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What
Happened at Johannesburg?
 After two weeks of hard bargaining, the member countries agreed on
a Plan of Implementation to deal with world poverty and the destruction
of the environment. The plan was adopted on September 4, 2002, the last
day of the summit, at 1:15 AM. Some of the issues faced were:
Climate change and the Kyoto Protocol: In face of global warming
that threatens the environment, the Kyoto Protocol was adopted by the
international community in 1997 to lower the amount of carbon produced
in the atmosphere by burning coal and oil. Some of the countries who
are heavy polluters, such as the USA and Australia, refuse to abide
by the terms of the Kyoto Protocol.
Targets for Renewable Energy: Two billion people cannot escape
poverty without access to energy. The Plan of Implementation recognizes
the need to shift from fossil fuels (oil, coal) to non-polluting sources
such as wind, sun and water. But, under pressure from some northern
countries, it fails to set reductions for polluting energy sources in
providing energy for the poor.
Water and Sanitation: Governments agreed to provide safe drinking
water and access to basic sanitation by 2015 for half the people of
the world without them. This was a victory for the poor. Meanwhile,
eleven million children do not reach the age of five because they must
drink filthy contaminated water.
Corporate Accountability: Governments agreed to work towards
global regulation of corporations and trans-national companies. Corporations
unaccountable to any government are the greatest cause of division and
growing poverty in the developing, or third world.
Biodiversity: The Plan of Implementation fell short in addressing
the crisis of global extinction and massive degradation of both our
land and water resources. Species of plants, insects and animal life
continue to disappear at alarming rates.
Elimination of Energy Subsidies harmful to the Environment:
Governments agreed to eliminate environmentally harmful subsidies, but
their commitment was weak, without timetables or targets. Hundreds of
billions of dollars, for example, are given in tax relief or direct
subsidies to the fossil fuel industry that produces coal, oil and nuclear
power.
Trade and Finance: Many governments included in their official
delegations
numerous representatives of big business and trans-national corporations,
and so a trade agenda often displaced the summit's agenda to eradicate
poverty and preserve the environment. A motion to give the World Trade
Organization power to override every environmental decision was defeated
in the final moments of the meeting by efforts of several small "powerless"
countries -- Ethiopia, St. Lucia, Tuvalu.
Sustainable development can only happen when the "three pillars"
-- the social, the environmental and the economic pillars -- are respected
and held in creative tension. In Johannesburg there was a strong move
by some governments and their corporate advisors to subordinate the
social and environmental to the economic.
next: Impressions of the summit
also in this issue:
The Catholic Church and the United Nations
The U.N. at a Glance • Passionists at the United Nations
Security
at the Security Council, 1947 • Meet Fr David Cinquegrani
home page for this issue •
act with Compassion
directory of past issues
home page for this issue •
act with Compassion
directory of past issues
email questions or comments
Copyright
2002 - all rights reserved - Passionist Missionaries of Union City,
NJ, USA
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