From rsherman@icon.co.za Sun Dec 17 15:38:05 2000
Date: Tue, 12 Dec 2000 14:34:49 +0200
From: Richard Sherman 
To: Lars Georg Jensen ,
     Langston James Goree VI , Bryan Ashe ,
     Joerg Haas , hbssa ,
     Felix 2002 Mail , energy-csd@egroups.com,
     aydin@un.org
Subject: [energy-csd] SA WILL HOST EARTH SUMMIT 2002

Date: 10/12/2000
Source: MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENTAL AFFAIRS AND TOURISM
Title: SA WILL HOST EARTH SUMMIT 2002
----------------------------

THE UNITED NATIONS ENDORSES SOUTH AFRICA AS HOST OF THE EARTH SUMMIT

The 55th Session of United Nations General Assembly on Environment and
Sustainable Development (UNCED) on Friday 8 December 2000 decided that South
Africa will be the host of the Earth Summit 2002.

The Deputy Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism Rejoice Mabudafhasi
said that South Africa welcomed the UN's decision to bring the prestigious
Rio+10 conference to the African continent. "Bringing the Earth Summit to
South Africa is a major boost for Africa as the major conference on
sustainable development on our soil will firmly place these issues and
debates on the agenda of our continent".

In February this year, President Thabo Mbeki made a formal offer to the
United Nations to host this 10-year Review Summit, popularly referred to as
the Earth Summit 2002. To signal the high importance of this event Heads of
States will attend the summit, along with more than 40,000 delegates.
Indonesia was the only other country to bid to host the Summit.

More than 130 Heads of State participated in UNCED during 1992 and it is
expected that the majority of the 188 members of the UN will send
delegations to the 2002 Summit. More than 15,000 individual NGOs were
represented at the Rio Earth Summit in 1992.

Mabudafhasi said that the conferences significance went way beyond the
actual event as it set the agenda for sustainable development and the
environment for the next decade. "It is therefore significant that is should
take place in the developing world were the issues of development and the
environment are fundamental to the daily struggle against poverty."

The Earth Summit 2002 should deepen the global commitment to sustainable
development through a new "global compact", and bring a new spirit into the
environmental debate. There is wide consensus that the primary focus of the
Summit should be on "poverty, development and the environment". Poverty and
underdevelopment are seen as the fundamental threats to environmental
security and sustainable development.

"With the expected attendance of more than 42,000 people from across the
world, the hosting of this conference in Africa would be powerful statement
about the importance of sustainable development for the whole world",
Mabudafhasi said.

The South African Cabinet has decided that the Earth Summit 2002 will be
held in Johannesburg, Gauteng.

The second committee of the 55th Session of United Nations General Assembly
on Environment and Sustainable Development also resolved that the 10-year
Review Summit:

* Should focus on the identification of accomplishments and areas where
further efforts are needed to implement Agenda 21 and other outcomes of the
United Nations Conference on Environment and Development and should focus on
action-oriented decisions in areas where future efforts are needed to
implement Agenda 21, address, within the framework of Agenda 21, new
challenges and opportunities, and result in renewed political commitment and
support for sustainable development, consistent, inter alia, within the
principle of common but differentiated responsibilities;

* Should ensure a balance between the economic development, social
development and environmental protection as independent and mutually
reinforcing components of sustainable development;

The Second Committee of the United Nations General Assembly decided to call
the final event of the 10-year review the World Summit on Sustainable
Development.

The Committee also:

* Stressed the importance of early and effective preparations for the Summit
and a comprehensive assessment of progress achieved in the implementation of
Agenda 21 and the other outcomes on the United Nations Conference on
Environment and Development to be carried out at the local, national,
regional and international levels by Governments and the United Nations
system so as to ensure high-quality inputs to review the process, and
welcomes the preparatory activities carried out so far;

* Welcomed the work undertaken at the regional levels in close collaboration
with the respective regional economic commissions to implement the action
programmes for sustainable development that could provide substantive inputs
to the preparatory process and the summit itself;

The Committee also resolved that the United Nations Commission on
Sustainable Development acting as the preparatory committee should:

* Undertake the comprehensive review and assessment of the implementation of
Agenda 21 and other outcomes of the United Nations Conference on Environment
and Development on the basis of the results of national assessments and
sub-regional and regional preparatory meetings.

* Identify major constraints hindering the implementation of Agenda 21 and
propose the specific time-bound measures to be undertaken at all levels;

* Address new challenges and opportunities that have emerged since UNCED
within the framework of Agenda 21;

* Address ways of strengthening and institutional framework for sustainable
development and evaluate and define the role and the programme of work of
the Commission of Sustainable Development;

* Propose a provisional agenda and possible main themes of the Summit based
on the outcomes of the preparatory activities at the national, sub-regional,
regional and international levels, as well as taking into account the input
of the major groups.

* There is general consensus among UN member states that the Agenda 21
principles agreed at Rio in 1992 should not be renegotiated. The Earth
Summit 2002 should review the successes and failures of countries in meeting
their commitments made at Rio in a frank manner and furthermore reinvigorate
the global commitment to sustainable development


Fact Sheet on the Earth Summit

* In 1992, 130 heads of state participated in the United Nations Conference
on Environment and Development (UNCED), held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
UNCED was convened to address urgent problems of environmental protection
and socio-economic development. The assembled leaders signed the Framework
Convention on Climate Change and the Convention on Biological Diversity.
They endorsed the Rio Declaration and the Forest Principles and adopted
Agenda 21, a 300-page plan for achieving sustainable development in the 21st
century.

* The UN Commission on Sustainable Development (UN CSD) was established in
December 1992 to ensure effective follow-up of UNCED and to monitor and
report on progress with the implementation of the UNCED agreements at the
local, national, regional and international levels.

* The UN CSD is a functional commission of the UN Economic and Social
Council (ECOSOC), with 53 members. Thirteen seats have been allocated to
Africa. South Africa has officially participated in the UN CSD meetings
since 1995. South Africa has observer status in the UN CSD.

* It was agreed that a five-year review of progress with the implementation
of Agenda 21 would be made in 1997 by the 19th Special Session of the United
Nations General Assembly. The Special Session of the General Assembly on
Agenda 21 was held in June 1997 at the UN Headquarters in New York. The
Special Session adopted a comprehensive document entitled Programme for the
Further Implementation of Agenda 21 prepared by the UN Commission on
Sustainable Development. It also adopted the programme of work of the UN CSD
from 1998 to 2002.

* The next comprehensive review will be in 2002, 10 years after the
establishment of the UN CSD. The first formal debate on the ten-year review
process of the implementation of Agenda 21 took place in April 2000 at the
Eighth Session of the UN CSD. Countries discussed the format, scope, venue
and nature of the preparatory process for the ten-year review in 2002. The
debate will provide guidance to the Secretary General for his report to the
55th session of the UN General Assembly in September 2000.


For more information please contact Onkgopotse JJ Tabane, 082 465 6166 / 012
310 3611
tabane@iafrica.com

Issued by the Ministry of Environmental Affairs and Tourism, 10 December
2000
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