From rsherman@icon.co.za Sun Dec 17 15:38:05 2000 Date: Tue, 12 Dec 2000 14:34:49 +0200 From: Richard ShermanTo: 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 m -------------------------- eGroups Sponsor -------------------------~-~> eLerts It's Easy. It's Fun. Best of All, it's Free! http://click.egroups.com/1/9699/0/_/4246/_/976742408/ ---------------------------------------------------------------------_->