Johannesburg World Summit Research Articles

FRONTIERS AND FREEDOMS: THE WSSD AND THE END OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT?

ABSTRACT This paper presents a brief perspective on the 2002 Johannesburg World Summit on Sustainable Development and argues that the concept of ‘sustainable development’ has been used to reinforce, rather than help to dismantle, barriers between the developed and developing world economies.

The Power of Community Action: Creating the momentum to sustain just and peaceful communities

Verdicts on the Johannesburg World Summit for Sustainable Development have, to say the least, been mixed. But one part of it, the Local Government section, revealed a story of real achievement. Session after session showed how, around the world, significant progress is being made in making cities more sustainable. One of the most important realisations was that true sustainability could only be achieved on the basis of just and peaceful communities. As Britain’s first Environment City and also one of its most socially diverse, Leicester is leading the way in this field. This article will set out some of the work being undertaken to achieve a just, peaceful and sustainable City, and will suggest an approach that develops the traditional model of sustainability in a new and creative direction. Leicester has a population of just under 300 000 people and is situated in the very centre of England. Following considerable inward migration, mainly in the 1970s, mainly from Africa and the Asian sub-continent, it is one of Britain’s most multi-ethnic, multicultural and multi-faith cities. Leicester faces many of the challenges already common to all cities, but also faces challenges which will become increasingly common in cities during the coming decades. Its basic industries—hosiery, knitwear and engineering—have suffered from the effects of economic globalisation. As a result, the City manifests severe inequalities, particularly in income, housing, education and health. The impact of conflicts, limited economic opportunities and, increasingly, global environmental degradation, are already being felt in Leicester. For instance, the past two years have seen the sudden migration of an entire new community into the City, something that has exposed the limited capacity of both local and national governments to respond to mass migration. Leicester’s politics and community relations do not just reflect local and even national issues: for instance, events in India and Pakistan impact directly on the City. It is for these reasons that sustaining a just and peaceful community is far more than an intellectual exercise: these are issues that all in Leicester face on a daily basis. They have to be at the heart of all work to achieve a sustainable City if serious progress in this direction is to be made. That is why, in Leicester, there is a general recognition that it will only be possible to move towards genuine sustainability by taking a truly holistic approach. Leicester has a long track record in working towards sustainability. For instance, the City was commended at the Rio Earth Summit. This is reflected in the Council’s work to build the natural capital of the City. A series of programmes of environmental measures have been introduced which are not just aimed at improving Leicester but also at reversing its

Possibilities of Global Governance in the Age of Globalisation

In an assessment of the effects of the Johannesburg World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) and the whole process involved, a central question arises: to what extent can this kind of an event, directed from above, influence global developments and through what mechanisms? In other words, what are the chances of global governance being able to remove global problems and create a new willingness and ability in the world to work to this end? Criticism of the WSSD for the paucity of concrete decisions and commitments arrived at seems quite justifiable, but this is not the whole picture. The Summit was so broad that it basically concerned all aspects of life and therefore had, and has, the potential to affect the state of the world in a multitude of ways and through many different channels. In this respect the most elementary distinction to be made is between the decisions made and the process in its entirety. The article seeks to analyse the latter with reference to three different concepts, namely power, mutual understanding and hope.

How adequate policies can push renewables

The growing interest in the establishment of a minimum share of renewable sources in the world energy matrix, after the Johannesburg's World Summit for Sustainable Development (WSSD), has raised the question about the means for such new technologies to compete with the traditional ones. The Brazilian experience in the last 25 years with ethanol as a replacement for gasoline can illustrate this possibility. Moreover, recent policies introduced by the Federal government for a minimum share of new renewable sources—wind, modern biomass and small hydro—in the Brazilian electricity matrix reinforces the country's commitment to utilize adequate policies for achieving sustainable development.

The Johannesburg World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) and Sustainability in Higher Education

The Johannesburg World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) and Sustainability in Higher Education

Notes from the World Summit in Johannesburg: “History in the Making?”

Notes from the World Summit in Johannesburg: “History in the Making?”

The Johannesburg Summit and the difficulty with the term 'sustainability'. 26 August-4 September 2002.

Many different events occurred at the Johannesburg World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD). In fact, WSSD was a ‘container” of high politics, social issues, ethics and science, a display of their purposes and wishes, with little or no connection between them.

Population Growth the Scapegoat? Rethinking the Neo-Malthusian Debate

In the last thirty years of the twentieth century we saw a resurrection of the writings of Matlhus. In their new guise we are told that instead of war, pestilence and famine, the earth has decreasing biodiversity, loss of species, loss of natural resources and water shortages, to name but a few, to look forward too. Population growth today, as it was two hundred years ago, is portrayed as Public Enemy number one. There is little doubt that the Neo-Malthusian argument has made an impact on policy, indeed, probably moreso than did its namesake. The newly clad argument shares much with its namesake, not least, its significant faults.The argument is two hundred years old, and the inaccuracies share that age. Malthus' predictions never reigned true because he made the fundamental error of not taking account of technical progress, or the ability of human ingenuity to adapt to change. This paper looks at the evolution of both sides of the population argument, and argues that this year's World Summit in Johannesburg should not fall foul to the dangerous generalisations invoked by the Neo-Malthusian school of thought. This paper is an attempt to lay the blame for environmental degradation not on the increasing population of the Third World, but on the consumption patterns and lifestyles of the First World. Affluence consumes energy and produces waste at a far higher rate than poverty. In looking at the environmental debate only an integrated approach, and not one that is concerned solely with ‘demonising’ population growth, can result in success.

The Climate Change Agenda: from Rio to Jo'burg and Beyond

This paper addresses issues relating to the centrality of climate change to sustainable development; the challenges envisaged in implementing climate change agreements; and prospects for moving the climate change agenda forward. It shows how the science, technology, economics, policy, business, and politics of climate change have evolved in the decade since Rio, and argues that these developments, taken together, make the climate challenge in 2002 fundamentally different from that in 1992. The Kyoto Protocol is seen as a challenge to global action on climate change, and the 2002 Johannesburg World Summit as an opportunity for making Kyoto work.

Status of life cycle assessment and engineering research in South Africa

In view of the upcoming 2002 World Summit in Johannesburg, sustainable development is a topic of high priority in South Africa. Although the South African competency in Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and Life Cycle Engineering (LCE) has grown to some extent over the last ten years, South African industry and government have been slow to realise the benefit of LCAs and LCE as tools to support cleaner production and sustainable development. However, the local application of these tools, as well as considerations during their use, differs from practices in developed countries. The applications of LCAs and LCE, the type of organisations involved and the limitations and common problems associated with these tools in South Africa are discussed.

On sustainable development problems, also according to the world summit in Johannesburg

In the intervention at the Environment Commission of the Senate on the problems of the sustainable development, following the recent World Summit in Johannesburg, some fundamental points are underpinned: the question is summed up and an exam is made about the results of the Summit and on the meaning of the commitments taken for the future. Indeed, it is universally accepted that, to be considered sustainable, the development must reach a compromise between economical, social and environmental goals, to maximize the present well-being, without challenging the right of future generations to satisfy their own needs. It is also accepted that this cannot be realised without defence for our eco-system and without a simultaneous and well coordinated intervention of all Countries and the participation of all productive and social categories; probably, this should be the true finality of the so much acclaimed “globalisation”.