Reporters surround Jacob Scherr, director of NRDC's International Program, at the World Summit.

The United Nations World Summit on Sustainable Development, which wrapped up in Johannesburg, South Africa, on September 4, attracted more than 100 presidents and prime ministers, and some 20,000 officials, reporters, environmentalists and activists from more than 190 nations. NRDC also was there, represented by a seven-person team. At the close of the 10 days of speeches, negotiations and workshops, we were disappointed by the failure of U.S. leadership and the lack of progress in strengthening international environmental norms and institutions. At the same time, we were very encouraged by the fact that the event provided an unprecedented forum to initiate concrete projects to address economic advancement, social development and environmental protection -- the three pillars of sustainable development.

Like the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, the Johannesburg summit produced a negotiated set of broad overarching goals, called a "plan of implementation," which runs 65 pages. The plan covers issues ranging from restoring fisheries, forests and protecting species to providing water, energy and medicine to the poor. But this time the United Nations also encouraged governments, NGOs, businesses and foundations to undertake specific actions to move forward on the commitments already made to sustainable development. The more than 200 partnerships and initiatives announced at the meeting prompted Jacob Scherr, director of NRDC's International Program, to dub the conference the "down to Earth" summit. (See the United Nations World Summit website for a copy of the plan of implementation and a list of the partnerships and initiatives.)

NRDC at the Summit Position on U.S. Partnerships Clean Fuels Initiative Cleaning Up Water around the World

THE JOHANNESBURG PLAN OF IMPLEMENTATION

The stage for Johannesburg was set two years ago at the Millennium Summit, a special session of the U.N. General Assembly attended by the heads of 146 governments. That summit, which focused on the widening gap between rich and poor, drafted goals to address social and economic inequality. Those goals included reducing by half the number of people who live on less than $1 per day, reversing the spread of HIV and AIDS, halving the proportion of people who have no access to safe drinking water, and providing primary education to all children -- all by 2015. Many of these goals were reiterated at Johannesburg.

The Johannesburg summit, meanwhile, produced a 65-page, 128-clause plan of implementation that world leaders and representatives from 192 countries ultimately agreed to after days of intense, drawn-out negotiations. Delegates covered a boggling array of issues, including farm subsidies, fishing practices, renewable energy sources, children's health, water and sanitation, poverty and biodiversity. Below is a summary of the major environmental goals and targets in the plan.

Water and Sanitation

Delegates agreed:

• to halve by 2015 the proportion of people who have no safe drinking water (about 1.2 billion) or adequate sanitation (about 2.4 billion).

This agreement was probably the highlight of the summit. If implemented, it could help prevent the 2 million deaths caused by contaminated drinking water every year. This agreement follows up the U.N. 2000 Millennium Summit declaration to halve by 2015 the proportion of people -- currently 20 percent of the world's population -- who do not have access to safe drinking water.

The United States initially opposed the sanitation target, arguing that it was unscientific and would accomplish little. However, virtually every other country at the summit urged the United States to agree to the target. In addition, NRDC water expert Erik Olson asked the heads of seven major U.S. environmental and health groups to sign onto a letter urging President Bush and the U.S. summit delegation to reverse their position, support the sanitation and drinking water targets, focus attention on protecting major watersheds that serve as drinking water sources, and take concrete steps (including seeking significant new funding) to improve drinking water and sanitation in the developing world.

Olson also met with members of the U.S. delegation and urged them to reverse the U.S. position on sanitation, and to commit to other steps to improve water quality and sanitation in poor nations. Shortly after the NRDC-led coalition sent its letter to the president -- and after the U.S. delegation endured a storm of criticism from delegates and members of Congress at the summit -- the U.S. delegation relented and supported the sanitation target.

Climate and Energy

Delegates agreed:

• that those nations that have ratified the protocol would "strongly urge states that have not done so to ratify the Kyoto Protocol in a timely manner;"


• on voluntary regional and national targets for access to renewable energy sources, such as wind and solar power. But they rejected a specific target and timetable;


• that all people should have access to conventional forms of energy.

This was probably the biggest disappointment at the summit. The United States and the OPEC nations resisted strong language on Kyoto and would not endorse a target for renewable energy. They rejected a Brazilian proposal supported by the rest of Latin America and other developing and developed countries to quadruple the world's use of clean energy to 10 percent by 2010. They also sabotaged a much more aggressive European Union plan for a 15 percent increase over the decade. The "agreement" on renewable energy was nothing more than an endorsement of business as usual.

The summit did agree to phase out harmful subsidies "where appropriate," but included passages supporting nuclear power and fossil fuels. The good news is that the summit was an impetus for China, Canada, India, Mexico and Russia to announce they would proceed with ratification of the Kyoto Protocol.

Agriculture and Fishing

Delegates agreed:

• to stop destructive fishing practices and establish protected marine areas and networks by 2012;
• to maintain or restore fish stocks to levels that can be sustainably harvested by no later than 2015.

Although the summit agreed to replenish fish stocks "where possible" by 2015, critics say this may undermine existing agreements and may be too little, too late. More than 70 percent of commercially important stocks around the globe are threatened.

The summit also agreed that the Global Environment Facility, the world's main funding mechanism for international environmental problems, should be allowed to finance the fight against the desertification, which threatens one third of the world's land area. But the summit refused to phase out agricultural subsidies -- which was a major issue -- or to support organic and fair trade products, and would not take a stand on genetically modified crops.

Other Environmental Provisions

Delegates agreed:

• to significantly reduce the loss of biodiversity by 2010;
• to phase out lead in gasoline, paint and other sources;
• to promote studies of heavy metals that harm the environment;
• to develop a 10-year plan to ensure that goods are produced and consumed without destroying the environment;
• to ensure companies produce and use chemicals safely.

The plan referred to "the achievement by 2010 of a significant reduction in the current rate of loss of biological diversity." But this language is weaker than trying "to stop and reverse the current alarming biodiversity loss," which the world's governments agreed to last April. The new, non-binding proposal is focused on reducing the destruction of rainforests, wetlands, coral reefs and other habitats to better protect animal and plant species. The United States and the G77 group of developing countries were opposed to setting a target, but the agreement is toothless, anyway.

PARTNERSHIPS AND INITIATIVES

NRDC focused its efforts at the Johannesburg summit on partnerships and initiatives. Drafting overarching goals is important, but if there are no on-the-ground projects to implement them, they do not mean much. In fact, most governments failed to fulfill the commitments they made at the Rio Earth Summit a decade ago. So NRDC welcomed the U.N. decision to take a new approach at the Johannesburg summit by focusing on action. The United Nations had asked nations to come to Johannesburg with tangible partnerships and initiatives promoting sustainable development.

At the same time, NRDC stressed that partnerships should not seen as relieving governments of their responsibility for meeting their own commitments or strengthening international treaties and institutions.

NRDC President John Adams emphasized this point during a meeting NRDC arranged between Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Christie Whitman and U.S. environmental leaders at the summit. He told Whitman and other U.S. delegation officials that NRDC was profoundly disappointed with the administration's failure to provide environmental leadership at home or around the world. He did acknowledge NRDC's support for partnerships, but reminded Whitman that partnerships must be held accountable for meeting their goals.

Not only is NRDC supportive of partnerships, we are actively involved in them. At Johannesburg, we announced our participation in an international partnership to rid the world of leaded gasoline and clean up diesel fuel. We also supported the new initiatives on safe drinking water and sustainable energy.

Cleaning Up Diesel and Gasoline

At the summit, NRDC played a key role in creating an international coalition to clean up vehicle fuel, which will bolster efforts to clean up urban air pollution around the world. NRDC joined the U.N. Environment Program, the U.N. Department of Economic and Social Affairs; the governments of the United States, China, South Africa, Mexico, Chile, Canada, Italy, the Netherlands and seven Central American countries; the oil industry, including BP, Shell and the American Petroleum Institute; Japanese and European automakers; diesel enginemakers and emission controls developers; and other civil society organizations to eliminate lead in gasoline worldwide by 2005 and begin phasing down sulfur levels in diesel fuel.

NRDC has been engaged in this issue for more than two decades, campaigning successfully for a ban on leaded gasoline in the United States; bringing cleaner buses to Los Angeles, New York and Washington, D.C.; and, since 1994, helping convince more than 50 countries to drop leaded gasoline -- without an international treaty. Now, as scientists better understand the health risks posed by diesel exhaust, including asthma, other respiratory ailments and cancer, NRDC has broadened its clean fuels program to call for phasing-down of sulfur in diesel, which would allow manufacturers to build significantly cleaner diesel vehicles.

Rich Kassel led NRDC's participation in the development of the clean fuels initiative. He outlined three significant aspects of the partnership:

• It is the first time an international body has made a commitment to clean up diesel's toxic emissions. Given the growing body of data showing strong associations between diesel exhaust and a wide range of health problems, and the fact that the sales of diesel vehicles are growing at a faster rate than gasoline vehicles, this is especially important.
• Second, it was critical to reaffirm the goal of getting rid of leaded gasoline in the context of the Johannesburg summit's focus on developing countries. Many of the nations that still use leaded gasoline are in Africa, the Middle East and the former Soviet republics.
• Finally, this is the first time that multinational oil companies have publicly committed themselves to the clean fuel agenda. The fact that the American Petroleum Institute -- the U.S. oil industry trade group -- and several oil companies are participating is especially noteworthy, given their longstanding opposition to domestic initiatives to clean up fuels.

NRDC will closely monitor the progress of the partnership and encourage other civil society organizations, especially from developing countries, to get involved. In separate meetings at the summit, Kassel and Nyaguthii Chege from NRDC's International Program met with representatives of civil society groups from India, South Africa, Mexico, Brazil, Jordan, Kenya, Israel and several European nations and offered to assist them in their efforts to promote cleaner transportation fuels.

Water and Sanitation

It was important for the delegates to set an overarching goal for drinking water and sanitation, but it will require concrete projects to reach it. At workshops hosted by the U.K.-based Water Aid, NRDC, and a new coordinating group called the Freshwater Action Network, summit participants discussed how citizens around the world could implement the summit's drinking water and sanitation agreements and to monitor the new water partnerships announced in Johannesburg by the United States, Europe, and Japan. NRDC conferred with citizen group representatives from India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nigeria, Uganda, Brazil, Mexico and other developing countries and agreed to work with many of them.

NRDC will work with NGOs and developing and developed countries, including the United States, Japan, and the European Union, to achieve the drinking water goals adopted at Johannesburg. The next international meeting addressing this issue, the World Water Summit, will take place in Japan in 2003.

Renewable Energy

Although the U.S. government torpedoed an agreement on a global target and timetable for renewable energy, it supported efforts by the U.N. Development Program and the World Bank to establish the Global Village Energy Partnership, a renewable energy initiative for developing countries. The partnership -- which is supported by several industrialized and developing country governments, private corporations and non-governmental organizations -- projects that within 10 years it will be able to secure modern energy services for 50,000 new communities and more than 400,000 people who presently do not have electricity. It also will help organize entrepreneurs and institutions to develop and implement energy projects. Unfortunately, the United States has provided relatively little financial support for this initiative -- about $20 million for 2003 -- and has not committed significant technical or institutional resources to support it.

Nyaguthii Chege participated in several energy events at the summit, including a workshop on U.S., E.U. and U.N. Environmental Program energy initiatives, and the first meeting of the Global Village Energy Partnership steering committee. In the months following Johannesburg, NRDC will continue to pressure the U.S. government to support sustainable energy in developing countries.

THE ROAD FROM JOHANNESBURG

At the summit's conclusion, the United Nations announced that it would not host another mega-conference on sustainable development until governments take significant steps toward meeting the goals of sustainable development. It also announced it will establish a new program to monitor and report on international progress in meeting the summit goals.

This new seriousness at the United Nations about implementation monitoring -- which NRDC has been advocating for nearly a decade -- was reason enough to stand up and cheer. However, NRDC has long recognized that one cannot rely on governments alone to fulfill their promises. So we held a meeting at the summit to explore the possibility of creating a global citizens network to hold governments and others partners accountable for the commitments they made in Johannesburg. Stay tuned.

RELATED LINKS

Earthwire WSSD
United Nations: Johannesburg Summit 2002
Stakeholder Forums: Earth Summit 2002
Linkages: Johannesburg Summit 2002 Portal
Johannesburg Climate Legacy 2002

Last revised 9.25.02