Earth Summit - Johannesburg 26th August to 4th September Earth Summit - Where next?

Earth Summit - Where next?

Image of Johannesburg at centre of the world - Africa dominates the picture with northern countries such as the US seeming much more peripheral

View of world from Jo'burg

The Earth Summit (also known as the World Summit on Sustainable Development) was a meeting of world leaders to discuss the future of the planet.

Betrayal...

But together they failed to take the scale of action needed to tackle poverty and environment destruction.

Image of placards at the Johannesburg Earth Summit

Placards calling for the US to wake up to climate change

World leaders allowed US bullying, corporate lobbying and outdated economic thinking to stop progress.

Only two new targets were agreed:

Halve by 2015 the proportion of people who don't have access to basic sanitation
Establish marine protected networks - including some by 2012

Every other existing commitment was either reaffirmed, watered down or trashed completely.

...tinged with hope...

But there were a few silver streaks in the otherwise stormy clouds:

Global laws for big business a possibility
Governments recognised the need for international agreements for multinationals and protection of people's rights.
Kyoto Protocol will become law
Russia and Canada agreed to take steps to ratify the only international agreement on climate change. It could be law by the end of this year.

...for the future?

Friends of the Earth will continue to push the case for global rules for big business at other world talks including the World Trade Organisation Summit (Mexico - September 2003).

Here in the UK, there's a once in a lifetime opportunity over this next year as the Government will be reviewing company law.

Friends of the Earth will be working with the CORE coalition to make holding companies accountable for their actions a part of British law.

Read Sarah's Earth Summit diary >.

Resource

Corporate Accountability and the Earth Summit
Detailed report and analysis on discussions at the Earth Summit for global laws for big business from Friends of the Earth International.

Climate change and the Earth Summit
(PDF† - 80K) Sept 2002
Political analysis of progress made towards solutions for combatting climate change during the World Summit on Sustainable Development.

Images: © Friends of the Earth

†To view PDF files you will need to download Adobe Acrobat Reader. Visually impaired users can get extra help with these documents from access.adobe.com.