By Lucky Sindane
SET up to assess progress since the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development, the Johannesburg+2 conference kicked off in Sandton on Wednesday, 1 September.
"Today we gather again in part to recall and revive the spirit of the World Summit on Sustainable Development (also known as the Johannesburg Summit), in part to assess our progress in meeting the goals and targets set in 2002, and in part to chart our way forward to ensure that the ongoing legacy of Johannesburg is one of implementing lasting change," said Marthinus van Schalkwyk, minister of environmental affairs and tourism, in his opening speech.
The Johannesburg+2 Sustainable Development Conference will run until Friday, 3 September 2004.
Dignitaries from government, business and NGOs from around the world gathered to assess progress since the Johannesburg Summit, hammer out a plan for a sustainable future and set development goals for the millennium - known as the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation.
Key to the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation are:
- eradicating poverty;
- changing unsustainable patterns of consumptions and production;
- the protection and management of a natural resource base of economic and social development;
- understanding sustainable development in a globalising world;
- the link between health and sustainable development; and
- sustainable development for Africa.
Some 37 targets were identified within the implementation plan, including halving the proportion of people without access to basic sanitation by 2015; maintaining or restoring depleted fish stocks to levels that could support sustainable use; aiming, by 2020, to use and produce chemicals in ways that do not damage the environment or human health; and achieving a significant reduction in the rate of loss of bio-diversity by 2010.
"Two years have passed since the Johannesburg Summit, and we as South Africans and Africans need to ask ourselves what progress have we made in implementing the targets of the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation. The question was and remains 'Will Johannesburg make a genuine difference?' Johannesburg+2 aims to begin to answer that question," Van Schalkwyk said.
"As the successor to the Earth Summit held in Rio in 1992, the Johannesburg Summit brought a multitude of direct benefits to South Africa," the minister added.
Van Schalkwyk made special mention of the World Heritage Site of KwaZulu-Natal's St Lucia Wetland Park, which, in a partnership between the local community and the private sector, provided a good example of the management of natural resources.
"Thus far it has created 4 500 temporary jobs and will be creating 2 400 more with 900 permanent direct jobs over the next 36 months. We have also recently awarded eight concessions for eco-friendly private sector developments, which average over 75 percent black economic empowerment, of which 20 percent is from the local communities," Van Schalkwyk said.
"This first phase of R450-million tourism investment in eight sites will bring about R300-million annually into the local economy with a further R1,5-billion investment and another 1 500 permanent jobs targeted for 2007," he added.
The single largest united event ever held, the Johannesburg Summit "brought more than R8-billion in new business to our country, with government's direct investment of about R337-million leveraging a further R250-million from international sponsors, donor agencies and private sector".
However, the minister said, the most important benefit was the Johannesburg Summit's contribution to the global development debate.
Speaking during Wednesday night's gala dinner for the Johannesburg+2 conference, Johannesburg mayor Amos Masondo said: "We recognise that water from our rivers will not run forever. We also recognise that we need to clean air to breathe so that we do not get sick from the polluted air we breathe. We need green areas to enjoy nature."
Since the Johannesburg Summit, Masondo said, the City has completed an Environmental Management Framework - a statement of intent to provide citizens with clean drinking water and clean air, to reduce land pollution and develop green open spaces that provide recreation areas for residents, and to offer an improved quality of life.
"In June 2004 the City of Johannesburg launched its State of the Environment Report, which analysed the environment resources we have. They include Operation Gcin'amanzi, a project implemented to repair sewer leaks and provide storm water infrastructure."
The projects were beginning to show results, the mayor added.
Masondo pointed out that at least 1,4 percent of Johannesburg's natural vegetation is formally protected in nature reserves. Parks such as Thokoza Park, Moroka Dam and Dorothy Nyembe Park contribute to the city's bio-diversity and provide citizens with recreational opportunities.
"Within the Johannesburg botanical garden we have one of the best collection of succulents in South Africa," Masondo said.
"The City will continue to develop more bigger parks and conservation areas so that we can reach the international guideline of having 10 percent of our land being under conservation."
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