 4,500 square kilometre, annual loss of low-impacted gorilla habitat in countries including Nigeria, Gabon, Rwanda and Burundi.

CHIMPANZEE

The study estimates that around 26 per cent, or some 390,840 square kilometres of remaining chimpanzee habitat, can be classed as  relatively undisturbed.  If infrastructure growth continues at current levels, the area left by 2030 is estimated to be 118,618 square kilometres or just eight per cent. It amounts to a 2.3 per cent, or 9,070 square kilometre, annual loss of low-impacted chimpanzee habitat from countries including Guinea, Cote D'Ivoire and Gabon.

BONOBO

The study estimates that around 23 per cent, or some 96,483 square kilometres, of remaining bonobo habitat, can be classed as relatively undisturbed.  If infrastructure growth continues at current levels, the area left by 2030 is estimated to be 17,750 square kilometres or just four per cent. It amounts to a 2.8 per cent, or 2,624 square kilometre, annual loss of low-impacted bonobo habitat from the Democratic Republic of the Congo-the only country in which they are found.

ORANGUTAN

The study estimates that around 36 per cent, or some 92,332 square kilometres, of remaining orangutan habitat, can be classed as relatively undisturbed.  If infrastructure growth continues at current levels, the area left by 2030 is estimated to be 424 square kilometres or less than one per cent. It amounts to a five per cent, or 4,697 square kilometre, annual loss of low-impacted orangutan habitat from areas such as Sumatara (Indonesia) and Borneo which includes Kalimantan, Indonesia, Brunei Darussalam and Sarawak and Sabah, Malaysia.

The report, The Great Apes-the road ahead, is edited by Dr Christian Nellemann of UNEP Grid-Arendal in Norway and Dr Adrian Newton of UNEP World Conservation Monitoring Centre in Cambridge, UK. It was launched at the WSSD as governments and other supporters of GRASP announced more cash backing for the project.  More funding was announced from the Government of the United Kingdom and new money from the United Nations Foundation (UNF) and the wildlife charity the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW).  Robert Hepworth, Deputy Director of the UNEP Division of Environmental Conventions and a biodiversity expert, also unveiled the organization's GRASP strategy document which will build on the work carried out by the wide range of partners since the pioneering initiative project was launched in 2001.  The strategy aims to cover all of the two dozen range states of the Great Apes and draw up national recovery action plans in collaboration with the governments concerned, wildlife groups and local people.  A key feature is the role of the specially appointed "Ape Envoys" in raising the profile of the cause. Two of the three GRASP envoys-Jane Goodall and Russ Mittermeier, spoke personally about the unique partnership at today's event at the IUCN Centre in Johannesburg, South Africa.  Mr Hepworth said:" An international, collaborative effort, has been urgently needed which was why GRASP was born. The strategy will guide and assist UNEP and UNESCO and our other partners to target conservation effort, while helping to join p and marshal the efforts of other international agencies and conventions such as the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species as well as governments and civil society. This can be only realistic when local communities have a stake in conservation, when they can reap benefits from sustain ably harvesting forests for food, fuel, building materials and medicines or from ecotourism".  He said he was also delighted to announce that, along with IFAW and the UNF, other new partners include the Dian Fossey Gorilla Foundation (Europe), the Wildlife Conservation Society, the Institute of Tropical Forest Conservation and the Pan African Sanctuaries Alliance.  UNESCO, a co-partner in the GRASP initiative, are also working with the European Space Agency to image and map ape habitats in the Albertine Valley of Africa's Central Rift region.

Notes to Editors-Governments, the private sector, non governmental organizations and the public can learn how to donate money to GRASP by accessing http://www.unep.org/grasp/Help.asp The full report, The Great Apes-the road ahead, is available from today (3 September 2002) at www.globio.info GRASP has three special ape envoys who are Jane Goodall, the celebrated primate conservationist, Russ Mittermeier of Conservation International and Toshisasa Nishida of Kyoto University.  A list of GRASP partners can be found at www.unep.org/grasp/partners.asp

28. PUTTING ENERGY INTO SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT - UNEP LAUNCHES NEW GLOBAL CLEAN ENERGY NETWORK AT JOHANNESBURG WORLD SUMMIT

1 September 2002

Internet: http://www.unep.org/Documents/Default.asp?DocumentID=264&ArticleID=3118

The goal of bringing new and less polluting energy sources to billions of deprived people around the world came a step closer today as the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) launched a pioneering global network of "sustainable energy" centres.  JOHANNESBURG/PARIS, 1 September 2002 - Speaking at the launch here at the World Summit on Sustainable Development, Klaus Toepfer, UNEP's Executive Director said, "The provision of environmentally sound energy services are integral to poverty alleviation and sustainable development."  "Over two billion people in developing countries do not have access to reliable forms of energy," Toepfer said. "Nine out of ten Africans have no access to electricity," he continued. "Providing clean energy on a sustainable basis is not only vital for fighting environmental issues like global warming but for reducing poverty and misery in Africa and parts of Asia and Latin America."

Access to affordable, modern energy services is increasingly seen as a pre-requisite for sustainable development and poverty alleviation. Access to energy is a condition for achieving the UN's Millennium Development Goals including the goal to halve the proportion of people in poverty by 2015 that is at the heart of the Johannesburg debate.  For one-third of the world's population, dependence on traditional fuels results in many hours spent each day gathering wood, animal and crop waste. Moreover, limited access to adequate and appropriate energy, including electricity (there are currently two billion people worldwide who lack access to electricity) means that value-adding income generating activities are constrained.  The consequences for the environment of present energy production and consumption patterns are also significant. For example, in developing countries, the widespread use of traditional fuels for indoor cooking and heating results in serious respiratory diseases and loss of life related to indoor air pollution, as well as a contribution to deforestation, particularly in arid and semi-arid areas.  Air pollution in developing countries is one of the four most critical global environmental problems. Such pollution causes an estimated two million excess deaths per year, or 5 percent of the global burden of disease.  At the global level, emissions of greenhouse gases, which mostly originate from the use of fossil fuels, (presently 80 percent of the world's primary energy comes from fossil fuels), will have to be reduced in order to combat global warming. Solving the climate change challenge means reducing global dependence on fossil fuels.  The new Global Network on Energy for Sustainable Development (GNESD), made up initially of ten centres in ten developed and developing countries, will help promote the research, transfer and take-up of green and cleaner energy technologies to the developing world.  It will achieve this by strengthening collaboration between existing "centres of excellence" that work on energy, development and environment issues. And, through these centres, influence sustainable energy policies, strategies and programmes.

"The underlying rationale of the Network is that it increases the capacity of developing country research institutions to look at energy for sustainable development issues, says Mark Radka, head of UNEP's Energy Unit. "Furthermore, it creates a shared research and information base on policy and technical guidance, advice and information."  "Critically, the Network will help all partners to develop and apply policies suitable to the needs and constraints of developing countries, thus supporting the use of energy as an instrument for poverty alleviation and sustainable development," he said.  Promising advances in energy-related technology hold a great potential for sustainable development, particularly regarding renewable energy and energy efficiency.  A number of technology options (energy from wind, "new" biomass, solar, geothermal sources) have been advanced to a state of technical reliability, and technological developments continue to reduce costs. The challenge remains to introduce or scale up the application of sustainable energy services. Similarly, policy and regulatory challenges remain if these are to become commercially viable options and able to compete with conventional and environmentally harmful energy options that typically benefit from favourable pricing conditions and perverse policy incentives.  "Technological solutions to energy problems are available today. We now need the political will and action to implement them," Toepfer said.  "The choices humankind makes on energy in the next decade will largely determine the history of the 21st century, and in particular whether we are able to put ourselves securely on the path to sustainable development," he said.

Note to Editors

The Global Network on Energy for Sustainable Development (GNESD) is a partnership, and has been submitted to the World Summit on Sustainable Development for recognition as a "Type Two" outcome.  UNEP will host a small secretariat for the Network. A Steering Committee representing the energy centres as well as the other Network partners will provide strategic direction.  The creation of GNESD is in line with the G8 Renewable Energy Task Force Report (2001) which recommended that its member countries "expand support for assistance programmes and networks for capacity building" to help promote the policy shift towards sustainable energy solutions.  Core partners in the Network are out-standing energy centres in industrialised and developing countries with proven experience and success in advancing knowledge and policies on various energy issues. The list of energy centres includes, for example, the Tata Energy Reseach Institute (TERI) in India, the African Energy Policy Research Network (Kenya), the Bariloche Foundation (Argentina), ENDA Tiers Monde (Senegal), and the Energy Research and Development Centre (EDRC) in South Africa.  The energy centres are joined in the Network by international organisations, governments, financial institutions, private sector representatives, foundations, and other parties who share the goal of promoting energy for sustainable development.  The idea of the Network was developed by UNEP in cooperation with the UNDP, UNIDO, UN DESA, and The World Bank drawing on proposals and inputs from the energy centres themselves. Initial funding partners are the governments of Germany, France, United Kingdom, Denmark, and the UN Foundation.  

29. NEW GLOBAL VIRTUAL UNIVERSITY TO PROMOTE ENVIRONMENTAL AND DEVELOPMENT EDUCATION

1 September 2002

Internet: http://www.unep.org/wssd/Documents/UN-UNIVERISTY.doc

Norway grants NOK 15 million (US$2 million) to a new United Nations University (UNU) branch hosted at UNEP/GRID-Arendal Johannesburg - In an agreement signed today at the World Summit on Sustainable Development, the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs granted NOK 15 million (US$2 million) to the creation of a new United Nations University (UNU) branch at UNEP/GRID-Arendal: the Global Virtual University (GVU). The GVU will be implemented by a core partnership between UNEP/ GRID-Arendal, the Agder University College and the UNU. These core partners will together establish the international network of co-operating universities. The GVU will offer education for the common future, providing scientific knowledge supporting the prudent management of the environment and help map out national and regional pathways to sustainable development. The studies will increase people's sensitivity to, and involvement in, finding solutions for environment and development problems, develop expertise to understand the potential and the limits of the environment, and foster ethical awareness, values and attitudes, skills and behaviour needed. The courseware will be developed in a collaborative, global network of academic institutions, and the studies will be on-line and decentralised, with a focus on the developing countries. UNU Rector Hans van Ginkel thanked the Norwegian Government saying "this initiative represents a very substantial addition to UNU's ongoing work to apply the best available technologies to global educational needs." Klaus Toepfer, UNEP Executive Director UNEP, says "Raising of environmental awareness among the peoples of the world is one of our responsibilities. I believe the GVU, generously backed by the Government of Norway, will advance this important area of our work and raise among students and academics world-wide, awareness and knowledge of the UN's vital work in the areas of environment and sustainable development"  "GVU will expand our already existing international network of universities and excel our capacity in e-Learning," says Ernst Håkon Jahr, Rector of Agder University College. During the initial phase, the UNU branch in Norway and UNEP/GRID-Arendal will establish the GVU and will provide course materials based on their activities. The GVU is planned to grow into a network organisation, which will focus on education based on e-Learning and will support and build competencies related to sustainable human development in developing countries through partnerships with co-operating universities and research organisations. New information and communication technologies will be used in order to bridge the digital divide and to deliver up to date access to quality learning across wide geographic regions at reasonable costs. The GVU partnership is supported by the Norwegian Governement, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the United Nations University in Tokyo. Svein Tveitdal, the Managing Director of UNEP/GRID-Arendal, says: "The branch will strengthen our institutional network and open a new channel for UN's environmental information to managers and decision-makers of tomorrow." The mayor of Arendal, Alf-Eivind Ljøstad, is very pleased and says: "The GVU will strengthen the profile of Arendal as a place with many UN activities and will put Arendal firmly on the map as an international academic town." The agreement on the Global Virtual University was signed by the Government of Norway, UNU and UNEP at a ceremony in Johannesburg at the World Summit for Sustainable Development today. Hilde Frafjord Johnsen, the Minister of International Development in Norway, Klaus Toepfer, Executive Director of UNEP, Hans G.A. van Ginkel, Rector of UNU, and Ambassador Milos Alcalay, Chairman of Group 77 and China all participated.

See Also:

MULTI MILLION DOLLAR BACKING FOR INTERNATIONAL CORAL REEF ACTION NETWORK GIVES BIG BOOST TO COASTAL COMMUNITIES AND WILDLIFE 1 September 2002

Internet: http://www.unep.org/Documents/Default.asp?ArticleID=3117&DocumentID=264

INNOVATIVE BUSINESS APPROACH HELPS PROVIDE CLEAN ENERGY TO WORLD'S NEEDIEST

30 August 2002 Internet: http://www.unep.org/wssd/Documents/energy.doc
 

WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION (WHO)

WSSD Web page: http://www.who.int/mediacentre/events/johannesburg/en/index1.html

30. SUPPORT ROLLS IN FOR WHO'S NEW "HEALTHY ENVIRONMENTS FOR CHILDREN" INITIATIVE

2 September 2002

Internet: http://www.who.int/mediacentre/releases/WHO68/en/

Endorsements for the World Health Organization's new initiative aimed at galvanizing action to create healthy environments for children came in from many quarters at its top-level function in Johannesburg last night. WHO announced its new initiative during the World Summit on Sustainable Development yesterday, to address urgent concerns about the impact of unhealthy environments which contributed to the deaths of over 4.7 million children under five in 2000. The global alliance will mobilize wide-ranging partners for a broad movement on healthy environments for children. Scientifically proven research will form the basis of cost-effective action and time-bound results to save the lives of millions of children. Last night, royalty, health ministers, heads of UN agencies, the European Commission, NGO's, and youth gave strong support for the initiative which was described as "bold, timely, and very important" by the US Environmental Protection Agency. The Princess of Thailand, her Royal Highness Chulabhorn Mahidol, endorsed the alliance and expressed her interest in supporting the initiative. The South African Health Minister, Dr Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, said the country was very excited about the initiative, and was the first to join the alliance. These views were echoed by delegates from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Canada, Côte d'Ivoire, Hungary, Indonesia, and Moldova. Heads of UN agencies such as the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP), and UN Habitat, as well as NGO's such as Doctors for the Environment, also declared their strong support and commitment. "This global alliance will build on our extensive experience with multi-partner initiatives such as the polio eradication drive, Roll Back Malaria, Stop TB, and the Tobacco-Free Initiative which is pioneering the first public health treaty known as the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control," said Dr Gro Harlem Brundtland, WHO Director-General."We are committed to driving this initiative forward speedily. Immediately after the World Summit, we will firm up plans so that we can have activities up and running within six months, and agree on measurable targets with our alliance partners," said Dr Brundtland. At last night's function, Dr Brundtland received the Swedish City of Göteborg's International Environment Prize for 2002 -- worth 1 million kronor (about $100 000) -- for her "visionary and innovative work during the 80s which laid the foundation for all the pioneering work around Agenda 21". In accepting the award, Dr Brundtland announced that she would donate her prize to the new initiative to "get work off to a flying start."

31. BRUNDTLAND STARTS NEW MOVEMENT TO ADDRESS ENVIRONMENTAL CRISIS AFFECTING CHILDREN'S HEALTH ENVIRONMENT KILLS THE EQUIVALENT OF A JUMBO JET FULL OF CHILDREN EVERY 45 MINUTES

1 September 2002

Internet: http://www.who.int/mediacentre/releases/who66/en/

JOHANNESBURG -- Dr Gro Harlem Brundtland, pioneer of sustainable development and Director-General of the World Health Organization today outlined publicly for the first time her major new initiative to tackle the worldwide environmental crisis affecting children's health.

"Our top priority in health and development must be investing in the future - in children and the young - a group that is particularly vulnerable to environmental hazards. Today, I initiate a mass movement for children's environmental health. Its ultimate aim is to prevent millions of annual deaths and disabilities in children, especially those of the poor, and improve children's quality of life," declared Dr Brundtland at the World Summit on Sustainable Development. She called for healthy environments for children to be one of the highest social and political priorities of this decade.

A VAST AND GROWING PROBLEM THAT HURTS POOR CHILDREN MOST

Unhealthy environments are a major killer of children, according to the latest evidence. Up to one third of the 13 000 child deaths that occur every day are due to the dangers present in the environments in which children live, play and learn. Put differently, environment-related illnesses kill the equivalent of a jumbo jet full of children every 45 minutes. Children who manage to survive these threats may be physically disabled or mentally impaired for the rest of their lives, preventing them from reaching their potential and contributing fully to the development of their countries. Environmental hazards are on the rise. Increasing industrialization, explosive urban population growth, lack of pollution control, unabated waste dumping, non-sustainable consumption of natural resources and unsafe use of chemicals affect the environment in which today's children live.Preliminary estimates suggest that almost one third of the global burden of disease (for all ages) can be attributed to environmental risk factors. Over 40% of this burden falls on children under five years of age, even though they make up only about 10% of the world's population. In under fives, unhealthy environments contributed to most of the 1.3 million deaths from diarrhoea; 2 million deaths from acute respiratory infections; 1 million deaths from malaria and other infectious diseases; and 400 000 deaths from injuries making a grim total of 4.7 million preventable deaths in the year 2000. While all children, no matter what their socio-economic level, are affected by the environmental health burden, poor children are most at risk because poverty aggravates the effects of environmental risk factors. Such high risk children live in poor regions and poor countries. They are found in the poor communities or families even in rich countries. One in five children in the poorest parts of the world will not live beyond their fifth birthday to a large extent because of environment-related diseases. The international community, however, agreed on a Millennium Development Goal to reduce by two-thirds the under-five mortality rate by 2015. Children are highly vulnerable to environmental health hazards because they breathe more air and consume more food and water in proportion to their weight than adults. Their immune, digestive, reproductive and central nervous systems are more vulnerable than those of adults. Children also live their lives closer to the ground exposing them more to unhealthy conditions and dangerous chemicals. The two major problems for children that arise from an unhealthy environment are infectious disease due to lack of safe water and sanitation and acute respiratory infections due to high levels of indoor air pollution in combination with poor housing. Asthma, neurological effects and cancer, among other problems, can also arise in children as a result of an unhealthy environment.

An initiative that will mobilize the players and achieve results in six areas to give children, from infants to adolescents, the special protection they need unsafe places?homes, schools, workplaces, playgrounds and streets? must urgently be cleaned up. In addition, unhealthy behaviors?such as poor hygiene, scavenging, playing with dangerous materials and inappropriate nutrition?must be changed and their root causes addressed. Based on the scientific evidence, Dr Brundtland's initiative covers six main areas of environmental risks to children the world over:

• household water quality and availability;
   

• hygiene and sanitation;
   

• indoor and outdoor air pollution;
   

• disease vectors (e.g. malaria-transmitting mosquitoes);
   

• chemicals (pesticides and lead); and
   

• accidents and injuries.

Key interventions include: improving water supply and sanitation facilities; teaching the importance of washing hands with soap and water; installing improved cooking stoves and adequately ventilating the home; using unleaded gasoline in vehicles; sleeping under insecticide-treated bednets to protect against malaria-transmitting mosquitoes; and breastfeeding infants."Unsafe and unhealthy environments are violating children's rights to health and thwarting their basic survival. This must stop before it's too late. There is no excuse: we already have cost-effective, proven tools and strategies to reduce and eliminate biological, chemical and physical hazards present in a child's environment. These tools urgently must be made available worldwide," said Dr Brundtland.

A GLOBAL ALLIANCE TO LEAD THE MOVEMENT AND CATALYZE ACTION

The Healthy Environments for Children initiative, as its starting point, will:

• Mobilize partners and individuals into a broad-based, popular, participatory movement;
   

• Empower governments and their local partners to expand and scale up action;
   

• Make scientific knowledge on risk factors and the most cost-effective interventions available;
   

• Foster cooperation amongst the world's nations and amongst different sectors within each country, e.g. environment, transport, energy, housing, etc.; and
   

• Build on successful past work of committed decision-makers, teachers, health professionals, non-governmental organizations, the private sector and families.

Because the task at hand would be an insurmountable challenge for any single entity, the movement will be spearheaded by a global alliance of key institutions and organizations. The alliance will come together in the months immediately following the Johannesburg Summit, and aims to be fully functional by early 2003. National and local level alliances will, using the evidence, rank problems according to importance in their geographic area and decide on appropriate, cost-effective action to achieve results within a specific time frame. One country may choose to focus on provision of safe drinking water; another may need to concentrate on injury prevention; while yet another might, above all, need to find ways to protect kids from sunburn and too much exposure to high levels of UV radiation. "Healthy environments will go a long way to safeguard the intellectual, social and economic potential of children ? the future of our societies. Sustainable development will not take place unless we make environments healthy and safe for children. We must make this happen," affirmed Dr Brundtland.

FOOD AND AGRICULTIRE ORGANISATION (FAO)

WSSD Web page: http://www.fao.org/wssd/

32. HUNGER AND POVERTY: MORE POLITICAL WILL AND FINANCIAL RESOURCES NEEDED

30 August 2002

Internet: http://www.fao.org/english/newsroom/news/2002/8820-en.html

JOHANNESBURG/ROME, 30 August - More political will and financial resources are urgently needed to address hunger and malnutrition as the root cause of extreme poverty, said Dr. Jacques Diouf, Director-General of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in his statement delivered to the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) in Johannesburg.  "Some 800 million people are currently suffering from hunger and malnutrition. Most live in the developing countries and are constantly up against the degradation of their natural resources and their environment. Their institutions are weak. They lack infrastructure, especially markets. They have inadequate technologies," Dr. Diouf said.  The number of undernourished needs to fall by more than 22 million each year if the objective of the World Food Summit of reducing the number of hungry by half by 2015 is to be achieved.  "It is in fact up to the governments to ensure food security at national level, acting in concert with civil society and the private sector and receiving support from the international community," Dr. Diouf said.  "Governments, international organisations and financing institutions need to use their resources effectively to improve their performance and to step up their cooperation, working as one to overcome hunger and to consolidate the primary role of sustainable agriculture and rural development in food security."  The FAO Director-General emphasized that "the fight against hunger and poverty will come to nothing unless we make sure that women, especially rural women, are placed at the heart of the process."  He noted that the goals of the WSSD reflect those of the World Food Summit: five years later held in Rome in June this year. A costed Anti-Hunger Programme drawn up by FAO mainly corresponds to the agriculture component of the UN Secretary-Generals' WEHAB Initiative (water, energy, health, agriculture and biodiversity).  The Anti-Hunger Programme calls for additional national and international investment for agricultural productivity in poor rural communities, development and conservation of natural resources, expansion of rural infrastructure and market access, and the generation and dissemination of knowledge as well as action to ensure access to food for the most needy. These expenditures would "translate into rapid and substantial reductions in hunger and extreme poverty," the FAO Director-General said.  The Anti-Hunger Programme envisages an additional annual public investment of some $24 billion. This includes $5 billion to provide food assistance to the most needy as well as around $3 billion for credits at market interest rates. Around $16 billion would be required for agricultural and rural development. This component should be equally shared between developed and developing countries. "Realizing the reduction of the number of hungry people by half by 2015 would boost the global economy by an estimated US$120 billion per year," Dr. Diouf added. "I hope that, over the next 5 years, the process started here in Johannesburg will prompt concrete and measurable improvements in the implementation of Agenda 21 and in the realization of the objectives of the Millennium Declaration," Dr. Diouf said.

33. HUNGER AND POVERTY NEED TO BE REDUCED TO ACHIEVE SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

27 August 2002

Internet: http://www.fao.org/english/newsroom/news/2002/8705-en.html

JOHANNESBURG/ROME, 27 August 2002 - As long as millions of people are still suffering from chronic hunger and extreme poverty, there cannot be sustainable development, FAO Assistant Director-General, Hartwig de Haen said in a statement distributed at the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) in Johannesburg.  "The poor are certainly not responsible for the bulk of resource depletion and environmental degradation. However, they suffer most from it. Poor farmers care deeply for the limited resources on which they depend. Due to lack of sufficient access to land, water and appropriate technologies their actions are dominated by the struggle to survive," de Haen said.  More than 70 percent of the poor in developing countries live in rural areas and depend mostly on agriculture for their livelihoods.

FAO endorsed the Action Plan for Agriculture, identified as one of the five priority areas for action in the UN Secretary General's so-called WEHAB Initiative. The other areas are Water, Energy, Health and Biodiversity. "Sustainable agriculture and rural development are the basis for success in fighting hunger and poverty," de Haen said. "Extreme poverty, low agricultural productivity and resource degradation may form a vicious circle. This circle must be broken if we are to achieve the international community's commitment to halve hunger and extreme poverty by 2015."  Agriculture has a significant impact on natural resources and the environment. It accounts for 70 percent of fresh water use, and nearly 40 percent of land use. It is both a source and a sink of greenhouse gas emissions. Agricultural practices can enhance or reduce plant and animal genetic diversity, depending on the choices made. But it is also a key sector for poverty and hunger reduction.  FAO projects world demand for food to increase by 60 percent by 2030. Most of the additional demand and production is expected to originate in the developing countries. FAO anticipates that close to 20 percent of the additional production will come from an expansion of land, 10 percent from more frequent harvests per year and 70 percent from higher yields. The projected increase in agricultural land use amounts to 120 million hectares, mainly in Africa and Latin America. "The possible encroachment into ecologically sensitive lands is still a major concern. The projected 20 percent increase in irrigated area is another challenge. Given the already high share of agriculture in total fresh water use, this expansion must largely come from water savings through efficient gains in current agricultural water use." "The fundamental task is to realize the projected yield increases with minimum negative impact on the environment. In other words: we need sustainable intensification. More research is certainly needed. However, sustainable intensification of agriculture can be achieved by using and improving already existing technologies," de Haen said. "Integrated pest management can reduce pesticide use substantially, integrated plant nutrition systems can reduce fertiliser needs by 10 to 30 percent, and conservation agriculture can raise crop yields by 20-50 percent while sequestering 200-400 kg of carbon per hectare per year." "Biotechnology holds potential for increases in productivity in a sustainable manner but requires case by case assessment of possible risks to human health and the environment."

FAO said that political will, concrete commitment and involvement of all stakeholders was essential to achieve the twin goals of halving hunger and sustainable resource management. The five priority areas of the WEHAB framework for action on agriculture draw to a great extent on the FAO Anti-Hunger Programme. This programme was first presented to the 'World Food Summit: five years later' in June and has been revised now for the WSSD. FAO estimates that reducing the number of hungry people by half, which the Programme is expected to achieve,would bring about annual benefits in the order of US$120 billion as a result of longer, healthier and more productive lives. This would be to the advantage of poor and rich countries alike. Mobilising the resources needed for the agriculture and rural development components of the Anti-Hunger Programme and the WEHAB priority actions for agriculture was not an unreasonable prospect, de Haen said. Excluding financing through credits, it would require roughly US$16 billion annually. This could be equally shared by developed and developing countries, according to FAO. "For the developed countries, the amount of US$8 billion is less than they transfer to their own agriculture every 10 days," de Haen said. "The developing countries would have to increase their national budgets for agriculture on average by 20 percent."

34. FAO TO JOHANNESBURG SUMMIT: AGRICULTURE CAN MAKE OR BREAK A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE

16 August 2002

Internet: http://www.fao.org/english/newsroom/news/2002/8160-en.html

ROME, Italy -- The Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992 challenged the agriculture sector to resolve environmental problems such as land degradation, chemical pollution and loss of genetic resources. FAO took up the task of incorporating the principle of sustainability into the global development of the food and agriculture sector.  When the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) opens in Johannesburg, South Africa on 26 August, an FAO delegation led by Director-General Jacques Diouf will call for greater efforts to alleviate poverty and achieve food security through the sound use of natural resources. Jacques Paul Eckebil, Assistant Director-General of the Organization's Sustainable Development Department, sets the scene:

WHAT IS FAO'S MESSAGE TO THE WORLD SUMMIT ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT?

We have three related messages. The first is that agriculture and the environment are intimately linked. For example, agriculture uses 70 percent of all fresh water worldwide. The planet cannot be managed sustainably without taking this relationship into account. The second message is that strong political will and broad-based public support are prerequisites both to reduce hunger and to achieve sustainable agriculture and rural development. The third message is that fighting hunger sustainably needs more capital and human resources than low-income developing countries can afford. The Johannesburg Summit must promote a global effort to find the needed resources.

WHAT DO YOU THINK THE SUMMIT WILL ACHIEVE?

I have seen the principle of sustainability take root in FAO's development work since the 1992 Rio Summit -- a new way of thinking has evolved in quite a short time. The Johannesburg Summit, which brings together some of the most powerful and influential public and private figures in the world, will speed up this rate of change. United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan has identified five key areas for which he thinks agreement should be reached in Johannesburg -- water, energy, health, agriculture and biodiversity, known by the acronym WEHAB. In terms of agriculture, FAO believes that the Summit has the power to make a number of real advances: to enhance future investment for improving agricultural productivity in poor rural communities and for developing and conserving natural resources important to agriculture; to expand rural infrastructure and market access; to strengthen national capacity to generate and disseminate agricultural knowledge; and to ensure access to food for the most needy. The world will have to feed eight billion people in 2030.

What new food production methods are available to accomplish this without harming the environment? Ecosystem approaches to agriculture include such innovations as conservation agriculture, which ensures soil fertility through better nutrient cycling by micro-organisms in the soil, integrated pest management , which prevents pest outbreaks by encouraging naturally occurring predators, and organic agriculture. The problem is that economic pressures often induce farmers to grow a particular crop in the most profitable way possible, leading them to ignore sustainable practices. Therefore, public policy needs to encourage and support sustainable agriculture. An ecosystem approach, which considers economic, social and ecological factors together, is the only way to prevent degradation of the environment.

WHAT NEW INITIATIVES WILL FAO BRING TO JOHANNESBURG?

FAO is proposing an Anti-Hunger Programme with actions that reduce hunger through agriculture and rural development and providing wider access to food. The programme would require an additional public investment of an estimated US$24 billion annually, which we estimate would yield benefits worth at least US$120 billion per year as a result of longer, healthier and more productive lives for all those who gain from such improvements. This initiativeis in addition to the Organization's continuing work on the chapters of Agenda 21, the plan of action from the 1992 Rio Earth Summit, for which we have been given responsibility.  FAO held its own summit in June, the World Food Summit: five years later, in order to renew the political will to reduce hunger by half by 2015. Is the goal of ending hunger relevant to the Johannesburg Summit? We believe the Plan of Action from the 1996 World Food Summit provides an appropriate framework for many Johannesburg Summit initiatives by linking increased productivity and sustainable natural resource use directly to opportunities to reduce poverty and hunger. Put another way, without sustainable agriculture, forestry and fisheries, the eradication of poverty and hunger will not be possible. Finally, the fight against poverty cannot be won without eliminating hunger, the most critical manifestation of poverty.

YOU HEAD FAO'S DEPARTMENT RESPONSIBLE FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT. HOW DOES FAO CONTRIBUTE TO SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT?

We serve as a global reference centre for knowledge and advice on biophysical, biological, socio-economic, institutional and technological dimensions of sustainable development. We also coordinates FAO's follow-up to the Rio Summit and are responsible for important conventions on biological diversity, desertification and climate change. At Johannesburg, in partnership with major groups, civil society and governments, we will facilitate the launch of the Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Development Initiative. We expect the initiative to result in concrete and measurable improvements in the livelihoods and living conditions of the rural poor over the next five years.

UNITED NATIONS POPULATION FUND (UNFPA)

WSSD Web page: http://www.unfpa.org/population/wssd.htm

35. DEVELOPMENT SUMMIT REAFFIRMS GLOBAL COMMITMENT TO WOMEN'S HEALTH AND RIGHTS

4 September 2002

Internet: http://www.un.org/events/wssd/pressreleases/mso125.pdf

Johannesburg, 4 September 2002-The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) today welcomed world leaders' reaffirmation of goals linking poverty eradication and environmental protection to health, including reproductive health, and women's empowerment. At its conclusion today, the World Summit for Sustainable Development (WSSD) adopted a ten-chapter Plan of Implementation, detailing actions needed to fight poverty and protect the environment. Some 104 heads of state and government took part, along with 9,000 delegates, 8,000 nongovernmental organization representatives and 4,000 members of the press. Emphasizing that "eradicating poverty is the greatest challenge facing the world today", the action plan endorses the United Nations' Millennium Development Goals for addressing poverty. It supports actions, among others, to promote equality for women; eliminate violence and discrimination against them; and improve their status, health and economic welfare through equal access to economic opportunity, land, credit, education and health care services.

The chapter on health calls for strengthening countries' capacity to deliver basic services for all and promote healthy lives, including reproductive and sexual health. It upholds the commitments made at recent United Nations meetings including the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) and its review in 1999. The plan reaffirms the targets for reversing the AIDS pandemic set at last year's General Assembly special session, in particular a 25 per cent reduction of HIV prevalence in young men and women aged 15-24 in the most-affected countries by 2005, and globally by 2010. It urges implementation of national prevention and treatment strategies and increased international cooperation against AIDS, and calls on countries to meet agreed commitments to support the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, while promoting access to the Fund by the neediest countries. "We are gratified that the summit recognized women's rights to be an important aspect of sustainable development," UNFPA's Executive Director Thoraya Obaid said in New York. This will boost the global effort to promote gender equality and universal access to reproductive health care." Health service delivery, the plan states, should be "in conformity with human rights and fundamental freedoms" and consistent with national laws and cultural and religious values. The human rights reference was included after behind-the-scenes negotiations in the final hours of the 10-day conference. This was widely understood as a reaffirmation of international consensus agreements, notably the ICPD's endorsement of the right to reproductive and sexual health, encompassing access to family planning information and services, safe motherhood, prevention of sexually transmitted infections including HIV/AIDS, and elimination of sexual coercion and violence. In a 30 August statement to the summit plenary, delivered by Deputy Executive Director Kunio Waki, Ms. Obaid noted that progress towards these goals is indispensable to meeting the WSSD's environmental and poverty reduction goals. UNFPA is the world's largest multilateral source of population assistance, with programmes in 142 countries. Since it became operational in 1969, the Fund has provided some $5.6 billion to developing countries to meet reproductive health needs and support sustainable development.

36. UNFPA CALLS FOR ACTION ON WOMEN AND POPULATION

30 August 2002

Internet: http://www.un.org/events/wssd/pressreleases/unfpacalls.pdf

JOHANNESBURG, 30 August-Progress towards sustainable development must include progress in ensuring reproductive health and women's rights, leaders of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) declared today. In a statement delivered for UNFPA Executive Director Thoraya Obaid, Kunio Waki, UNFPA Deputy Executive Director (Programme), told a plenary session of the World Summit

on Sustainable Development (WSSD) here that global population, environmental issues and women's reproductive health and rights are interrelated. "Today, our world is dangerously out of balance," Mr. Waki said. "One fifth of the world's people consume four fifths of the world's resources while a billion people have no access to safe drinking water and 3 billion lack adequate sanitation. ... The poor suffer the most from environmental degradation and are the most vulnerable to global climate change." "The combination of poverty, population pressures and environmental stress is a powerful destabilizing force, driving migration from rural areas to cities, and across national borders." "We cannot reduce poverty and protect natural resources without addressing population issues." Population is growing by 77 million people every year-200,000 per day-most of them in the world's least-developed countries, where hunger, water scarcity, HIV/AIDS and environmental degradation are already serious problems. But the population, expected to reach 9 billion by 2050, is not growing as fast as it did, Mr. Waki said, because overall fertility rates have dropped by half in the developing world since 1969, when UNFPA was created. "This is truly an historical achievement." "For this we can thank the world's women and the governments that gave them support and choices," he said. "The last two generations of women have chosen to have smaller families, and the next generation will do the same if they have access to education, health services and family planning, and if they are confident the children they do have will survive.

"Everything we have learned shows that when women are empowered-through laws that protect their rights, healthcare that protects their health, and education that expands their opportunities, the benefits extend far beyond the individual," Mr. Waki stressed. "Greater

progress towards sustainable development depends in part on greater progress for women. Women need access to education, credit, income opportunities and land ownership." International funding must increase to meet these objectives, he said. Universal access to education and reproductive health, including family planning, safe motherhood and HIV prevention-goals of the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development-"are key to meeting the Millennium Development Goals of cutting global poverty and hunger in half by 2015, reducing maternal and child mortality, curbing HIV/AIDS, advancing gender equality, and promoting environmentally sustainable development", he said. Yet "spending on population assistance is declining and has dropped by 25 per cent since 1995" and is now less than half the assistance targets agreed at Cairo, Mr. Waki noted. "Evidence indicates that if we continue on this course, the clashes between humankind and nature will only grow worse."

37. REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH AND WOMEN'S RIGHTS ARE KEY ISSUES FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT SUMMIT, EXPERTS SAY

27 August 2002

Internet: http://www.unfpa.org/news/2002/pressroom/wssd2002.htm

Johannesburg, 27 August--Reproductive health and women's rights are critical to alleviating poverty and the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) should say so, speakers at a summit panel discussion stressed today. Parliamentarians from the United Kingdom and Japan, South African Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel, Indian economist Devaki Jain, United Nations Foundation President Timothy Wirth and Kunio Waki, Deputy Executive Director (Programme) of UNFPA (the United Nations Population Fund) spoke on the topic "Population in Sustainable Development, Reproductive Health and Gender in Poverty Reduction".  Some 200 WSSD participants including several government ministers attended the event, hosted by UNFPA, the Government of South Africa, the UK All-Party Parliamentary Group on Population and Development and Reproductive Health, and the Inter-European Parliamentary Forum on Population and Development. Christine McCafferty, a Member of Parliament and Chairperson of the UK All-Party Parliamentary Group led the discussion. She noted that inattention to women's health takes a terrible toll in developing countries, including half a million deaths during pregnancy and childbirth each year, and limits women's participation in development. She called on the WSSD to reaffirm the commitment made in Cairo at the1994 International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) to ensure universal access to reproductive health services by 2015. Finance Minister Manuel emphasized the enormous gap between living standards of rich and poor, exacerbated by widespread unemployment, a lack of resources for education and health care, and unfair trade policies. "We cannot tackle poverty without open markets," he said. Yoshio Yatshu, Chairman of the Asian Forum of Parliamentarians on Population and Development, pointed out that rapid population growth is one reason that 80 countries have a lower per capita income today than 10 years ago at the time of the Earth Summit was held in Rio de Janeiro. "We must slow population growth by stressing reproductive health and rights and the empowerment of women. It is imperative that WSSD delegates recognize this," he stated. A new approach to development that empowers the poor to be agents of change is needed, Ms. Jain argued. She contended that "the poor have the capacity to generate demand and economic growth." Poor women do not want to have many children, she added, but lack the capacity to say no. "It is a matter of power." Mr. Waki of UNFPA reiterated the point he made Monday in the first of five of partnership plenaries on the summit's five major themes, health, biodiversity, water, energy and agricultural productivity: reproductive health and equality for women are essential to sustainable development. "Gender must be given more importance" in WSSD deliberations," he said. The momentum of Cairo has been reversed and must be turned back around," said Mr. Wirth of the United Nations Foundation. "Northern consumption is still growing; reproductive health and women's empowerment are still neglected," he said. This undermines prospects for alleviating poverty and reversing environmental problems. A number of audience members joined the ensuing discussion. Michael Meacher, the United Kingdom's Minister of State (Environment), said his Government is committed to the ICPD agreement. "If you want sustainable development, poverty reduction and stabilization of world population growth, then investment in health, particularly reproductive health, is absolutely critical. This is a very important issue for this summit." Uganda's Minister of Gender, Labour and Social Development said that since the ICPD, her country had benefited from UNFPA's support for reproductive health. She herself had been trained as a traditional birth attendant under this programme. A university professor from the United Kingdom said, "the pill and the condom are symbols of environmentalism just as much as the bicycle and the windmill"."The road from Rio to Johannesburg must pass thru Cairo. This has not happened," said Mahendra Shah of the Global Science Panel on Science and Development. A number of speakers supported his call for the WSSD to include a strong reference to population in the Political Declaration the summit is expected to adopt next week.
 

INTERNATIONAL FUND FOR AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT (IFAD)

WSSD Web page: http://www.ifad.org/events/wssd/index.htm

38. IFAD'S REPORT TO THE WORLD SUMMIT ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT CALLS FOR GREATER INVESTMENT IN THE MARGINAL AND DEGRADED LANDS

20 August 2002

Internet: http://www.ifad.org/media/press/2002/35-02.htm

Rome- Johannesburg, Tuesday, 20 August 2002 - Lennart Båge, President of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) will arrive in Johannesburg on Wednesday 28 August to participate in the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD). President Båge is scheduled to address the Summit on Friday 30 August 2002. The Conference will also receive IFAD's Report entitled "The Rural Poor: Survival or a Better Life?" On the eve of his travel to Johannesburg, President Båge emphasized the need to translate the vision of Rio, the commitments of the Millennium Summit and the resources pledged at Monterrey, Mexico earlier this year into substantive programs that bring sustainable development within the reach of hundreds of millions of poor who, for too long, have been bypassed. President Båge said: "IFAD has already shown the way towards enabling the rural poor in marginal and low-potential areas to develop not only in an environmentally safe manner but also to contribute substantially to the process of rebuilding the lost natural resource base, including reforestation and bio-diversity conservation." He added, "the vicious cycle of environmental degradation breeding poverty and poverty aggravating environmental degradation is breakable" IFAD's Report to the Summit calls upon the international community to focus its efforts on interventions in marginal and low-potential agro-ecological zones where the majority of people, being 40% of the world's poorest, can lead efforts to reverse environmental degradation and bio-diversity depletion while realizing a sustainable local economic development and a better future for themselves. The Report warns that the negative linkages between poverty and environmental degradation are likely to worsen in the future, in view of predicted changes to global and regional climates, affecting rainfall patterns and increasing the frequency and severity of droughts, floods and storms.  The key to halting environmental degradation and promote sustainable development is engaging the active participation of poor farmers, herders and other rural groups, especially women. For this they need material support, greater resources and enabling policies. Unfortunately aid to the rural sector has dropped by nearly 50% over the last decade. To achieve sustainable development and the Millennium Development Goals, this trend must be reversed.

See Also:

A JOHANNESBURG PARTNERSHIP INITIATIVE FOR THE WORLD SUMMIT ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT LAND ALLIANCES FOR NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
http://www.ifad.org/popularcoalition/re_sp_2002-Land_Alliances_Johannesburg.htm
 

UNITED NATIONS CHILDREN'S FUND (UNICEF)

WSSD Web page: http://www.unicef.org/events/wssd/index.html

39. UNICEF ISSUES GLOBAL CHALLENGE TO WORLD LEADERS ATTENDING JOHANNESBURG SUMMIT

30 August 2002

Internet: http://www.unicef.org/newsline/02pr52wssd.htm

JOHANNESBURG, NEW YORK, GENEVA, 30 August 2002 - UNICEF today issued a bold challenge to world leaders attending the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg. Noting that access to clean water can save the lives of millions of children, UNICEF's Executive Director, Carol Bellamy, called on leaders to ensure that every school, in every corner of the world, be equipped with clean water and separate sanitary facilities for boys and girls over the course of the next decade. "Achieving truly sustainable development means creating a world that is fit for children," said Ms. Bellamy, in her plenary address to the summit. "Something as simple as providing safe water and clean toilets in schools will not just help protect children from deadly diseases- it will keep millions of them, especially girls, going to school. And, making sure children get a quality basic education can help a single generation make a huge leap." In her speech Ms. Bellamy said children are every society's most precious natural resource, and that investing in them is a virtual guarantee to achieving true sustainable development. "Investing in children is one of the most farsighted decisions any leader, government or community can make," said UNICEF's Executive Director Carol Bellamy. "Investment in a child benefits the child, the family and the cause of sustainable development. It's not only common sense but it's based on sound economic sense, too." Investing in children yields higher economic returns than virtually any other type of public or private investment. Studies that show an investment of $1 in comprehensive child development programmes has a $7 return on future cost savings.  "We all know about the cycle of poverty," said Ms. Bellamy. "But we also know how to break the cycle. It means investing in the comprehensive care of children, including health care, clean water, adequate sanitation, education and protection from abuse. Healthy and educated children become productive young adults. These young adults later become healthy, educated parents and a true measure of sustainable development." Some 60,000 participants, more than 100 heads of State and Government, leaders from NGOs and business, and representatives of farmers, indigenous people, scientific and technological communities, workers as well as children and young people have gathered at the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg. They will focus on strategic actions to preserve the environment and eradicate poverty. One very clear articulation for the outcome of the Johannesburg Summit can be stated in terms of its impact on children: that achieving truly sustainable development means creating a world that is fit for children. Many of the draft commitments of the Summit grow out of the four pillars of action for children that came from the first ever UN Special Session on Children held in May of this year; promoting healthy lives, providing quality education, protecting children from abuse, exploitation and violence - and combating HIV/AIDS. But as the world meets to discuss the critical issues of sustainable development in South Africa, six neighbouring countries in the region are reeling from cumulative shocks and crises that have put nearly 13-million people at immediate risk. More than six million of those at risk are children, and 2.4 million of them are under the age of 5. "We must put urgency behind our commitments and action," said Ms. Bellamy, having just visited three of the six countries affected. "While sustainable development and a healthy human environment will benefit tomorrow's children, we must also stay focused on today's children as our first priority."

UNITED NATIONS CONFERENCE ON TRADE AND DEVELOPMENT (UNCTAD)

Internet: http://www.unctad.org

40. SWEDEN PLEDGES SUPPORT TO UNCTAD'S INVESTMENTRELATED FOLLOW-UP WORK ON DOHA DEVELOPMENT AGENDA

3 September 2002

Internet: http://www.unctad.org/en/press/nc0240en.htm

Johannesburg, 3 September 2002-- The Government of Sweden has announced two donations to UNCTAD for its work in the area of investment. SEK 6 million ($640,000) was pledged towards UNCTAD's project on capacitybuilding in developing countries on issues in international investment agreements. This project seeks to assist developing countries and economies in transition in the follow-up to the Doha Declaration's work programme on the relationship between trade and investment, which was adopted at the WTO's Fourth Ministerial

Conference in Doha, Qatar, last November. Another pledge of SEK 2 million ($213,000) was announced for UNCTAD's project on good governance in investment promotion and facilitation. The announcement was made at the meeting here on 1 September of the

UNCTAD/ICC Investment Advisory Council (IAC), a framework for high-level consultations between business and government leaders. The meeting took place on the occasion of the World Summit on Sustainable Development. UNCTAD's work programme on IIAs aims to provide developing countries and economies in transition with research and policy analysis and development, along with human and institutional capacity-building. It offers intensive training courses, workshops on negotiation facilitation and WTO issues, and technical assistance for

institution-building in the area of foreign investment. The activities are intended to help beneficiary countries better evaluate the implications for their development policies and objectives of closer multilateral cooperation in the area of long-term cross-border investment, particularly foreign direct investment. UNCTAD's work programme on good governance focuses on the streamlining of investment procedures and the introduction of client-oriented and transparent administrative systems that will facilitate and encourage investment by both national

and foreign companies. The first phase began with five least developed countries: Ethiopia, Lesotho, Maldives, Mali and Tanzania. Activities include advisory work on reducing non-transparent practices and other "hassle costs" for investors, and consensus-building on concrete action plans. The programme also offers training to medium- and high-level officials and builds local training capacity through training-oftrainers courses.

41. UNCTAD TO SIGN THREE PARTNERSHIPS ON BIODIVERSITY 

22 August 2002

Internet: http://www.unctad.org/en/press/pr0248en.htm

UNCTAD has just concluded three new partnerships that will help developing countries enter the US and European markets for biodiversity products and services and increase access to credit and venture capital. The partnerships, which are aimed at boosting trade and investment in this area, will be formally signed at the upcoming World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) in Johannesburg.  Biodiversity is made up of the millions of microbial, plant and animal species that inhabit the planet. The Earth's essential goods and services depend on the variety and variability of genes, species, populations and ecosystems. Biological resources provide food, clothing, housing, medicines and spiritual nourishment. They also provide an increasing number of intermediate products, such as natural ingredients for the cosmetics and pharmaceutical sectors (essential oils, natural dyes, latex, fibres, resins, gums and medicinal plants), or final products, such as timber, handicrafts, nuts and tropical fruits. Great potential exists for bio-businesses in developing countries to tap into the increased consumer demand for biodiversity products. World markets for herbal medicines in 1997 amounted to US$ 16.5 billion, and by 2011 this market is estimated to more than double to US$ 40 billion annually. If managed well, bio-businesses could generate tangible economic benefits for populations whose livelihood depends on biodiversity and provide an incentive to use that biodiversity in a sustainable fashion.  Maritza Parra from the Colombian region of Choco is a good example. She and 75 other women heads of household produce and market medicinal plants at the local level. Thanks to technical assistance and credit access provided by UNCTAD's BIOTRADE programme in Colombia, they are beginning to broaden their product range and market products nationally, increasing their families' income and improving their quality of life. The first of UNCTAD's new partnerships is a regional programme to fund BIOTRADE activities in Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela. Introducing the notion of sustainability to businesses and familiarizing local producers and communities with sound business practices are among the activities. The BIOTRADE programme also encourages businesses, conservationists, governments and local and indigenous communities to work together, provides input for the development of regulations and policies, supports enterprise development and provides market information. This partnership brings together UNCTAD; the Andean Community (CAN), based in Lima, Peru; and the Andean Development Corporation (CAF), based in Caracas, Venezuela.  The second partnership to be announced this month is a BioTrade Facilitation Programme for Latin America, Africa and Asia. It promotes access to foreign markets, for example through matchmaking between enterprises, product development, certification and support of participation in trade fairs. The partnership involves UNCTAD and the Geneva-based International Trade Centre UNCTAD/WTO (ITC), in cooperation with the Dutch Centre for the Promotion of Imports from Developing Countries, the Swiss Import Promotion Programme and BIOTRADE partners.  A financing contest that assists selected small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in up-grading their business operations to access credit and venture capital is the focus of the third partnership. SMEs that are working with products and services derived from biodiversity and that contribute to the sustainable use of biodiversity are eligible to participate. This is a partnership between UNCTAD, the Washington-based World Resources Institute (WRI) and CAF.  To date, US$ 9 million has been pledged for these partnerships by UNCTAD, its partners and such donors as the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs, the United Nations Foundation and CAF. Over the next five years the partnerships are expected to generate an additional US$ 10 million in credits and venture capital for SMEs and community-based enterprises.
 

UNITED NATIONS EDUCATIONAL, SCIENTIFIC AND CULTURAL ORGANISATION (UNESCO)

WSSD Web page: http://portal.unesco.org/ev.php?URL_ID=1071&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201

42. NO SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT WITHOUT EDUCATION

3 September 2002

Internet: http://portal.unesco.org/ev.php?URL_ID=5751&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201&reload=1032514282

Johannesburg - A new vision of education for sustainable development was outlined yesterday by UNESCO Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura, President Gustavo Noboa of Ecuador, President Natsagiin Bagabandi of Mongolia and Education Minister Kader Asmal of South Africa, at a major symposium during the World Summit on Sustainable Development.    South Africa's Ministry of Education, in co-operation with UNESCO and the UNESCO Liaison Committee, a non-governmental organization, organized the two-day symposium, entitled "Education for a sustainable future: action, commitments and partnerships", which continued today. "Education - in all its forms and at all levels - is not only an end in itself but is also one of the most powerful instruments we have for bringing about the changes required to achieve sustainable development," Mr Matsuura said. "This new vision of education emphasizes a holistic, interdisciplinary approach to developing the knowledge and skills needed for a sustainable future, as well as the necessary changes in values, behaviour, and lifestyles. This vision requires us to re-orient education systems, policies and practices in order to empower everyone - women and men, young and old - to make decisions and act in ways that are culturally appropriate and locally relevant in order to redress the problems threatening our common future," the Director-General said. This new vision of education applies to both developing and industrialized countries, said Mr Asmal. "Many national education systems that are presently deemed effective tend to produce individuals geared to individual enhancement and pecuniary wealth maximization," said Mr Asmal. "If we believe that education and learning throughout the world have neglected important areas of values and attitudes, then we have to accept that education for sustainable development throws up significant challenges for developed as well as developing countries."  Mr Asmal then made a plea for concerted action. "Bertolt Brecht and Karl Marx called for the unity of 'head and hand'. Our global challenges enjoin us now to call for the unity of heart, head and hand" he said. "We need to thrust the discourse of education into a new paradigm. But we must do this with a real and substantive engagement of the challenges, so that we can formulate concrete actions, commitments and partnerships. I say this with the full realization of the dangers of false euphoria. Too often have our deliberations resulted in the addition of new terms to the existing lexicon of sustainable development. Constructing this new paradigm is not about coining new terms - seductive as they may be. It is about action."  International action should begin with foreign debt relief for developing countries, said President Noboa of Ecuador. "It is inhuman that developing countries must spend about half their budgets on international financial obligations. The resources spent on financing the foreign debt should be made available for education and social programmes in order to ease the extreme poverty which is a major cause of environmental damage in developing countries."  The President also urged the international community "to abandon paternalist visions of development. An old Chinese proverb reminds us that instead of giving fish to those who have nothing to eat, we should teach them to fish," said Mr Noboa. "So despite the extremely difficult financial situation facing Latin America, education offers hope for a better future."  Education at all levels - from primary school to university - is a prerequisite for sustainable development, said President Bagabandi of Mongolia. "Education is a decisive factor in building a world where people can discover and further develop their potential and lead meaningful lives. Therefore, it is vital to provide free and high quality primary education for all children."  Distance education and access to the Internet is extremely important in Mongolia, a vast country with a considerable nomadic population. "In Mongolia, the advent of radio and television broadcasting marked a dramatic breakthrough in disseminating information to people in our vast and sparsely populated territory. Today, a similar breakthrough is occurring as we make great efforts to use satellite technologies and the Internet to meet the growing demand and need for public information," said Mr Bagabandi. "Many people in Mongolia and other developing countries would like the information and broadcasts emanating from the major developed countries to focus more on learning and education."  The symposium offers UNESCO a platform to launch three educational partnership projects and present Japan's proposal to the United Nations General Assembly for a Decade of Education for Sustainable Development, which could be launched in 2005.

43. WATER IS NOT JUST A COMMODITY, BUT A COMMON PUBLIC GOOD, SAYS UNESCO UNESCO

30 August 2002

Internet: http://portal.unesco.org/ev.php?URL_ID=5543&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201&reload=1032514282

Johannesburg/Paris, August 30 - Preliminary results of the most extensive United Nations undertaking to assess the world's freshwater resources will be presented on September 3 at the Water Dome (2p.m. to 4.30p.m., rooms 3 and 4) during the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) in Johannesburg.    Twenty-four United Nations agencies have joined forces to produce a World Water Report, which will be finalized in 2003. UNESCO is taking the lead in the programme, entitled the World Water Assessment Programme (WWAP), which will provide comprehensive evaluation and monitoring of the planet's hydrological resources. It will include, for example, the first global map of groundwater resources, recently produced by UNESCO, the International Association of Hydrogeologists and the Commission for the Geological Maps of the World.  "Groundwater is going to be increasingly important in the future. More than one billion people lack access to safe drinking water and more than 2.4 billion are without adequate sanitation. At the Johannesburg Summit, governments are, once again, pledging to reduce these numbers by half by 2015. To meet these goals, we must better assess and manage groundwater supplies, which offer tremendous potential but are nevertheless extremely vulnerable to pollution and over-use," says Andras Szollosi-Nagy, Director of UNESCO's International Hydrological Programme (IHP).  "There is also an ethical issue which must be recognized at Johannesburg," says Mr Szollosi-Nagy, who is participating in the Summit. "Access to water should be recognized as a basic human right. For UNESCO, water is not just a commodity but a common public good. It is, however, essential to recover the costs of providing people with water in order to manage the demand. At the core of any discussion on privatization, there should be a firm legal recognition that the resource is a common public good."  IHP aims to provide the scientific studies, policy-advice and training required for better management of national and international water supplies. It covers a wide array of issues - from the ethical use of fossil water (which can be thousands and even millions of years old) to flood control in Europe. "Ten years ago, we were in a better position to monitor hydrological conditions than today," says Mr Szollosi-Nagy. "Many governments reduced monitoring and research budgets. But this short-term approach ends up costing them more, as is so clearly seen with the catastrophic flooding events in Europe, for example. There is considerable speculation that the floods were related to climate change. It is too soon to confirm this. However, there is no denying anthropogenic or man-made factors aggravated the situation. To begin with, better monitoring that means better predictions. In addition,there is a lack of infrastructure to deal with periodic floods  "The situation is even worse in developing countries. In 20 years, Africa will lose half of its reservoir space to sedimentation. Silt from the rivers is accumulating at dramatic rates because of deforestation, erosion and poor land management. If the current rates continue, many of the major reservoirs will be so filled with silt that they won't be able to operate properly, provoking major cuts in electricity, irrigation and drinking water supplies," says Mr Szollosi-Nagy, referring to an IHP database that is tracking sedimentation flows in rivers around the world. UNESCO's Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura will participate in the WWAP presentation, as will the WSSD Secretary General, Nitin Desai, and several government ministers of environmental and water affairs. The event will also provide a platform to launch the International Year for Freshwater 2003, of which UNESCO is the main organizer.  UNESCO will hold a roundtable on international water conflicts with the non-governmental organization Green Cross International, founded by Mikhail Gorbachev. Experts will present innovative approaches to resolve brewing conflicts on five international river basins: the Okavango, Volta, La Plata, Jordan and Incomati. Each presentation will be followed by a debate.   UNESCO and Green Cross have launched a major project on water diplomacy, entitled From Potential Water Conflicts to Co-operation Potential, which is part of the larger WWAP framework. The roundtable will take place in the Water Dome on September 3 (2p.m. to 4p.m.).

44. UNESCO LAUNCHES THE WORLD'S LARGEST ENCYCLOPEDIA ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPPEMENT

29 August 2002

Internet: http://portal.unesco.org/ev.php?URL_ID=5531&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201&reload=1032514282

Johannesburg/Paris-UNESCO will launch the largest and most comprehensive encyclopedia ever published on sustainable development on September 3, at the World Summit on Sustainable Development.    With contributions from more than 5,000 scientists, this Internet-based resource will be regularly updated and made available for free to universities in the least developed countries. It aims to provide the knowledge base required for sustainable development in all its myriad aspects, from ecological issues to human security.  The Encyclopedia of Life Support Systems (EOLSS) is the result of an unprecedented global effort and a decade of planning. Never before has an encyclopedia gone beyond ecological sciences to cover all aspects of sustainable development. EOLSS is the only series to comprehensively examine the origins and threats facing all the systems that support life on Earth - from the climate to the world's oceans, forests, water cycle and atmosphere. The contributions offer step-by-step explanations on how to apply the abstract or pure sciences such as mathematics , to assess environmental pollution or to predict food consumption patterns. However, technical solutions alone won't resolve the current ecological crisis. EOLSS therefore covers a diverse range of social issues - from international human rights law and poverty eradication to the psychology of religion. The leading experts who have contributed to this state-of-the-art publication come from diverse fields such as: the natural sciences (like chemistry and biology); social sciences (such as history, economics, law and psychology); humanities, and engineering. EOLSS also deals with interdisciplinary subjects, like earth and atmospheric sciences, environmental economics as well as the most effective approaches for managing natural resources like non-renewable energies, biodiversity, and agriculture.  This approach is critical for managing life on Earth. The global water crisis, for example, cannot be resolved by a single discipline. The most experienced civil engineer responsible for constructing dams and mapping the flows of rivers may have little knowledge on tapping groundwater sources, which offer tremendous potential provided that the proper safeguards are taken. EOLSS provides not only the technical information required but critical analyses on the economics and politics involved in managing such a resource.  "The Encyclopedia of Life Support Systems is different from traditional encyclopedias. It is the result of an unprecedented world-wide effort that has attempted to forge pathways between disciplines in order to address contemporary problems," said UNESCO Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura,. "A source-book of knowledge that links together our concern for peace, progress, and sustainable development, the EOLSS draws sustenance from the ethics of science and the culture of peace. At the same time, it is a forward-looking publication, designed as a global guide to professional practice, education, and heightened social awareness of critical life support issues. In particular, the EOLSS presents perspectives from regions and cultures around the world, and seeks to be free from geographic, racial, cultural, political, gender, age, or religious bias."  EOLSS is designed to be a guide and reference for a wide range of users: from natural and social scientists to engineers, economists, educators, university students and professors, conservationists, entrepreneurs, law and policy-makers. The aim is not merely to provide raw information but to serve as a kind of expert advisor. The various chapters are divided into different levels of specialization to cater to a diverse readership. General readers might turn to EOLSS for summaries on nuclear energy, for example, while university students may focus more on explanations of the theoretical principles of nuclear energy, and policy-makers turn to the future perspectives and related recommendations.  "Our best hopes for future peace and global security rely upon strengthened international cooperation to protect the web of life support systems that we destroy, so ridiculously, day in and day out. We share only one planet. We - and future generations - have nowhere else to go," according to Dr. Mostafa K. Tolba, formerly Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme and the editor of a related EOLSS series of two printed volumes. "It is hoped that the encyclopedia will provide the necessary impetus and knowledge support to enable humanity to choose the right direction to move towards sustainable development." The project is coordinated by a joint committee between UNESCO and EOLSS Publishers, which is based in Oxford (United Kingdom) and has provided the sponsorship. Teams of experts will regularly update the various sections on the Internet, making EOLSS a "living library and a site for action rather than just a publication," according to Mustafa El Tayeb, secretary of the UNESCO-EOLSS joint committee. The encyclopedia already contains about 25 million words, equivalent to about 50,000 standard pages, and several thousand tables, graphics, boxes and photographs. Within the next two years, it will mature to its full size of about 70 million words (equivalent to about 150 volumes) through new editions and regular updates as often as once every three months.  "Most United Nations projects of this size begin by consulting government representatives. But EOLSS went straight to the scientific communities involved," said Andras Szollosi-Nagy, a member of the joint committee and Director of UNESCO's International Hydrological Programme. In 1996, thousands of scientists, engineers and policy-makers began meeting just to define the scope of the project, before discussing the details of the contributions. Regional workshops were held in Washington DC, Tokyo, Moscow, Mexico City, Beijing, Panama, Abu Sultan (Egypt) and Kuala Lumpur to develop lists of possible subjects and debate analytical approaches for treating them.   "From the start, we had to be absolutely certain that one school of thought did not dominate the conceptual basis of the encyclopedia," said Mr Szollosi-Nagy. "This democratic process guided every step in the encyclopedia's development. With thousands of authors from more than 100 countries, the editors have set up a self-regulating mechanism to assure that the subjects are not dominated by Western world views."  Access to the EOLSS is by subscription, via the website http://www.eolss.net. Subscription rates will vary, depending on the nature of the applicant. Universities from the UN list of Least Developed Countries will have free access for one year, renewable subject to the submission of annual reports on educational and research activity. These universities are invited to sign an agreement on the website and submit it to UNESCO for endorsement. Likewise, disadvantaged individuals registered through charitable organizations will be given free access for one year. Universities and public libraries will be charged US$3000 for two years while individuals will be asked to pay US$300 for the same period. Governments and corporations will pay slightly higher rates which will, nevertheless, be significantly lower than those of commercial publications.  EOLSS covers roughly 200 themes, each managed by an internationally recognized expert in the field. Each theme comprises an overview chapter of about 30 pages that is addressed to the general reader. This is followed by five to eight "topic level chapters", of about 20 pages, intended for university students specializing in the field. Every topic includes another five to eight articles on the latest advances and findings in the subject, as well as indications of future trends.

45. LIBRARIES AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

29 August 2002

Internet: http://portal.unesco.org/ev.php?URL_ID=5656&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201&reload=1032514282

29/08/2002 As negotiations on the Plan of Implementation of the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg continue, the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) asserts that library and information services promote sustainable development by ensuring freedom of access to information.   In a "Statement on Libraries and Sustainable Development" that was approved by IFLA's Governing Board on 24 August 2002 in Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom, IFLA says that library and information services help people improve educational and social skills, indispensable in an information society and for sustained participation in democracy. Calling upon library and information services and their staff to uphold and promote the principles of sustainable development, the world library organization acknowledges the importance of a commitment to sustainable development to meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of the future.  UNESCO is involved in a number of parallel events, side-events and partnership initiatives associated with the World Summit. It has long been concerned with activities related to sustainable development, contributing to many of the streams of action generated by the UN Conference on Environment and Development held in Rio in 1992. UNESCO's contribution to the World Summit builds on its mandate in the fields of education, science, culture and communication, and on key documents and events such as the UNESCO Medium Term Strategy for 2002-2007, a resolution of the UNESCO General Conference on the Johannesburg Summit, the UN Millennium Declaration, the World Conference on Higher Education, the Dakar 'Education for All' Forum, the World Conference on Science in Budapest, the World Conference on Culture and Development in Stockholm.

46. CULTURAL DIVERSITY ESSENTIAL FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT, MAINTAINS UNESCO

28 August 2002

Internet: http://portal.unesco.org/ev.php?URL_ID=5496&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201&reload=1032514282

28/08/2002 Johannesburg/Paris - How can we alleviate poverty while promoting cultural and biological diversity? What political and legal measures need to be taken at the national and international levels to promote cultural diversity and protect biodiversity? Johannesburg/Paris - How can we alleviate poverty while promoting cultural and biological diversity? What political and legal measures need to be taken at the national and international levels to promote cultural diversity and protect biodiversity? Which measures should be taken to protect indigenous and local communities in the face of globalization? These are some of the questions to be addressed at an official side event at the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg (South Africa) on September 3 (Intercontinental Hotel, 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.). UNESCO will organize the debates and discussions in cooperation with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the French government. UNESCO Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura will take part, as will Klaus Toepfer, Executive Director of UNEP and President Jacques Chirac of France. Several other Heads of State and Government will also participate, including President Joaquim Chissano of Mozambique and the Vice President of Iran, Massoumeh Ebtekar, as well as Nobel Prize laureates Rigoberta Menchu of Guatemala and Wole Soyinka of Nigeria. "At Johannesburg, we must take a major leap forward by recognizing that culturally diverse visions of human well-being are essential to truly understand and protect the environment while meeting the needs of this generation and those of the future," says Mr Matsuura. Many discussions and debates over biodiversity are dominated by a narrow technical perspective, which neglects or ignores the surrounding cultural, political and ecological contexts. "It is not enough to simply classify and quantify the number of plant and animal species," says the Director-General. "We must grasp the links between how different cultures shape the environment and vice versa." The roundtable will examine the correlations between cultural and biological diversity and the common threats facing them, notably unsustainable patterns of consumption and production. It will also examine the threats that may be posed by globalization to cultural diversity and traditional knowledge, in particular that of indigenous and local communities. Seven out of nine top countries for linguistic diversity are also among the top 17 countries for biological diversity, according to the UNESCO publication, Sharing a World of Difference, produced with the non-governmental organizations World Wide Fund for Nature and Terralingua. The publication, to be released in September, also found that 13 out of the 17 biological megadiversity countries - Papua New Guinea, Indonesia, India, Australia, Mexico, Brazil, Democratic Republic of Congo, the Philippines, the United States, Malaysia, China, Peru and Colombia - figure among the top 25 countries for endemic languages spoken exclusively within their respective borders. These languages are generally spoken by indigenous peoples and minorities with a wealth of information concerning the surrounding ecosystem. However, these communities are being increasingly impoverished by the same economic forces that threaten biodiversity. Previously the notion of sustainable development embraced economic, environmental and social parameters, yet largely ignored those pertaining to cultural issues. A change in strategy is clearly a must, UNESCO believes, if the promotion of cultural diversity is to be given a central, rather than peripheral, place in the debate. This is why UNESCO developed and adopted in 2001 the Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity*, which states that: "Cultural diversity is as necessary for humankind as biodiversity is for nature. In this sense, it is the common heritage of humanity and should be recognized and affirmed for the benefit of present and future generations." This has been a longstanding principle in the Organization's diverse projects to promote sustainable development. For example, the Man and the Biosphere Programme** began 30 years ago to set up biosphere reserves around the world. Each one serves as a kind of "living laboratory", in which the local community develops its own ways of benefiting from and conserving biodiversity.
 

UN -HABITAT

WSSD Web page: http://www.unhabitat.org/wssd/

47. JOHANNESBURG SUMMIT ENDORSES ADEQUATE SHELTER AND SUSTAINABLE URBANIZATION

4 September 2002

Internet: http://www.unhabitat.org/press2000/presswssd6.asp

Johannesburg, 4 September 2002 -- The World Summit on Sustainable Development concluded successfully with a Political Declaration that made adequate shelter an additional but essential component of WEHAB (clean water and sanitation, energy, health, agriculture and Bio-diversity). The declaration made by world leaders assembled at WSSD calls for 'decisions, on targets timetables and partnerships to speedily increase access to basic requirements such as clean water, sanitation, adequate shelter, energy, health care, food security and the protection of bio-diversity.' (Declaration: Para. 17)  The centrality of adequate shelter to sustainable development and to the eradication of poverty was further endorsed in the Plan of Implementation of the World Summit on Sustainable Development. In particular, the plan called for support to African countries in their efforts to implement the Habitat Agenda and the Istanbul Declaration through initiatives to strengthen national and local institutional capacities in the areas of sustainable urbanization and human settlements. This includes providing support for adequate shelter and basic services and the development of efficient and effective systems of governance in cities and other humans settlements. The plan of implementation also calls for the strengthening of UN-HABITAT and UNEP's programme Managing Water for African Cities. (Implementation Plan Para 65)  "Adequate shelter and sustainable urbanization are critical for sustainable development," said Mrs. Anna Tibaijuka. "The economic, social and environmental future of human settlements depends on how all Habitat Agenda Partners, governments, local authorities, the private sector, non-governmental organizations and grass roots communities meet the challenge set by the international community at Johannesburg." Sustainable Urbanization was the joint message of UN-HABITAT and the Habitat Agenda Partners presented at WSSD. During the conference, a Coalition for Sustainable Urbanization was launched involving over 50 partners and countless local authorities all of whom have joined in partnership to develop a number of joint projects and programmes. This includes the Managing Water for Asian Cities Programme which was also launched during WSSD. During the launch a letter of intent was signed between UN-HABITAT and the Asian Development Bank providing UN-HABITAT with $5 million in grant and $500 million in fast track credit to UN-HABITAT's Water for Asian Cities Programme. The  Government of the Netherlands will also provide UN-HABITAT with $2.8 million. This partnership is a perfect example of the kind of commitment that is being encouraged by the WSSD process. The programme will also make an important contribution to meeting the goals set by the Plan of Implementation which includes halving, by the year 2015, the proportion of people who are unable to reach or afford safe drinking water and the proportion of people who do not have access to basic sanitation. (Implementation Plan Para 7)  At WSSD UN-HABITAT organized and participated in a number of events including a Round Table on Partnerships for Sustainable African Cities. UN-HABITAT's exhibition at the Water Dome was visited by Mrs. Nane Annan, the wife of the UN Secretary-General. UN-HABITAT also played a major role in the parallel events designed to highlight the role of local authorities.  The WSSD process was deemed a success by all the participants. At his press conferences, Kofi Annan, the Secretary-General of the UN, said that although there were those who were disappointed, WSSD had successfully brought the sustainable development back on the agenda with a stronger emphasis on the urgent need to reduce poverty while preventing environmental degradation. It was now up to all the partners who had assembled in Johannesburg to show their commitment to achieving the targets and goals set by the international community. In the concluding press conference, President, Thabo Mbeki of South African agreed with the youth and children from around the world who had called upon the delegates to stop bickering over brackets. It was time to act so that the world's children could inherit a sustainable future.

48. BRIEF SUMMARY ON THE PARTICIPATION OF UN-HABITAT AT THE WORLD SUMMIT ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

(Johannesburg, 26 August - 4 September 2002)

Internet: http://www.unhabitat.org/wssd/cpr_briefing.asp

1. WSSD IN FACTS AND OPINIONS

The World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) marked the culmination of a process that had started in early 2001 with progress reports prepared by UN-system task managers on the implementation of Agenda 21 1 and that involved four meetings of the Preparatory Committee 2 . WSSD itself had 21,000 registered participants (9,000 government delegations including 104 heads of state and numerous ministers; 8,000 representatives of IGOs and NGOs; and 4,000 journalists). The Secretary-General was present from 1-4 September 2002.

Presided by President T. Mbeki of South Africa, WSSD adopted two negotiated documents on the evening of the last day:

• The Plan of Implementation of the WSSD (54 pages);
   

• The Johannesburg Declaration on Sustainable Development (4 pages)

In addition to the plenary, negotiation sessions and high-level round table discussions, WSSD provided the framework for exhibitions and over 500 side and parallel events at various sites. The South African government impressed the world with a logistically flawless organization of WSSD in the luxurious Sandton convention, hotel and shopping complex.

In contrast, general world opinion and most participants are not impressed by the negotiated results of WSSD and its preparatory process (type-1 outcomes):

• The negotiated texts barely confirm previous agreements, and with very few exceptions do not commit governments to new goals, targets and time frames (one such rare exception is the target to halve the number of people without access to sanitation by 2015, but even this target is only a step forward from the related Millennium Development Goal on drinking water, adopted two years ago);
   

• There is general disappointment over the lack of implementation of Agenda 21 and related international agreements with calls for postponing any future summits until governments have demonstrated willingness and ability to implement agreements already reached.

Positive opinions expressed on WSSD relate mostly to awareness raising on the social, economic and environmental dimension of sustainable development and the broader involvement of NGOs and the business community in partnerships with governments and IGOs in tangible implementation initiatives (type-2 outcomes).

2. OUTCOMES FOR UN-HABITAT

UN-HABITAT, with special concerns and task-manager responsibilities for chapters 7, 21 and 28 of Agenda 21 (sustainable settlements, waste and sanitation, local authorities), has done relatively well in the WSSD process. Its normative and operational mandate is well reflected in the Type-1 outcome of the Summit (negotiated text).

The Plan of Implementation contains important references to UN-HABITAT's work in the sections on poverty eradication, changing unsustainable patterns of consumption and production, protecting and managing the natural resource base of economic and social development, sustainable development in Africa, means of implementation, and institutional framework for sustainable development. The following commitments are of special interest 3 :

• Paragraphs 6 and 7 - halve the number of people without access to drinking water and sanitation by 2015;
   

• Paragraph 10 - improve the lives of 100 million slum dwellers by 2020 (with references to land, adequate shelter and the role of local authorities);
   

• Paragraph 65 - support African countries in their efforts to implement the Habitat Agenda and the Istanbul Declaration (with references to sustainable urbanization, adequate shelter, basic services, governance systems in cities and other human settlements, as well as national and local institutional capacities);
   

• Paragraph 137 - strengthen UN-HABITAT (jointly with UNEP, UNDP and UNCTAD) in its role to build capacities at all levels for implementing Agenda 21;
   

• Paragraph 149 - enhance the role of local authorities and partnerships involving local authorities and other levels of government as called for in the Habitat Agenda;
   

• Further, there are numerous other references relevant to UN-HABITAT's work, including the following: transport (20); waste management (21); water resource management (25, 60); coastal area management and land-based marine pollution (26, 32); disaster management (35, 59); lead pollution (50); capacity building in GIS, indicators, planning and management methodologies (119 bis - undeciens); and good governance and broad-based decision making (120, 121).

The Johannesburg Declaration on Sustainable Development is a brief political statement agreed at the highest level and is not meant to repeat the much more detailed and longer Plan of Implementation. But even at this general policy level, the Declaration contains explicit reference to UN-HABITAT's areas of responsibility, placing them at the top of the agenda, effectively up-dating the WEHAB 4 list of priorities:

• Paragraph 17 - "We welcome the Johannesburg Summit focus on the indivisibility of human dignity and are resolved through decisions and targets, timetables and partnerships to speedily increase access to basic requirements such as clean water, sanitation, adequate shelter, energy, health care, food security, and the protection of bio-diversity. At the same time...."

UN-HABITAT's normative and operational responsibilities are also well reflected in the Type-2 outcome of WSSD (partnership implementation commitments). The "Coalition for Sustainable Urbanization", developed by UN-HABITAT with more than 40 Habitat Agenda partners, posted on the official WSSD website, has been formally announced by the Executive Director in her plenary address, and has been launched in a half-day "corporate event" involving the full range of partners. The Coalition has received compliments from peers and partners as a coherent cluster of eleven mutually supportive initiatives linked by the common conceptual framework of "sustainable urbanization" (the term "Sustainable Urbanization" was coined by the ED during PrepCom-2).

At the same time, individual components of the Coalition for Sustainable Urbanization have gained prominence in their own rights. Among them, and most importantly, the launch of the "Water for Asian Cities" partnership between UN-HABITAT, the Asian Development Bank, the Government of the Netherlands, and Governments of Asian Countries has received much attention and praise. With its agreed $7.8 million in grants and $500 million in fast-track credit, the initiative is expected to demonstrate the complementarity between capacity building and lending operations, between the UN and development finance institutions.

Other noteworthy components of the Coalition for Sustainable Urbanization involve close operational partnerships with global associations of local authorities (individually or through WACLAC and UNACLA) for strengthening local capacities for sustainable urbanization. These partnerships, involving also partner organizations such as UNEP, UNITAR, ILO, UNV and WHO, focus on thematic issues such as HIV-AIDS, or on modalities for capacity development such as demonstration/replication, training, best practices, and city-to-city cooperation. Prominent among these partnerships is the next phase of the "Sustainable Cities Programme" with funding from the Dutch Government and the "Partnership for Local Capacity Development" a result of joint work on city-to-city cooperation in which the associations of local authorities place high expectations.

3. UN-HABITAT ACTIVITIES IN JO'BURG

A focused and coherent message was developed and agreed with Habitat Agenda Partners from the onset of UN-HABITAT's preparations for WSSD, eight months ago. This message was consistently promoted by all. It has two dimensions that parallel the two types of interrelated outcomes expected from the overall WSSD process (i.e. type-1, negotiated norms and policies; and type-2, partnership implementation commitments):

1. Sustainable Urbanization (policy framework):

• There will be no sustainable development without sustainable urbanization
   

• Local capacities are key for sustainable urbanization

2. Coalition for Sustainable Urbanization (11 partnership implementation commitments):

• Millennium Cities Partnership
   

• Local Capacities for Global Agendas
   

• Partnership for Local Capacity Development
   

• Model City-to-City Cooperation Partnership
   

• Demonstrating Local Environmental Planning and Management
   

• National Capacities for Up-scaling Local Agenda 21 Demonstrations
   

• Local Capacity Building and Training for Sustainable Urbanization
   

• Learning From Best Practices and Policies in Support of Sustainable Urbanization
   

• Water for Asian Cities
   

• Partnership for Sustainable African Cities
   

• Partnership for Managing HIV/AIDS at the Local Level

Over the past 8 months UN-HABITAT and its partners have been relatively successful in ensuring that the key messages on "Sustainable Urbanisation" and the "Coalition for Sustainable Urbanisation" are reflected in the negotiated text of WSSD. This political work resulted in the UN-HABITAT related text mentioned in section (2) above, and was completed by the end of PrepCom-4 in Bali. Remaining government negotiations in Johannesburg for the most part did not deal with text directly related to the mandate of UN-HABITAT - with the important exception of the Political Declaration, which was drafted from scratch in Johannesburg. The extra-ordinary achievement of having "adequate shelter" mentioned as a priority concern in the Johannesburg Declaration was due to the lobbying skills of the Executive Director, members of the Nairobi CPR, and other concerned government representatives - especially during the last day of the Summit.

During the ten days of the Johannesburg Summit itself, the work of the UN-HABITAT team focused primarily on delivering the UN-HABITAT message, making best use of a variety of special opportunities presented by the Summit. These opportunities included plenary statements by the Executive Director, side and parallel events organized by UN-HABITAT, events organized by UN-HABITAT partners, press conferences, book launches, exhibitions, bilateral meetings, etc. Following is an overview:

• The Executive Director addressed close to 20 events during the 10-day Summit. This included two statements to the plenary and participation in a high level round table with heads of state;
   

• The Executive Director gave two official press briefings and close to 20 one-on-one interviews (separate briefing available);
   

• UN-HABITAT organized with various partners a dozen side and parallel events including:
   

• a "corporate event" on the Coalition for Sustainable Urbanization (separate briefing available);
   

• a partnership event on Sustainable African Cities (separate briefing available);

• three partnership events on Water for Cities (separate briefing available);
   

• a meeting of UNACLA
   

• UN-HABITAT organized a major exhibition on water and sanitation (separate briefing available)
   

• UN-HABITAT launched three publications:
   

• Sustainable Urbanization: Achieving Agenda 21 (based on the World Urban Forum, in cooperation with DFID, providing the unifying framework for the Coalition, 1000 copies distributed in Johannesburg and 2000 copies to be distributed world-wide)
   

• Coalition for Sustainable Urbanization: Partnership Commitments for Implementing Agenda 21 (prepared with more than 40 Habitat Agenda partners, endorsed at the World Urban Forum, 500 copies distributed at WSSD, 500 to be distributed world-wide);
   

• Sustainable Urbanization: Bridging the Brown and the Green Agendas (260 pages, in cooperation with DFID and DPU);
   

• UN-HABITAT staff participated as chairperson, keynote speaker or speaker in numerous events organized by partners such as the following:
   

• Several events during the Local Government Session organized by ICLEI (separate briefing available)
   

• Event organized by the Global Lead Network
   

• Official Side Event organized by UNITAR
   

• WHO launch of "Healthy Environment for Children"

4. CONCLUSION AND FOLLOW-UP

Time will tell whether WSSD has generally been a success or just a waste of effort, resources and opportunity. As far as UN-HABITAT is concerned, initial assessment indicates that the Habitat Agenda has done quite well in the WSSD process, considering the generally acknowledged limitations of this process.

UN-HABITAT did well in making good use of the worldwide momentum created by the WSSD process, of the worldwide sense of urgency to address sustainable development in all its dimensions, and of the heightened spirit of partnership that emerged. Accordingly, UN-HABITAT and its partners successfully used the WSSD process to make significant progress in three areas:

• To focus more sharply on what we must do in our area of expertise and responsibility to achieve sustainable development. This has resulted in the policy framework of "Sustainable Urbanization" developed, agreed, published, and applied to partnership implementation agreements.
   

• To build awareness of the important role of cities and other human settlements for sustainable development. This has resulted in broad awareness of the issue globally and among Habitat Agenda partners who are using "Sustainable Urbanization" as a unifying framework for joint normative and operational activities.
   

• To use the momentum, heightened interest in sustainable development and partnership spirit to develop implementation initiatives, complete with concrete work plans, agreed responsibilities, and funding commitments. This has resulted in the "Coalition for Sustainable Urbanization" and its component initiatives (e.g. the Water for Asian Cities programme).

These activities went according to a plan developed, refined and implemented over the past eight months in close and systematic collaboration between UN-HABITAT's senior management and professional staff, the Committee of Permanent Representatives, and the full range of Habitat Agenda partners. Next steps, in broad terms, are part of the plan. The component initiatives of the "Coalition for Sustainable Urbanization" will be developed further and implemented. New partners and new initiatives may join the Coalition. Synergy and cohesion under the unifying framework of "Sustainable Urbanization" will be periodically reviewed in the context of the World Urban Forums. Through this the concept of "Sustainable Urbanisation" will be further developed enabling UN-HABITAT and its partners to enhance over time their important contribution to socially, economically, and environmentally sustainable development. 

49. $500 MILLION TO BE MADE AVAILABLE FOR WATER FOR ASIAN CITIES

31 August 2002

Internet: http://www.unhabitat.org/press2000/presswssd5.asp

Johannesburg, 31 August 2002: Launch of a new partnership between UN-HABITAT and the Asian Development Bank .

A letter of intent was signed today between UN-HABITAT and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) that commits ADB to providing $5 million in grant and $500 million in fast track credit to UN-HABITAT's Water for Asian Cities Programme. The Government of the Netherlands will provide $2.8 million while other donors such as the Swedish Development Agency are also considering supporting the programme. The total outlay of the programme is $10 million as grant in aid and $500 million in credit. "The partnership between the ADB and UN-HABITAT will bring benefits to the region and especially to the urban poor who lack essential basic services like water," said Mrs. Anna Tibaiuka, Execuitve Director of UN-HABITAT. "As the premier development finance agency, ADB will provide its experience with sectoral and multi-sectoral investment while UN-HABITAT will provide its experience in the management of water for cities." Mr. Tadao Chino, President of the ADB pointed out that the $500 million fast track credit line was part of ADB's new commitment to poverty alleviation. "All too often, good projects that can genuinely help alleviate the problems of the poor fail because of the inability of the banking sector to respond quickly enough," said Mr. Chino. "It is my hope that the partnership between the ADB and UN-HABITAT will overcome these bottle-necks and provide a rapid response mechanism to help municipalities to help the poor." At the launch of the partnership, Hon. A.M.A. van Ardenne-Van der Hoeven, Minister for International Development Cooperation of the Government of Netherlands also emphasised the need for increased investment in the urban water sector, stating that her government was strongly committed to the project.  Hon. Wang Guangtao, the Chinese Minister of Construction, congratulated UN-HABITAT and ADB on the launch of their partnership stating that there was an urgent need to improve the management of water in many cities in China. Finally, in his speech, Hon. Earl Blumenauer, Member of United States Congress, pledged to "make the United States a partner in these goals".

Note to the Editor:

The Water for Asian Cities works to build partnerships and capacity within city municipalities. The central emphasis of the Water for Asian Cities Programme will be on capacity building in the countries and cities of the region with a view to preparing pro-poor investments in the water and sanitation sector. The programme will also encourage up-scaling of good practices and community based management of water and sanitation facilities. Water is one of the five priority issues that are being discussed at WSSD. UN figures indicate that 1.1 billion people around the world lack access to safe drinking water and over 2.4 billion people lack access to adequate sanitation. It is estimated that more than 2.2 million people in developing countries, most of them children, die each year from diseases associated with lack of access to safe drinking water. And a large proportion of people in developing countries suffer from diseases caused either directly or indirectly by the use of contaminated water. Asian cities are facing a major challenge in the water and sanitation sector. Of the world's population that lives without clean water, it is estimated that about two thirds live in Asia. If the world is to meet the Millennium Declaration Goal of halving the population of poor people without access to basic services like water by 2015, at least a billion people in Asia will need to be given access to safe water. Improving access to water and sanitation of the poor is also critical if the lives of 100 million slum dwellers are to be improved by 2020.  UN-HABITAT is the lead agency within the UN system responsible for sustainable urbanization. Its main responsibility is to implement the Habitat Agenda that is committed to improving the living environment through better urban management.

50. SUSTAINABLE URBANIZATION KEY TO SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

26 August 2002

Internet: http://www.unhabitat.org/press2000/presswssd4.asp

Johannesburg, 26 August 2002: -- At the World Summit, UN-HABITAT, Mayors, representatives of local authorities, donor agencies, non-governmental organisations and other Habitat Agenda Partners called for sustainable urbanization. This message was also tabled at the Plenary Session of WSSD by Mrs. Anna Tibaijuka, the Executive Director of UN-HABITAT. At a major parallel event, the Coalition on Sustainable Urbanization, a cross section of partners presented papers that tabled the problems and possibilities of urbanization. At the same occasion, UN-HABITAT launched a number of publications including a joint paper on Sustainable Urbanization with the UK Government Department for International Development (DFID) and a book Sustainable Urbanization: Bridging the Green and Brown Agendas. In her presentation to the plenary session, Mrs. Tibaijuka, stated that "Urbanization and globalisation were dominant trends that were changing the parameters of sustainable development and that the impact of these two trends means that increasingly, Agenda 21 will become an urban agenda." She went onto state that as three fifths of the world's population was soon to live in urban areas, there was an urgent need to fundamentally change the way cities worked, the way they made decisions, allocated resources and established institutions. This is why UN-HABITAT had focused on "Sustainable Urbanization" as its key contribution to the WSSD process.  Sustainable Urbanization had a normative dimension corresponding to the "type 1" outcome which recognises that sustainable development is contingent upon effective partnership with diverse stakeholders. It also has an operational dimension, corresponding to the "type 2" outcome as over 20 partners have come together to launch the Coalition. The Coalition on Sustainable Urbanization was launched during the first week of WSSD at a meeting, attended by over 200 delegates from all over the world, who were welcomed by Mrs. Tibaijuka. The keynote address was made by Hon. Mrs. S.D. Mthembi-Mahanyele, Minister for Housing, South Africa, followed by a an address by Cllr. Alan Lloyd, President of IULA and Chairman of WACLAC which stressed the critical role of local authorities in implementing Agenda 21 and the Habitat Agenda.

The meeting was also addressed by eleven presenters who made short interventions on the eleven "Partnership Implementation Commitments" that are based on commitments made by the members of the Coalition. Presenters included M. Bresso, President of United Towns Organisation, B.Kante of UNEP, J. Smith, of IULA, C. Piquemal of Metropolis, E. Agevi of ITDG, H. Wessels from the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, His Worship, G. Collomb, Mayor of Lyon, D. Heron, of Vivendi Environment, P. Gopalan of the Huairou Commission, Hon. Y. Barimah, the Ghanian Minister for Water Dev., A. Vawda, South Africa, and N. Mthembu, AMICAAL, Swaziland.  The presenters stressed the need for committed partnerships to ensure effective implementation of Agenda 21. After much discussion, the session concluded by calling for the general recognition that there can be no sustainable development with sustainable urbanization. This includes understanding the nature of demographic shifts and rural to urban migration patterns. There was also an urgent need to understand how best to plan for integrated regional development that supports the development of small towns. Delegates emphasised that successful implementation of Agenda 21 and the Habitat Agenda required capacity building and coordinated action between all the partners and stakeholders. Such partnerships were considered a powerful unifying framework for diverse initiatives; building interrelationships and promoting synergies, to strengthen individual and collective efficiency.  In conclusion, Mrs. Tibaijuka thanked the Chair and the organisers, and the delegates for their interest and commitment, stressing UN-HABITAT's continued support to promoting partnerships for sustainable urbanisation.
 

UNITED NATIONS VOLUNTEERS (UNV)

Internet: http://www.unv.org/infobase/events/WSSD/index.htm
 

51. VOLUNTEERISM AND ITS ROLE IN SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

August 2002

Internet: http://www.unv.org/infobase/articles/2002/02_05_21IDN_wssd.htm

 A central feature of the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) is the effort to seek new approaches for transforming sustainable development from vision to reality and moving from analysis of issues to action on the ground. All stakeholders in the WSSD process are urged to consider volunteerism as a global phenomenon whose potential for helping meet desired goals has not yet been fully incorporated into the discussion arena and which, with necessary support, can help bring the vision of peaceful, secure and stable world one step closer.  Volunteerism is not new. Indeed, since the beginning of civilization, one of the most basic of values has been people helping people and, in the process, helping themselves. Most cultures have a name to describe it. From shramadana in South Asia, harambee in East Africa, minga in Latin America and al taawun wal tawasul in many Arab States, the act is familiar, even if the word "volunteer" is not". As a non market response to situations in which markets function poorly or have a negative impact, the webs of social connectedness generated by volunteerism constitute the most basic of safety nets for the poor.  While volunteerism is not new, what is new, and has received great impetus during the International Year of Volunteers 2001, is an acceptance by the international community of "...the need to approach voluntary activities strategically as a means of enhancing resources, addressing global issues and improving the quality of life for everyone" (UN General Assembly resolution A/RES/56/38). Governments are well positioned to play a leading role, in collaboration with other actors from civil society and the private sector, to enhance the environment within which volunteerism can contribute to meeting global challenges. Indeed, by not factoring volunteering into development strategies, governments risk overlooking a valuable asset and undermining traditions of cooperation that bind communities together.  Volunteerism connects well with the three pillars of the WSSD: economic growth, social development and environmental protection. In countries where the contribution of volunteerism has been tabulated, the figures suggest that anywhere between 8% and 14% of GNP can be traced to voluntary action. Less empirical observations in many other countries on the economic productive capacity of local communities clearly highlight the impact of voluntary action on the well-being of those communities. Volunteerism is also a key means by which people articulate their engagement as citizens, and by building trust and reciprocity volunteering contributes to more cohesive, stable societies. Evidence is growing that variances in performances among different parts of countries, and between countries, can be accounted for to some extent by such "social capital". Finally, both spontaneous and organized voluntary action is a crucial factor in the struggle for environmental protection. The challenge may be hands-on environmental clean-up campaigns, building protective defenses against floods, or planting trees to protect ecologically fragile land. Or it maybe on the side of advocacy where action to raise public consciousness is often instigated and maintained by volunteers, sometimes starting-up on an individual basis but generally coalescing at some point into action groups working anywhere from the local to the global level.  Volunteering and sustainable development are inexorably linked and the WSSD is a unique opportunity to highlight the dynamics at play. There are a number of very pragmatic reasons why the outcome documentation from the WSSD process should take cognizance of volunteerism. First, although the notion of volunteerism permeates much of Agenda 21 as far as it pertains to the involvement of people in the fields of environment and development, at no point are ways to foster volunteerism addressed. Second, there is little hope of attaining many of the Millennium Development Goals without the massive involvement of people on a voluntary basis and this fact is only now beginning to be discussed with ideas for action being generated. Third, as stated earlier, the mandate and the tools are available. The UN General Assembly has recognized the important role of volunteering, including for sustainable development, and has adopted a set of recommendations on ways governments and the UN system can promote a favourable environment for volunteering to flourish. Fourth, the WSSD seeks to benefit all social, groups, but especially the more disadvantaged among them, and it is this segment of the population that has the most to gain from a pro-active approach to volunteerism. Fifth, the success of the WSSD will depend to a large extent on partnerships between governments of the North and the South and between governments and major groups. There are manifestations of volunteerism in almost every culture which governments can harness for the betterment of their societies. Moreover, voluntary action itself cuts across all the sectors expressed as it is through programmes of government, the private sector as well as, of course, civil society.  

52. PANELLISTS URGE GOVERNMENT BACKING OF VOLUNTARY ACTION TO MEET DEVELOPMENT GOALS

30 August 2002

Internet: http://www.unv.org/infobase/news_releases/2002/02_08_30ZAF_mdg.htm

JOHANNESBURG, 30 August 2002 -- Panellists taking part in a side event on community involvement and volunteering at the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) have urged governments to increase cooperation with voluntary organizations in a bid to improve chances for a cleaner, safer and more prosperous world. "Volunteers are our greatest strength," said the President of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), Juan Manuel Suarez del Toro Rivero. IFRC represents nearly 100 million volunteers worldwide.  Noting in particular the role volunteers play in disaster situations and in the fight against disease, he urged governments to consider the contribution of volunteers to development. "Governments need to build effective partnership with voluntary organizations, and include them in discussions around development," he said. "They need to listen carefully to their ideas and proposals. And they need to take the concrete actions to encourage and promote and value voluntary action."  South Africa's Minister of Social Development, Zola Skweyiya, called for greater recognition of volunteers, including thousands of local volunteers assisting at WSSD. He acknowledged the important role volunteers play in tackling problems facing his country, most notably the HIV/AIDS pandemic and widespread poverty. The Associate Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Zéphirin Diabré, who chaired the discussion late Wednesday, noted that informal mutual aid and self-help or formal service volunteerism contributed to "almost every area" of development. "Efforts of the international community to address the major global challenges would be greatly weakened without voluntary action." A strategic approach to volunteerism could complement the actions of governments and other actors to address many global challenges, said Robert Leigh of the United Nations Volunteers (UNV). "It is hard to see how many of the goals being discussed here at the WSSD can be satisfactorily resolved without a massive voluntary effort from the grassroots, with appropriate support," he said.

Mr. Leigh recalled that on 5 December 2001, at the close of the International Year of Volunteers, Member States at the UN General Assembly adopted resolution 56/38, which includes a set of recommendations on how to move forward to ensure that measures be taken to "maximize the contribution of volunteerism". Dr. Najma Heptulla of the Inter-Parliamentary Union Council, said all parliamentarians rely to some extent on the efforts of volunteers in their campaigns and that similarly, all parliamentarians have acted as volunteers in the democratic process at some stage. Describing a resolution of the Inter-Parliamentary Union on the promotion of volunteerism, she recommended that parliaments involve encourage volunteer activities in all sectors of society and incorporate volunteerism in their planning activities.  The private sector is increasing its support to volunteerism, said Jane Nelson of the International Business Leaders Forum. She also noted that one of the gains from the Earth Summit in 1992 was increased pressure from consumers on business to be more socially responsible. She recommended that businesses help promote volunteer activity by contributing their knowledge and skills, by donating products, by carrying out social marketing and by giving back a percentage of their profits to the communities in which they work.

UNV, in collaboration with IFRC and with the support of the IPU, hosted the WSSD side event. UNV, IFRC and IPU have formed a partnership to promote volunteerism globally. The organizations have held successful meetings this year at the World Assembly on Ageing in Madrid in April, the Fourth Prep Com for the WSSD held in Bali in June and the World AIDS Conference in Barcelona in July.

Read more about UN Volunteers and the World Summit on Sustainable Development. Based in Bonn, Germany, UNV is the United Nations organization that supports sustainable human dvelopment globally through the promotion of volunteerism.
 

THE JOINT UNITED NATIONS PROGRAMME ON HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS)

Internet: http://www.unaids.org/ 

53. AIDS CHAIN REACTION THREATENS SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT, UNAIDS SAYS Nations face 'un-development' as AIDS destroys world's most valuable resource – people

30 August 2002

Internet: http://www.unaids.org/whatsnew/press/eng/pressarc02/WSSD_300802.html

Johannesburg, 30 August 2002 - The head of the United Nations AIDS programme has warned that meaningful sustainable development cannot be achieved if the AIDS epidemic is allowed to devastate human resources and capacities. "If we continue to allow AIDS to drain human resources at an increasing rate, sustainable development will be impossible," said Dr Peter Piot, Executive Director of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS). "Quite simply, if you do not survive, you cannot develop." Dr Piot was speaking to the plenary session of the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD), taking place here from 26 August to 4 September. A report released by UNAIDS for the Summit warns that by robbing communities and nations of their greatest asset - their people - AIDS drains the human and institutional capacities that drive sustainable development. This distorts labour markets, disrupts production and consumption, erodes productive and public sectors and ultimately diminishes national wealth. As HIV prevalence rises, poverty deepens, and in combination with other setbacks, AIDS can trigger food crises. Some of the countries worst affected by AIDS face the prospect of 'un-developing' - seeing their development achievements dissolve in the wake of the epidemic.  Particularly affected by this chain reaction are young people, since half of all people newly infected with HIV are under 25. "An AIDS-ravaged generation of youth constitutes not only a human tragedy, but a basic threat to communal security," Dr Piot said.  Dr Piot told world leaders at the Summit that joining forces is essential if the epidemic is to be fought effectively. To do so requires significant broadening of prevention programmes, dramatic expansion of treatment, and a lessening of the impact of AIDS on social and economic development. Key to these policy achievements is the integration of HIV/AIDS responses into wider development strategies, with AIDS impact assessments becoming commonplace.

Progress at the national level also requires political action, including consistent commitment and high-level support from a variety of groups in society. Another priority is greater involvement of people living with HIV/AIDS in shaping policies and responses to the epidemic, vital to overcoming stigma and discrimination. Finally, the protection of young people and women - the growing impact of AIDS on women is evidence of glaring gender inequality - is paramount if the response to the epidemic is to be effective.  Without human capacity development - the will, skills, capabilities and systems needed to respond effectively to HIV/AIDS - the epidemic's impact and spread will continue. Developing human capacity requires creating a culture of facilitation whereby organizations involved in AIDS responses promote leadership on HIV/AIDS in the public, private and community sectors, learn from those sectors, apply the lessons learned, and collaborate across institutions and locales.  Priorities will be so much sand in the wind without financial commitment, however. "Investing in AIDS is good investment," said Dr Piot. "AIDS spending in low- and middle-income countries needs to rise to US$10 billion a year, three times the current level." Meeting this goal will require greater investment not only by donors but by developing countries themselves, underlining the need to build their capacity to contribute by lightening their debt load.  In two decades, AIDS has killed more than 20 million people. By 2020, unless concerted and effective action is taken now, another 68 million risk premature death in the 45 most affected countries. For example, a study in Zambia shows that two-thirds of urban households that have lost their main breadwinner to AIDS have seen their income fall by 80%; in combination with other setbacks, AIDS can trigger food crises, even famine, and up to 13 million people face possible starvation in southern Africa this year; transmission of HIV from mother to child is increasing maternal and child mortality rates.  Global consensus already exists on the urgency of fighting AIDS. Last year, at the UN Special Session on HIV/AIDS, world leaders unanimously adopted a Declaration of Commitment that provides a benchmark for action and accountability. The Declaration has already been endorsed in the action agenda of the WSSD. Similarly, the Millennium Development Goals commit to halting the spread of HIV/AIDS by 2015 but HIV/AIDS is a block to their achievement. The recent creation of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria and contributions to it are further evidence of a growing commitment to the fight against AIDS.  Worldwide, at end 2001, 40 million people were living with HIV/AIDS, of whom five million were newly infected during the year. Sub-Saharan Africa remains the hardest hit region, with some 3.5 million new infections last year, followed closely by the Caribbean. HIV prevalence continues to rise alarmingly even in parts of Africa where the epidemic is already well-entrenched. The epidemic is spreading rapidly in Eastern Europe and Asia, including some of the most populous countries in the world.

UNITED NATIONS CONVENTION TO COMBAT DESERTIFICATION (UNCCD)

Internet: http://www.unccd.int

54. THE WORLD SUMMIT ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT CALLS ON THE GEF TO BECOME A FINANCIAL MECHANISM OF THE UNCCD.

10 September 2002

Internet: http://www.unccd.int/publicinfo/pressrel/showpressrel.php?pr=press10_09_02

Bonn, 10 September 2002 - World leaders gathered in Johannesburg at the World Summit on Sustainable Development called on the Second Assembly of the Global Environment Facility (GEF) to designate land degradation as a focal area of the GEF as a means to enhance the provision and mobilization of financial resources for the effective implementation of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) as agreed at the GEF Council in December 2001.  Furthermore, the Plan of Implementation of the World Summit on Sustainable Development called on the next GEF Assembly to consider making the GEF a financial mechanism of the Convention.  The Second Assembly of the GEF, which will meet in Beijing from 16 to 18 October, is expected to act upon the proposal of the Johannesburg Summit. "In fact, when our Assembly meets in Beijing next month, it is expected to endorse recommendations that desertification and organic pollutants be added to GEF's focal areas," said Mohamed El-Ashry, CEO and Chairman of GEF, to The Earth Times. On August 7, donor nations reached consensus for the highest replenishment ever of the Washington, DC - based facilitator of multilateral funding for the environment in the amount of US$2.92 billion for the next four years.  The endorsement is expected to facilitate the channeling of GEF resources directly to the country Parties and enable them to considerably strengthen their capacity to implement the Convention and thus reverse the vicious cycle of desertification and poverty, which is propelling a mass exodus of environmental refugees from degraded lands. Country Parties have repeatedly identified the lack of predictable financial resources as their greatest stumbling block in the UNCCD process.  Desertification affects more than 100 countries worldwide. Already 135 million people are at risk of forced migration from no longer productive lands. While the annual cost of fighting land degradation is estimated at $2.4 billion a year, $42 billion in income is lost every year due to desertification.   The Convention was adopted in 1994 as the only legally binding instrument to address the growing global threat of desertification. Three more countries acceded to the Convention during the ten-day Summit, bringing its membership to 184 Parties.
 

RIO CONVENTIONS JOINT PRESS RELEASE

WSSD Web page: http://unfccc.int/wssd/index.html

55. BIODIVERSITY, CLIMATE, AND DESERTIFICATION REGIMES STRENGTHENED BY NEW PARTIES AND FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES

30 August 2002

Internet: http://unfccc.int/press/prel2002/pressrel300802.pdf

Johannesburg, 30 August 2002 – As delegates in Johannesburg work towards broad agreements on poverty alleviation and sustainable development, three issue-specific treaties that contribute to these goals – the conventions on biological diversity, climate change and

desertification – continue to attract vital support for carrying out their mandates. The biodiversity, climate change and desertification conventions all have their roots in the 1992 Rio Earth Summit. After a decade of institution-building and national and international

action, they provide coherent frameworks and practical tools for promoting sustainable development. The Convention on Biological Diversity has thus far received some $1.4 billion in funding from the Global Environment Facility and $2 billion in co-funding for country-driven

projects to conserve and sustainably use biodiversity. Meanwhile, since the start of the World Summit on Sustainable Development, the CBD has welcomed two newcomers: Kuwait and Bosnia-Herzegovina – bringing the total number to 185 parties. The CBD's Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety has added six new parties – Austria, Belarus, Bhutan, Denmark, the EC and Mexico – bringing the total to 31. Fifty ratifications are required for entry into force. The number of ratifications of the Kyoto Protocol of the Climate Change Convention

went up drastically during the summit. The total number now stands at 89 ratifications, including developed countries representing 37.1% of the rich world's carbon dioxide emissions, some two thirds of the way to the 55% required for entry into force. In addition, the Protocol's Clean Development Mechanism, one of the most important new instruments for financing sustainable development since Rio, is fast becoming operational. The UN Convention to Combat Desertification, which until now has relied on a so-called Global Mechanism for identifying possible sources of funding in support of activities for reversing dryland degradation, is also opening up new and concrete opportunities for financing. The WSSD has called for the GEF to become a financial mechanism of the Convention and it is expected that the next assembly of the Global Environment Facility to be held in Beijing in October 2002 will agree to open its multi-billion dollar fund to anti-desertification projects. The Convention to Combat Desertification has welcomed seven new parties this year: Andorra, Somalia, the Slovak Republic, the FYR of Macedonia, Ukraine, Bosnia-Herzegovina and the Maldives bringing its membership to 184 parties.

For more information: www.biodiv.org ; www.unfccc.int and www.unccd.int
 

RAMSAR CONVENTION

Internet: http://www.ramsar.org/
 

56. EVENTS OF SUNDAY, 1 SEPTEMBER 2002, AND THE SIGNING OF AN MOU BETWEEN RAMSAR AND UNCTAD

Internet: http://www.ramsar.org/wssd_sg_report3.htm

While Ministers continued with their negotiations behind closed doors, the rest of the participants at the Summit were involved in a myriad of activities at the Water Dome, Ubuntu Village (where South Africa and other countries have mounted national pavilions not related to water), at NASREC the site where civil society is camping, at the IUCN Centre near the Convention Centre and, yesterday, at the Hilton Hotel where there was a special event for business leaders from all over the world, with Kofi Annan and many ministers in attendance. Ramsar chaired a session on wetlands in water management held at the IUCN Centre within a day of activities under the theme "Water - Responsibility for security". The panel at the wetland session included Peter Spillet, Head of Environment and Sustainability at the Thames Water company, UK; Torkil Clausen, Chair of the Scientific Committee of the Global Water Partnership; Tabeth Chiuta, Coordinator of the IUCN Water Programme for Southern Africa; Paul Mabafi, Uganda Wetland Programme; and Jamie Pittock, WWF Living Waters Programme.  The Secretary General participated also in the kick-off meeting of the Ministerial Conference on Water to be held in conjunction with the Third World Water Forum in Japan in March 2003. The meeting was organized by the Government of Japan to brief governments and international organizations about the preparations for the Conference and to receive feedback on the content and proposed modus operandi of the event.

Finally, Ramsar was represented at a high-level meeting invited by the Secretary General of the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), Dr. Rubens Ricupero, in relation to the BIOTRADE Initiative. At the meeting a series of Partnerships on biotrade were launched, and Ramsar and UNCTAD signed a Memorandum of Understanding to formalize the cooperation with the BIOTRADE Initiative. A special side event and an exhibition of wetland products are being organized for COP8 by the Ramsar Bureau in cooperation with the BIOTRADE Initiative. The UNCTAD Initiative is being funded by the UN Foundation and the Governments of Switzerland and the Netherlands.

-- reported by Delmar Blasco, Secretary General.
 

ECONOMIC COMMISSION FOR AFRICA (ECA)

WSSD Web page: http://www.uneca.org/wssd/
 

57. WORLD SUMMIT ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

30 August 2002

Internet: http://www.uneca.org/eca_resources/Speeches/2002_speeches/083002eca_press_conference.htm

African countries must exploit a range of options to ensure that future biotechnology initiatives reached their full potential for alleviating poverty, combating disease and ensuring food security, an official of the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) said at a press conference this afternoon.  Patrick Asea, Director of the ECA's Economic and Social Division, said those options included promoting African-focused biotechnology research that emphasized "orphan crops", particularly cassava, millet, sorghum, sweet potatoes and yams, as well as cereals like maize, rice and wheat.  Speaking as the ECA released a report on how emerging technologies could help Africa reduce food insecurity and allow more flexible crop management systems, he said the experience of countries that had deployed genetically modified crops showed that success depended on the extent to which they had pursued such options.  The experiences of South Africa with maize and cotton, Kenya with the sweet potato and Egypt with maize, fava beans and cotton are cited in the report, which was released by K. Y. Amoako, Executive Secretary of the ECA.  A journalist asked whether biotechnology could mark the start of a new era for Africa, given that the market for it had vanished as rapidly as it had grown in North America and Europe. Did traditional African crops not have greater nutritional potential than genetically modified ones?  Mr. Asea conceded that current biotechnological research had not focused on traditional African crops like such as cassava, millet and sorghum, but pointed out that genetically modified crops also had significant nutritional qualities. They were also more resistant to drought.  Asked whether the Government of Zambia had done the right thing in rejecting a shipment of genetically modified relief food, he said that individual countries bore the responsibility for their own food standards. The miniscule risk of harm from genetically modified foods should be weighed against the fact that 14 million people in southern Africa were facing famine, he added.  Another journalist asked why the report contended that the "green revolution" was a powerful tool for poverty reduction, while it had been proven that the revolution had caused a decline in production and increased poverty. Mr. Asea replied that the report argued in favour of an eventual balance between traditional and genetically modified crops. Agreeing with the correspondent that traditional crops were important for food security, he said the ECA advocated research that would make them much hardier.  Asked whether African countries had the capacity to assess the new biotechnologies and how many of them had ratified the Convention on Biosafety, he said that Kenya, South Africa and Egypt all had excellent facilities. Furthermore, it was not necessary for each country to assess the biotechnologies. He added that 24 African countries had signed the Convention.  Did the report take into account that governments were not involved in funding the research and that Western corporations provided the funding? Mr. Asea said the ECA advocated strategic partnerships that would result in mutual benefits, including the focusing of attention on the African "orphan" crops.  Asked how the ECA could advocate what the rest of the world has rejected, particularly in light of one corporation's role in contaminating Canada's soy bean crop and subverting the contract rights of small farmers, he replied that there was a potential for biotechnology if used effectively in a consistent and balanced framework.

Mr. Amoako added that the greater risk for Africa was to allow the biotechnology revolution to pass the region by without entering the debate. Africa could not afford to sit on the sidelines, he stressed.

WORLD BANK

WSSD Web page:

http://lnweb18.worldbank.org/ESSD/essdext.nsf/43ByDocName/WorldSummitonSustainableDevelopmentWorldBankandWSSD

58. UK, EC, UNDP & WB URGE POLICY MAKERS TO STRESS POVERTY AND ENVIRONMENT LINKAGES

3 September 2002

Internet: http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/NEWS/0,,contentMDK:20064907~menuPK:34463~pagePK:34370~piPK:34424~theSite
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JOHANNESBURG, September 3, 2002-A bold set of policy measures to strengthen poverty reduction through improved environmental management were presented today at the launch of "Linking Poverty Reduction and Environmental Management," a joint report produced by the UK Department of International Development (DFID), the European Commission (EC), the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), and the World Bank (WB). European Commissioner Poul Nielson, said that, "It is often the poor who are most affected by environmental degradation, such as desertification, deforestation, and overfishing . As a result, they are not able to earn a decent living.  In our development cooperation efforts, we are specifically addressing this by better integrating environmental issues. Moreover, we should look at our own consumption patterns and arrive at a fairer world trading system. We are addressing our own agricultural and fisheries subsidies in order to take developing country and environmental concerns into account." The report stresses that global policies are critical, including reform of trade distorting agriculture subsidies and other trade barriers, making foreign direct investments more environmentally and socially responsible, the greening of development assistance strategies, and debt relief.  According to Clare Short, Secretary of State for International Development, UK, "This initiative provides an important opportunity to change the terms of the global debate on the links between poverty, the environment, and sustainable development. We must be clear that protecting the environment is not an end in itself. We do not simply want to conserve the world we have. We want improved lives for the poor of the world and a world that is sustainable for future generations." At the national level, the report recommends ways to better integrate environmental assessment into economic policy reforms, improving national income accounts to better reflect the real cost of environmental damage, strengthening governance at local and national levels, and expanding the poors' access to environmental resources, such as clean water supply and sanitation. For Mark Malloch Brown, UNDP Administrator, "Reversing environmental decline in ways that benefit the poor is critical to achieving poverty eradication and the Millennium Development Goals.  And this means empowering people and local communities to improve their livelihoods by protecting and benefiting from the environment, and ensuring that global and national policies support rather than undermine their efforts." James D. Wolfensohn, President of the World Bank, stressed that, "In order to reduce poverty we need growth, but we need socially and  environmentally responsible growth.  It must not curtail the options of future generations by destroying biodiversity or the capacity of ecosystems to support human life, nor can we continue with the inequalities of today, where 80 percent of  the world's population has 20 percent of the planet's income."  To reduce poor peoples' exposure to environmental hazards, the report proposes strengthening of disaster preparedness and expanding people's access to insurance and other risk management mechanisms.  

59. GLOBAL VILLAGE ENERGY PARTNERSHIP HARNESSING ENERGY FOR POVERTY REDUCTION: PEOPLE, PRODUCTIVITY AND PARTNERSHIPS

30 August 2002

Internet: http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/NEWS/0,,contentMDK:20064921~menuPK:34463~pagePK:34370~piPK:34424~theSite
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JOHANNESBURG, August 30, 2002-A group of 70 representatives of community  groups, consumers, non-governmental organizations, governments, multilateral institutions, and private firms will unveil a new global initiative tomorrow that aims to double the number of people who gain access each year to lighting, heating, mechanical energy and electrical power.  The partnership, which will be launched Saturday, August 31, at the World Summit on Sustainable Development, aims to reduce poverty in rural, and semi-urban unserved areas by linking 400 million people to electricity and cleaner fuels over a period of 10 years, and providing 50,000 communities with power for productive uses, more modern schools, telecommunications, hospitals and clinics.  The partnership seeks to trigger new investments of up to $5 billion to $7 billion a year. "Energy is at the center of many of the most critical development challenges facing the world today," said Mark Malloch Brown, administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), one of the initiative's partners. "Improving access to energy services is not an end in itself but rather a critical means for achieving the goals of sustainable development, and especially the Millennium Development Goals."  Providing affordable, reliable and environmentally sustainable energy services is one of the keys to improving livelihoods and addressing poverty in developing countries.  Currently, up to 2 billion people in Asia, Africa and Latin America lack access to electricity and can neither undertake significant income generating activities nor light their homes adequately.  Almost as many people use fuelwood for cooking, which causes indoor air pollution and leads to severe health effects through exposure to noxious fumes.  By using modern energy sources, villagers can improve their living conditions, generate the incomes necessary to lift themselves out of poverty, provide better lighting of homes, adopt cleaner fuels for cooking and heating, and produce cleaner emissions from energy-consuming industrial plants. Peter Woicke, Executive Vice President of the International Finance Corporation and Managing Director of the World Bank Group, has called on partners to "to embrace the initiative with full commitment". He noted the critical role of all parties involved in this public-private partnership, each bringing its own unique perspective to the joint effort. "Through this initiative, we can help reduce poverty by substantially increasing the number of small and medium-sized entreprises and institutions that can undertake village energy projects," said Woicke. "Only by working together, can we improve access to modern energy services that can transform lives and improve livelihoods." The Global Village Energy Partnership builds on the existing experience of its over 70 partner organizations from a wide range of individuals and organizations, including representatives of  the private sector and civil society.  Instrumental in supporting the development of the partnership are a number of bilateral donors, including Canada, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States, NGOs including UN Foundation, the Kumasi Institute of Technology and Environment of Ghana (KITE), Energia, Winrock International, and Stakeholders Forum, and multilateral organizations like the World Bank and UNDP. The partnership will expand existing programs that use outreach efforts and training to increase the number of people with access to modern energy services in developing countries, such as successful efforts in Sri Lanka and Chile that gave people more options for starting entrepreneurial activities and dramatically improving people's lives.  The partnership will make available lessons learned and best practices, disseminate models for effective energy delivery, pool technical and financial resources, strengthen local community organizations and aggregate and account for results.  The new initiative will reach out to non-energy organizations in the health, education, water, agriculture, transport and enterprise sectors, offering a range of technology solutions to meet their needs, which cover renewable energy, energy efficiency, modern biomass, liquefied petroleum gas and cleaner fossil fuels."The Global Village Energy Partnership has exciting potential to facilitate knowledge sharing, cooperation and project development across  the range of issues and organizations," said Doug Banks, operator of a small South African business called RAPS. " Millions of households have inadequate energy services.  The task at hand is huge and a global initiative supporting existing and new local entrepreneurs and private entities is sorely needed.  We look forward to participating in the development and implementation of the partnership."

The Global Village Energy Partnership will provide:

The opportunity for communities, governments, private entrepreneurs and financial and multilateral institutions to agree on Action Plans for the development of energy services, including policy and regulatory frameworks;

Capacity Building services to help entrepreneurs, consumers and others to develop their activities as energy service providers and consumers;

Knowledge Management services to share existing knowledge on technologies and delivery models; and make available registries of service providers; it will reach communities and all other partners, through a network of trained people and organizations, radio and television programs, publications, and an internet based service;

Funding Facilitation services, to help access available financing sources, train local financial institutions, mobilize new local and international funding sources, and provide seed capital to new or expanding energy service providers;

Monitoring, results and evaluation services to measure the impact of all these efforts in order to be able to account publicly for achievements.

The partnership enables groups such as the Ghanaian NGO Kumasi Institute of Technology and Environment, to team up with partners and leverage their experience in reaching a common goal.  KITE Director Dr. Abeeku Brew-Hammond, noted that, "KITE started this journey towards a sustainable energy future on its own. Now, it is time for us to join the global community. We can no longer go it alone, and they cannot  succeed without us. Together we will complete the journey." 

60. GLOBAL CONSULTATIVE PROCESS LAUNCHED ON AGRICULTURAL SCIENCE

LOOKING AT RISKS AND OPPORTUNITIES

29 August 2002

Internet: http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/NEWS/0,,contentMDK:20063733~menuPK:34463~pagePK:34370~piPK:34424~theSiteP
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JOHANNESBURG, August 29, 2002 - A new international consultative process was launched today on the risks and opportunities of using agricultural science to reduce hunger and improve rural livelihoods in the developing world.  The initiative, which is expected to last through mid-2003, aims to exchange ideas between consumers, farmers, scientists, NGOs, governments, and the private sector in an effort to produce an international assessment on agricultural science that would give decision-makers the tools and information they need to answer the tough questions surrounding the issue.  The new process will be co-chaired by World Bank Chief Scientist Robert T. Watson, who is also the former head of the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC); Claudia Martinez Zuleta, former Colombian deputy minister of environment; Rita Sharma, the joint secretary and land resources commissioner of India's agriculture ministry; Louise Fresco, the FAO's assistant director general for agriculture; and Seyfu Ketema, executive secretary of the Association for Strengthening Agricultural Research in Eastern and Central Africa.  "Nearly 800 million people go to bed hungry every night and over the next 50 years, food production will have to double to meet growing demands," said Ian Johnson, the World Bank's vice-president for sustainable development.  "This will involve both productivity and environmental management challenges. As we move forward, the application of science to agriculture needs to be fully assessed in terms of its contribution to enabling farmers to be more productive. But equally, the environmental and social risks, as well as ethical issues, need to be discussed in an open and transparent manner. By discussing and examining the issues with everyone from farmers and consumers, to NGOs and governments, we can contribute to the informed dialogue among them," said Johnson, who also chairs the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR).  The consultative process on agricultural science will look at the risks and opportunities of a broad range of issues, such as organic agriculture, traditional plant breeding techniques, new farming technologies, and biotechnology. The assessment will be modeled on similar assessments on climate change and ozone that have proven invaluable for guiding policy makers on pressing issues.  "My experience in chairing international assessments on climate change, biodiversity and ozone leads me to believe that it is possible to ensure that a professional assessment in which all voices are heard will be achieved," said Watson. "Such agreements only work when they are inclusive and transparent. We must not shy away from the difficult challenge of discussing with a wide range of partners what exactly are the tradeoffs in using agricultural science to meet growing food needs." The consultative process will try to maximize input through a number of ways, including meetings in various parts of the world, videoconferences, and an interactive website at www.agassessment.org 

61.  WORLD BANK URGES MORE BALANCED GLOBAL APPROACH TO DEVELOPMENT

21 August 2002

Internet:

http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/NEWS/0,,contentMDK:20062669~menuPK:34463~pagePK:34370~piPK:34424~theSiteP
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WASHINGTON, August 21, 2002 - The next 50 years could see a fourfold increase in the size of the global economy and significant reductions in poverty, provided that governments act now to avert a growing risk of severe damage to the environment and profound social unrest, according to a new World Bank report.  In nearly 50 years, the world could have a gross domestic product of $140 trillion and a total population of nine billion people, up from six billion today. Without better policies and institutions, social and environmental strains may derail development progress, leading to higher poverty levels and a decline in the quality of life for everybody, according to the World Development Report 2003.  The World Bank is calling on heads of state, ministers, private sector leaders, and civil society representatives at next week's World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg to reach agreement on steps that can be taken now to ensure that poverty-reducing growth does not come at great cost to future generations.  Misguided policies and weak governance in past decades have contributed to environmental disasters, income inequality, and social upheaval in some countries, often resulting in deep deprivation, riots, or refugees fleeing famine or civil wars.  Today, many poor people depend on fragile natural resources to survive. Similarly, trust between individuals, which can be eroded or destroyed by civic unrest, is a social asset with important economic benefits, since it enables people to make agreements and undertake transactions that would otherwise not be possible. Development polices need to be more sharply focused on protecting these natural and social assets, the report said.  The World Development Report 2003 suggests new alliances are needed at the local, national and global levels to better address these problems. The burden for development must be shared more widely. Rich countries must further open their markets and cut agricultural subsidies that depress incomes of third world farmers, and they must increase the flow of aid, medicines, and new technologies to developing countries. Governments in the developing world, in turn, must become more accountable and transparent, and ensure that poor people are able to obtain secure land tenure, as well as access to education, health care, and other basic services.

ACTION ON AGRICULTURE

Developing countries depend on their agricultural sectors for around one quarter of their total output. However, farmers in these regions are faced with many hurdles to boosting their living standards in the years ahead.  Rich country subsidies depress agricultural prices and stifle opportunities for exporters in the poorest countries.  Poor roads, a scarcity of finance, lack of access to new technologies, and growing environmental degradation also threaten the livelihoods of poor farmers in many parts of the world.  To help the poorest in the developing world rapidly boost their incomes, the World Bank is urging rich countries to stop spending $1 billion a day on agricultural subsidies, to accelerate the transfer of new technologies, and to provide more aid, particularly to Sub-Saharan Africa, which is struggling to raise agricultural productivity in the face of rapid population growth.  The report says that the next few years offer the opportunity to shape investment patterns to make more efficient use of natural resources, to protect the environment, and to bring deep reductions in poverty. The Bank is urging world leaders to take advantage of the spirit behind such recent milestones as the Monterrey Consensus, the compact adopted by the United Nations at the March 2002 International Conference on Financing for Development, and the New Partnership for Africa's Development, an initiative by African leaders, to establish a global effort for attaining sustainable development.

"Low- income countries will need to grow at 3.6 percent per capita to meet the United Nations' Millennium Development Goal of halving poverty by 2015, but this growth must be achieved in a manner that preserves our future," said Ian Johnson, Vice President of the World Bank's Environmentally and Socially Sustainable Development Network. "It would be reckless of us to successfully reach the Millennium Development Goals in 2015, only to be confronted by dysfunctional cities, dwindling water supplies, more inequality and conflict, and even less cropland to sustain us than we have now."  The latest World Development Report (WDR 2003) stresses that the burden of guaranteeing sustainable development must be shared locally, nationally, and globally:

• Developing countries need to promote participation and substantive democracy, inclusiveness, and transparency as they build the institutions needed to manage their resources.
   

• Rich countries need to increase aid, cut poor country debts, open their markets to developing country exporters, and help transfer technologies needed to prevent diseases, increase energy efficiency, and bolster agricultural productivity.
   

• Civil society organizations contribute when they serve as a voice for dispersed interests and provide independent verification of public, private, and nongovernmental performance.
   

• Private firms contribute when they commit to sustainability in their daily operations and also create incentives to pursue their interests while advancing environmental and social objectives.

"The world must act to help its poorest people manage their own resources and build their productivity and incomes now, to empower these communities and help them prepare for the demands of the decades ahead," said Nicholas Stern, World Bank Chief Economist and Senior Vice President. "Rich countries can take such a step by opening their markets to developing world exports and by abandoning agricultural subsidies and other barriers to trade that depress prices and limit market opportunities for the very goods that poor people produce most competitively."  The WDR 2003 estimates that the global population will reach nine billion people by 2050 and stabilize by the end of the century at 10 billion or less.  By mid-century, two-thirds of the world's population will live in cities. The demands for energy, water, housing, and education will be enormous.  Yet these trends also offer windows of opportunity, according to the report. Most of the capital stock - apartments, shops, factories, and roads - that will be needed by the growing population in coming decades does not yet exist. Better standards, increased efficiency, and new, more inclusive means of decision-making could mean that this new capital stock could be built in ways that puts fewer strains on society and the environment.  Similarly, as population growth slows, economic growth will translate more readily into lower poverty and higher incomes per capita - provided that economic and population growth over the next few decades has been handled in a way that does not destroy the natural resources that underpin growth or erode critical social values, such as trust.

MANAGING WATER FOR ALL

The World Commission on Water estimates that water use will jump 50 percent over the next 30 years.  As much as half the world's population - largely in Africa, the Middle East and South Asia - will face severe water shortages by 2025.  Effectively managing the world's water resources and ensuring delivery to rapidly growing urban areas, rural communities, and industries will increasingly require internationally coordinated efforts.  Many developing countries will need to make sizeable investments in water infrastructure. In the past, inappropriate pricing policies have led to massive waste and have not provided benefits to poor people, who often lack access to water connections.  Water supply is an essential element in many other poverty reduction efforts, such as nutrition, and disease prevention programs.  Next week's summit in Johannesburg will consider ways to ensure poor people have wider and continuous access to clean water.  "The $140 trillion world of five decades time simply cannot be sustained on current production and consumption patterns," Stern said. "A major transformation - beginning in the rich countries - will be needed to ensure that poor people have an opportunity to participate, and that the environment is not damaged in a way that undermines their opportunities for the future."  Coordinating globally and acting locally will be critical to ensuring that gains in social indicators - such as incomes, literacy rates, or access to sanitation - of the past 20 years are not reversed by population growth pressures and unsustainable economic expansion.  "The goal for the World Summit in Johannesburg should be to establish truly global alliances, with partners from all sectors, that will transparently and fairly work towards ensuring that development gains do not exhaust our environment and its resources or threaten social upheaval because they exclude poor people," Johnson said. "In the quest to deliver a better life for poor people, we must plan for better management of critical public resources: water, energy, health, agriculture, and biodiversity."  

The challenges are daunting. The average income in the richest 20 countries is already 37 times that in the poorest 20 nations. Globally, 1.3 billion people live on fragile lands - arid zones, slopes, wetlands, and forests - that cannot sustain them. Both the gap between rich and poor countries and the number of people living on fragile lands have doubled in the past 40 years.  Around half of the world's wetlands disappeared in the last century. Water use is expected to jump 50 percent over the next 30 years, and yet pollution and climate changes are already threatening water supplies, particularly in Africa, the Middle East, and South Asia. By 2025, it is likely that three quarters of the world's population will live within 100 kilometers of the sea, placing huge strains on coastal ecosystems.  Since the 1950s, nearly two million hectares of land worldwide - representing 23 percent of all cropland, pastures, forest, and woodland - have been degraded, and tropical forests are disappearing at the rate of 5 percent per decade.  More than one third of terrestrial biodiversity is squeezed into habitats that altogether represent just 1.4 percent of the Earth's surface.  In the latest World Development Report, the World Bank notes that the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro 10 years ago did much to heighten awareness of the policy challenges necessary to achieve sustainable development. Since then, the need for more effective local, national, and international institutions to design and implement these policies has become increasingly evident, the report says.  The 2003 report describes promising innovations around the globe that address these problems. It argues for rich and developing countries to build upon these efforts to make sustainable development a reality and enable poor people to participate in economic growth.  "In the next 50 years, the world's population will begin to stabilize, and the majority of people will live in cities for the first time in history," said Zmarak Shalizi, lead author of the WDR 2003. "By thinking long term and acting now, we can take advantage of these windows of opportunity to shift development to a more inclusive and sustainable path and achieve steep reductions in poverty in the decades ahead."  The WDR 2003 suggests that sustainable development will require:

Achieving substantial growth in income and productivity in developing countries.

Managing the social, economic, and environmental transitions to a predominantly urban world.

Attending to the needs of hundreds of millions of people living on environmentally fragile lands.

Reaping the "demographic dividends" seen in declining dependency rates and slowing population growth.

And avoiding the social and environmental stresses3/4at local and global levels3/4likely to emerge on the path to a $140 trillion world economy.

Across the developing world, new rules, organizations, and other institutional innovations are already leading to better environmental outcomes. Air pollution is declining in Mexico City and in some Chinese cities. All but a handful of countries have eliminated lead from gasoline. In the past 10 years, the percentage of people in low- and middle-income countries with access to sanitation has climbed to 52 percent, from 44 percent.  Countries as different as China, Morocco, and Cameroon are experimenting with new institutional approaches to these problems, often involving increased participation of the private sector and civil society. In Brazil, for example, the government has made it possible for poor people in some locales to secure title to their homes and land, so that even those with only the barest means of shelter feel confident they will not be evicted. With security of tenure, even poor people are able to invest to improve their homes or their businesses.  Most importantly, poor people must have a greater say in the process that will shape their lives in the decades ahead. Decisions need to be taken in an inclusive and consultative manner that recognizes the views of poor people while also empowering them with greater control of their own resources.