WSSD: AN A-Z GUIDE TO THE WORLD SUMMIT ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

A

Advocacy: Petitions on sustainable development issues can be found in the regular section of Pambazuka News headed ‘Advocacy Resources’.

African Civil Society: Read a statement made by African Civil Society on the WSSD at http://www.worldsummit2002.org/texts/AfricanCivilSocietyForumOct1516.rtf

Africa Pulse: Civil Society information source for the WSSD at http://www.africapulse.net/

Agenda 21: A plan of action for sustainable development signed by 178 Governments at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 3 to 14 June 1992, otherwise known as Rio ’92, the predecessor of the World Summit on Sustainable Development.

Algiers Declaration: A statement made by 10 000 Civil Society Organisations on sustainable development can be found at http://www.southngosummit.org/Media/EDocs/Algeirs_Declaration.doc

B

Battle of Bali: Go to http://www.ifg.org/wssd/battleofbali.htm and read about the politics that hampered negotiations in the final preparations for the WSSD held in Bali in early June.

Bush, George. The consensus is that he will not join heads of state from over 100 other countries at the WSSD, but he is likely to get a hostile reception if he makes a last-minute appearance. See http://www.foreignpolicy-infocus.org/commentary/2002/0207wssdprep.html for more details.

Business Action for Sustainable Development (BASD): Dubbed BASDards by some groups and described by Corpwatch (http://www.corpwatch.org) as the “distasteful lovechild spawned from an unholy union between the International Chamber of Commerce and World Business Council for Sustainable Development”. Many groups are angry at a perceived corporate takeover of the Summit.

C

Carnegie Endowment: A resource centre on the WSSD at http://www.ceip.org/wssd

Civil Society Forum: Led by the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu), the Council of Churches and larger NGOs, they are responsible for organising the civil society sector of the summit, The Global Forum. http://www.worldsummit.org.za

Civil Society Indaba: Radical grouping consisting mainly of rural groups and NGOs. For details and events organised by the Indaba see http://www.globalindaba.org.za

Conflict: See the ‘Conflict, Crisis and Emergencies’ section of Pambazuka News for an explanation of the link between conflict and sustainable development by Michael Renner of the World Watch Institute.

D

Daily Summit: Get your daily WSSD news at http://www.dailysummit.net

Danish '92 Group: A comprehensive website on the Summit at http://www.rio10.dk/

Desai, Ntini: WSSD chairman.

Development: See the ‘Development’ section of Pambazuka News for the latest news and in-depth articles on the Summit.

Draft Plan of Implementation: Likely to be the subject of late-night negotiations, the plan was the outcome of PrepCom IV held in Bali between 27 May and 7 June. Agreement was reached on 73 percent of the text, with the remainder relating to contentious issues surrounding globalisation still to be negotiated. See http://www.ifg.org/wssd/battleofbali.htm or download the draft plan at http://www.johannesburgsummit.org

E

Earth Charter: A vision for the future that can renew commitment to achieving what began at the Rio Earth Summit. More details at http://www.earthcharter.org/

Earthwire: Daily news on the WSSD at http://www.earthwire.org/wssd

Environment: See http://www.twnside.org.sg/title/twr139i.htm for the environmental issues that have defined the 21st century.

European Union: Presenting itself as the arbiter between the G77 and Juscanz, but this should not be taken at face value. See the Third World Network’s ‘Why Trade and Finance Groups Should Get Involved in the World Summit Process’ at http://www.twnside.org.sg/index.htm for more details.

G

Girona Declaration: Sets out how corporations have co-opted the environment and social agenda at http://www.xs4all.nl~ceo/un/gironadecl.html

Globalisation: Has run away the clear winner over sustainable development in the last decade. Read more at http://www.twnside.org.sg/title/twr139a.htm

Global Forum: For the latest information visit http://www.worldsummit.org.za

“Globalisation of Greenwash”: The process by which corporations have taken over the sustainable development agenda. See ‘From Rio to Johannesburg: The Globalisation Decade’, at http://www.globalpolicy.org/reform/2002/rioglobalcompact.htm for more information.

G77: The largest Third World coalition in the United Nations, the Group of 77 provides the means for the developing world to articulate and promote its collective economic interests. Seen as a key lobby group at the WSSD opposed to the Juscanz grouping of rich developed countries. See http://www.twnside.org.sg/index.htm

H

Heinrich Boll Stiftung Institute: Download the ‘The Johannesburg Memo’ at http://www.joburgmemo.org

I

International Forum on Globalisation: Find out what’s at stake with the WSSD and view details of a teach-in on 24-25 August on the WSSD and Globalisation at http://www.ifg.org

International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD): Links to news, key documents, draft programmes, speakers, parallel events and more at http://www.iisd.ca/wssd/portal.html

J

‘Johannesburg Lefts Prepare to Summit Against a Global Elite’ at http://www.zmag.org/sustainers/content/2002-07/30bond-guliwe.cfm

Juscanz: A grouping consisting of Japan, the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. More details at http://www.twnside.org.sg/index.htm

M

March: Anti-capitalist, that will take place on August 31 in Johannesburg. http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.jsp?a=59&o=7347

N

Nasrec: The venue for the Global Forum in Johannesburg. See http://www.worldsummit.org.za

O

OneWorld.net’s special coverage of the WSSD can be found at
http://www.oneworld.net/specialreports/earthsummit2/

P

Parallel Events: See http://www.iisd.ca/wssd/portal.html

Peace Train: Scheduled to travel from Kampala to Johannesburg to raise awareness that women want peace for sustainable development.

People’s Summit: The People's Earth Summit (PES) is a global event, happening at the time of the WSSD in several countries to lift the profile of positive initiatives around the planet. Visit http://www.stithian.com to find out more.

Planetwire: Daily briefings on coverage of key events at http://www.planetwire.org

Programme for Nasrec: The programme of the NGO Global Forum is on the Civil Society Secretariat's web site at http://www.worldsummit.org.za

R

Radio Earth Summit: Listen to the stories of people who have had their lives ruined by corporate power at http://www.radioearthsummit.org

Rio ’92: The WSSD’s predecessor that resulted in Agenda 21 – regarded as strong on theory but weak on implementation. Links to Rio documents can be found at http://www.ecouncil.ac.cr/about/ftp/riodoc.htm

S

Sandton: A plush suburb of Johannesburg where the heads of state meeting of the WSSD takes place.

Seven: The amount of things that need to be done by the civil society forum to make the Summit a success. Find out more at http://www.worldsummit.org.za/policies/sevensecrets.html

Sustainable Development: Initially defined as meeting the needs of present generations without compromising those of the future, but the meaning has become foggy and depends on whom you talk to. Some even believe the term “sustainable” might as well be dropped. Read more at http://www.ifg.org/wssd/tikkun.pdf

Sustainable Development Issues Network (SDIN): A coalition of nongovernmental issue-based caucuses and networks. Join their listserv on the WSSD at http://sdissues.net/sdin/discuss.aspx

T

Themes: The UN has outlined three themes for the WSSD. They are combating poverty and promoting sustainable livelihoods; sustainable consumption and production and; protecting the integrity of life-support eco-systems. See http://www.earthtimes.org/aug/johannesburgsummitwhatsaug8_02.htm

The Path to Johannesburg: An interactive timeline and resource guide to the environmental movement http://worldwatch.org/worldsummit/timeline/index.html

TNCs: Trans National Corporations. See ‘Taming Mammon: Time for Regulating Corporations’ at http://www.twnside.org.sg/title/twr139g.htm

Type 1 and 2 outcomes: Refers to the agreements that will emerge from the WSSD. Type 1 are obligatory agreements that governments will have to implement. Type 2 are voluntary agreements.

U

Ubuntu Village: This will serve as the cultural hub for all people in Johannesburg for the Summit and the parallel events. More information on the village and other parallel events at http://www.johannesburgsummit.org/html/basic_info/parallel_events.html

UN Summit Secretariat listserver: http://www.un.org/esa/sustdev/csdlistserver.htm

W

Water: Central to any discussion on sustainable development. Read more at http://www.planetwire.org/details/3091

“WE THE PEOPLES Believe Another World is Possible”: the rallying call for a petition aiming to collect one million signatures against corporate power to take to Johannesburg. Sign on at http://www.twnside.org.sg/title/people.htm

Women’s Centre: The Women's Centre is an initiative by the Women's Forum, convened by the Women's National Coalition and the Commission on Gender Equality in South Africa to create a space for women at the World Summit on Sustainable Development. See http://www.womensnet.org.za/wssdwomen/index.shtml

Women’s Tent: Facilitated by the Women's Environment and Development Organisation (WEDO) and Llitha Labantu (SA), it will be located at the Global Civil Society Forum and starts on Sunday 25 August. Visit http://www.wedo.org/sus_dev/tent.htm

Worldwatch Institute: For a series of policy briefs on key WSSD themes visit http://www.worldwatch.org

Written and Unwritten Rules for NGO’s in the WSSD game: http://www.iisd.ca/wssd/download%20files/WSSD_NGObasicinfo_ver1_rev.doc

WSSD: The World Summit on Sustainable Development. Dubbed by some as the World Summit on Unsustainable Development (WSUD) or the W$$D because of a belief that corporations have hijacked the agenda.

ENDS