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Summit 101 Corporate Impacts Issue Briefs: Water, Biodiversity Polluted
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Earth Summit 101 |
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Overview of Johannesburg Earth Summit The World Summit on Sustainable Development will be held from August 26 through September 4, 2002 in Johannesburg, South Africa. Also known as the "Johannesburg Earth Summit," the event is billed to be the largest United Nations summit ever where more than 50,000 people including over 100 heads of state are expected to attend. The summit will mark the 10-year anniversary of the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) - the "Rio Earth Summit" - where major international agreements on climate change and biodiversity were reached. The Rio Summit articulated a global commitment to the idea of sustainable development broadly, and to specific measures to turn that idea into action. In 1972, the United Nations convened a conference that was held in Stockholm, Sweden to give developed and developing countries a better understanding of how to care for our planet. The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) was borne out of the Stockholm Conference. In 1983, The United Nations' General Assembly created the World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED) and appointed Gro Harlem Brundtland, then leader of the Norwegian Labour Party, to develop a "global agenda for change." Five years later in 1987, the WCED published Our Common Future, which defined the concept of sustainable development as it is most commonly recognized today: "Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs." Proponents of economic growth have and still, to a great extent, view efforts to protect the environment as barriers to free trade and profitability. The publication of Our Common Future challenged this dogma by asserting economic growth, environmental protection and poverty alleviation - now commonly known as the "three pillars" of sustainable development - are in fact mutually reinforcing. What happened at the Rio Earth Summit? In the late '80s, the concept of sustainable development captured international political attention because of its ability to integrate very complex environmental, social and economic problems into one "catch-phrase" solution. Our Common Future culminated in the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), otherwise known as the "Rio Earth Summit." The primary goal of the Rio Earth Summit was to devise a plan of action for sustainable development for the twenty-first century. The genius of the governmental consensus at Rio was that it provided for environmental protection and economic development, while at the same time incorporating the principles of equity among people, between countries and between generations. The main outcomes of the Rio Earth Summit were: This 40-chapter, 500-page program of action is the "map" to achieve sustainable development. Although Agenda 21 is not legally binding, it is an agreed plan of action for 171 out of the 178 national governments that attended the Rio Earth Summit. The Rio Declaration is a set of twenty-seven principles agreed to by governments that build upon the declaration adopted at the Stockholm Conference in 1972. The Framework Convention on Climate Change In the Framework Convention on Climate Change (FCCC), rich countries agreed to stabilize emissions at 1990 levels by 2000 and mobilize resources to help poorer countries. The Kyoto Protocol - borne out of the FCCC - was negotiated in 1997 to provide legally enforceable emissions reduction targets. The Convention on Biological Diversity The Convention on Biological Diversity sets out commitments for maintaining the world's biodiversity. What to expect from governments at the Johannesburg Earth Summit There will be two types of official outcomes - known as Types 1 and 2. The Plan of Implementation is a "Type 1" outcome that is negotiated and agreed to by all governments. This document will in effect be the "directions" on how to implement, for example, Agenda 21 and the Millennium Development Goals. It will be a comprehensive document that addresses issues like water, energy, health, agriculture, biodiversity, financing, governance, trade and governance issues. There will be a Political Declaration, also a "Type 1" outcome that is negotiated and agreed to by governments. This document is a "high-level" declaration agreed to by heads of state. "Type 2" outcomes are voluntary "Partnerships" between (any combination of) business, governments and NGOs, which are not negotiated by governments.
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