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Ten years after the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, Johannesburg was host to the follow-up gathering in South Africa, to assess developments since 1992. The World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD), dubbed Rio+10, attracted some 25,000 participants, according to the South African host government and the United Nations. Two hundred countries sent delegations. The official summit venue, the Sandton Convention Centre, was just one of more than half a dozen fixed and temporary locations for rival 'summits', parallel conferences and meetings as well as a plethora of events for thousands of delegates from the UN, participating governments, non-governmental organizations, civil society, pressure and lobby groups, activists and cultural representatives from all corners of the earth. As Nitin Desai, the secretary-general of conference, noted, the world ‘discovered’ sustainable development in Rio a decade ago. The objectives of the 2002 Johannesburg summit were to consolidate any advances, march forward and ensure that the planet is a safer and cleaner place for all to live. South African host president, Thabo Mbeki, opened the World Summit on Monday 26 August, with a call for governments to agree on a set of practical measures that would help humanity improve the lives of people everywhere. But the rival agendas of the poor and rich nations looked set to clash in Johannesburg, with the developing world calling on industrialized countries to commit themselves to specific targets, without strings. The announcement by the United States that President George W Bush would not be coming to Johannesburg caused ripples, some anger, some disappointment, indifference from some and much comment. The consensus among delegates from poorer countries was that the Bush no-show was an indication of America’s lack of commitment. | ||
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