PREPARATIONS FOR SUMMIT ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GO GLOBAL
Preparations for next year's World Summit on Sustainable Development
advanced this week from the regional to the global level,
Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs Nitin Desai told a
press conference this week at UN Headquarters in New York.
Mr. Desai, who will serve as Secretary-General of the Summit in
Johannesburg, South Africa, next September, said that events in New York
this week would build on the results of earlier regional activities, which
included round tables and various intergovernmental and inter-sectoral
meetings. Yesterday, the UN General Assembly's Economic and Finance (Second)
Committee started its debate on "Environment and Development," focusing on
the Johannesburg Summit, Mr. Desai said. The first meeting of a high-level
advisory panel appointed by Secretary-General Kofi Annan was also held on
Monday.
The main objective for the Johannesburg forum will be to "try to put some
flesh and bones" around the concept of sustainable development in a few key
areas, Mr. Desai stressed. That meant linking the poverty agenda to
environmental issues, a connection that was obvious since 70 per cent of the
poor depended on land, water and forest for their living, and health issues
depended greatly on water, sanitation and air quality.
The second challenge for the conference, according to Mr. Desai, will be to
deal with the sustainability of consumption and production, with the
intention of formulating policies to meet both the demands of developing
countries - where consumption and production levels are still low - and the
management of high consumption levels in industrialized countries. The
Summit agenda will also deal with ecosystems - water, forest, biodiversity
and oceans.
Overall, the Summit will have to look at how these issues can be addressed
through policies, programmes and institutions, as well as the finances,
technologies and organizations needed to implement the outcomes, Mr. Desai
said.
The Johannesburg Summit will be a 10-year follow-up to the 1992 UN
Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) that adopted Agenda 21,
the programme of action that serves as the blueprint for achieving global
sustainable development.

SOURCE: UN Newservice, 30 October 2001