WORLD SUMMIT ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT PREPARATIONS BEGINS WITH EMINENT PERSONS ROUNDTABLE

WORLD SUMMIT ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT PREPARATIONS

BEGINS WITH EMINENT PERSONS ROUNDTABLE

If the 1992 Earth Summit succeeded in raising public awareness of the issues of sustainable development, then the 10-year review of the Summit should lay out clear goals and draw clearer links between the agenda and specific guidelines for its implementation, said United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) Nitin Desai.

The 10-year review, officially called the World Summit on Sustainable Development, which will be held in Johannesburg, South Africa, from 2 to

11 September 2002, hopes to reinvigorate, at the highest level, political commitment to the issue of sustainable development.  Agenda 21, the blueprint for action in various fields of sustainable development, was the outcome of the

1992 Earth Summit to address the concern that harmful practices in natural resource use were defeating the purpose of development.  Sustainable development was a relatively new concept at the time and the Summit succeeded in bringing the issue into mainstream discourse.

However, 10 years later the fact is that since 1992, social and economic indicators reveal that the gap between the rich and the poor has widened -- both within national boundaries and between nations.  More people live on incomes below poverty levels.  Fresh water and security of food supply has not been a universal achievement.  Climate change, desertification, and deforestation continue to threaten biodiversity.

"The international community has not yet got to grips with sustainable development," said Desai, who played an instrumental role in drafting

Agenda 21.  He also added that the goal of the 15-month process leading up to the Johannesburg Summit is to yield ideas for translating general concepts of development and environmental protection into concrete plans for action.  To that end, between now and the next intergovernmental preparatory meeting in January 2002 there will be regional meetings, roundtables and substantive work done by major groups, including youth, women, local governments, indigenous people, business, and non-governmental organizations.

The United Nations Summit Secretariat is organizing a series of regional roundtables.  Approximately 25 - 30 eminent independent experts in the field of sustainable development will be invited to each roundtable.  The main objective of the roundtables is to elaborate practical proposals and suggest innovative approaches aimed at advancing the sustainable development agenda.

Kicking off this series is a roundtable meeting for Europe and North America organized in collaboration with the Denver-based Center for Resource Management, being held in Vail, Colorado from 6-8 June 2001.

Co-chairing the meeting in Vail will be Sir Crispin Tickell, a prominent former British diplomat who was Chairman of the Government Panel on Sustainable Development for six years.  "The Earth Summit moved sustainable development from the periphery to the centre of public debate.  The main constraint in the past ten years is the lack of action by governments.  That is why these meetings are important, because they refocus the issues once more," he said.

Issues such as consumption patterns, energy use and relations with developing countries are likely to be discussed.  A special panel on the role of the media in promoting sustainable development in Europe and North America will be held on 7 June. 

The Roundtable will be opened by Mr Dick Lamm, former Governor of Colorado, at 9 a.m. on 6 June at the Lodge at Vail.  Members of the media are invited to attend.  A press conference on the outcome of the Roundtable will be held at

1:30 p.m. on 8 June in Vail.

The reports of all the roundtables will be submitted to the regional inter-governmental preparatory meetings to be held later in the year, as well as to the first Global Preparatory Committee meeting in January 2002.  The reports will also be placed on the United Nations Johannesburg Summit Web site.

The dates and locations for the other Roundtables to be held in 2001 are as follows:

REGION	VENUE	DATES
Latin America and the Caribbean	Barbados	18-20 June
Africa	Cairo, Egypt	25-27 June
East Asia and the Pacific	Malaysia	9-11 July
Central and South Asia	Kyrgyzstan	30 July - 1 August

To stay informed and engaged in this global effort, please go to www.johannesburgsummit.org.

For media inquiries, please contact:  Pragati Pascale at telephone:  212-963-6870, e-mail:  pascale@un.org, or Klomjit Chandrapanya at 212-963-9495,

e-mail:  chandrapanya@un.org.

5 June 2001                              

For further information on the Regional Roundtables please contact Rod Holesgrove, United Nations Secretariat of the Johannesburg Summit, 

tel:  (212) 963-5104, fax:  (212) 963-4260, or e-mail: holesgrove@un.org 

From 4-9 June, please contact him at the Lodge at Vail, 174 East Gore Creek Drive, Vail, tel:  (970) 476 5011.

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