4 September 2002: The World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) met from 26 August-4 September 2002, at the Sandton Convention Centre in Johannesburg, South Africa.

The WSSD’s goal, according to UN General Assembly (UNGA) Resolution 55/199, was to hold a ten-year review of the 1992 UN Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) at the Summit level to reinvigorate global commitment to sustainable development. The WSSD gathered 21,340 participants from 191 governments, intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations, the private sector, civil society, academia and the scientific community. The WSSD involved seven thematic Partnership Plenaries, statements by non-State entities, addresses by Heads of State and Government and other senior officials, four high-level Round Tables on the theme “Making It Happen,” and a multi-stakeholder event.

The WSSD also negotiated and adopted two main documents: the Plan of Implementation and the Johannesburg Declaration on Sustainable Development. The negotiations began with two days of informal consultations on 24-25 August, and continued over the course of the WSSD. Major areas of disagreement included: time-bound targets for sanitation, renewable energy, energy subsidies, chemicals and health, natural resource degradation, biodiversity loss and fish stocks; Rio Principles 7 (common but differentiated responsibilities) and 15 (precautionary approach); governance; trade, finance and globalization; the Kyoto Protocol; and health and human rights.

The Plan of Implementation is designed as a framework for action to implement the commitments originally agreed at UNCED and includes eleven chapters: an introduction; poverty eradication; consumption and production; the natural resource base; health; small island developing States (SIDS); Africa; other regional initiatives; means of implementation; and institutional framework. The Johannesburg Declaration outlines the path taken from UNCED to the WSSD, highlights present challenges, expresses a commitment to sustainable development, underscores the importance of multilateralism and emphasizes the need for implementation.

The Earth Negotiations Bulletin report outlining these discussions in detail can be found at: http://enb.iisd.org/linkages/vol22/enb2251e.html>