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Keeping Tabs on Rio+10 Summit
The World Summit on Sustainable
Development taking place in Johannesburg, South Africa,
Aug 26-Sep 4, is the scenario of debates of planet-wide
importance. And those who do not have the chance to
attend in person can use the Internet to keep informed
about the event.
The existence of the Internet
allows an unprecedented level of access to the unfolding
of the Johannesburg Summit. Anyone interested in the
subject no longer depends on local or major media
news providers, but can turn to direct, specialized
sources of information or to headline
search systems that cover a broad range of media
outlets.
This new access to information
creates a radically different situation than that
of the United Nations-sponsored Conference on the
Environment and Development, held in Rio de Janeiro
in 1992, when the worldwide web was only in its nascent
stages.
The Johannesburg Summit, also
known as Rio+10, has its own official
site, which provides news and is updated constantly.
The content of that web site
are complemented by a system that allows Internet
users to obtain news and other sources related to
the conference through Johannesburg
Live!
Meanwhile, the Johannesburg World
Summit Company, which is in charge of the mega-meeting's
logistics, has its own
news center.
The conference, of course, is
being covered by specialized media like Linkages,
of the International Institute for Sustainable Development,
and by a special edition of Tierramérica
itself, and its executor agency, Inter Press Service.
The World Summit on Sustainable
Development has drawn tens of thousands of delegates
and over a hundred heads of state. In other words,
it is a newsworthy event!
Official
Johannesburg Summit Web Site
Tierramérica:
Special Edition on Rio+10 Summit
World
Summit on Sustainable Development - Live!
Linkages
- International Institute for Sustainable Development
Worldnews:
Search headlines on WSSD
Johannesburg
World Summit Company - News
IPS
- Inter Press Service (search Environment and
Development categories)
Earthtimes.org
Environmental Conferences
Thirty years ago the United Nations
convened the first world conference on the environment
and development. In 2002, on the eve of the World
Summit on Sustainable Development, to take place in
South Africa, the challenge is to create a consensus-based
action plan to save the planet.
The first meeting convened by
the UN was the Conference
on the Human Environment, held in Stockholm in
June 1972. At that time, the issue was not yet part
of the international agenda, nor was it a major concern
of governments, most of which lacked any institutions
related to environmental protection.
The final declaration of the
Stockholm meeting stressed the responsibility of humans
in preserving their natural surroundings. It was the
beginning of a debate that continues to this day.
As a result of the 1972 conference, the United
Nations Environment Program (UNEP) was created.
Twenty years passed before the
next international environmental meeting. In 1992,
the UN Conference
on Environment and Development, also known as
the Earth
Summit, drew thousands of world leaders, experts
and activists to the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro.
That was the highest-level global
meeting ever: 172 countries sent delegations, and
an unprecedented 107 heads of state, along with tens
of thousands of civil society representatives. The
government leaders signed a series of commitments,
the most important of which was Agenda
21, which outlines a plan of action for achieving
human development that is compatible with the protection
of the planet.
In fact, a key contribution of
that Earth Summit was the dissemination of the notion
of sustainable development, in other words, measures
that allow us to meet the needs of people today without
compromising the ability of future generations to
provide for their needs.
The Rio Conference, which had
been preceded by the successful UN Summit on Children,
triggered planning for a whole series of world
conferences under the auspices of the United Nations.
And another decade passed before
the environment once again became the subject of another
high-level meet. From Aug 26 to Sep 4 the South African
city of Johannesburg will be the scenario for the
World
Summit on Sustainable Development.
The conference is also known
as Rio+10 because it is being held 10 years after
the Earth Summit. One of the objectives is to evaluate
progress made on the commitments made in Brazil, on
protecting biodiversity and the ozone layer, for example.
But there is also the underlying challenge to launch
a new strategy for achieving true sustainable development.
Will it be possible to meet that
goal? That is the big question hovering over the Rio+10
Summit.
UN
Conference on the Human Environment, 1972
UN
Conference on Environment and Development, 1992
World
Summit on Sustainable Development, 2002
Earth
Summit Report
Environment
and Sustainable Development
Agenda
21
UN
Conferences and Events
UNEP:
Mission Statement
Johannesburg and the
Summit
The city of Johannesburg, South
Africa, will be the epicenter of discussion and debate
for two weeks, as it is hosting a key international
meeting, the World Summit on Sustainable Development,
which is to draw tens of thousands of delegates from
around the world.
This Summit, convened by the
United Nations, is expected to bring together at least
100 heads of state and a total of 65,000 delegates,
according to organizers' estimates. For the host city
the event poses an opportunity and a challenge.
Beyond the meetings and panel
discussions during the Summit itself, the city has
had to face a long preparation process, including
building infrastructure and developing a strategy
for dealing with the influx of so many visitors in
a short period of time.
The Johannesburg Summit Company
was created to handle the preparations for the conference,
which is also known as Rio+10, as it is taking place
a decade after the last world environmental meet of
this magnitude, also organized by the UN, in Rio de
Janeiro in 1992.
The Johannesburg city authorities,
who have a web site with information on the pre-summit
groundwork, report that two weeks before the arrival
of the delegates, more than 43,000 hotel rooms have
been reserved. The organizers are also working with
local families to provide housing for 7,000 more visitors.
This South African city is 115
years old, founded in 1886. It is a mining and industrial
center, with a population of 3.8 million residents
(1998). An Internet site providing figures about the
city states that 40 percent of the population is younger
than 24, and 72 percent is black.
The Internet is an important
source of information for travelers heading to South
Africa for the Summit. In addition to information
specific to the conference, one can find Johannesburg
tourism guides, weather reports and other services
available in the city, set 2,000 meters above sea
level.
Johannesburg
World Summit Company
World
Summit on Sustainable Development
Joburg:
Official site of the city of Johannesburg
Johannesburg
by Numbers
Earthsummit2002:
suggestions for travellers
UN-Cyberschoolbus:
Johannesburg profile
Ananzi:
Portal about South Africa
Johannesburg:
services guide
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