INTRODUCTION
"…at the World Summit on Sustainable
Development we agreed a most impressive Plan of Implementation.
We were rightly ambitious, we achieved much. But the real measure
of success will be in how far we can shift from fine words, to
action on the ground".
The Rt Hon. Margaret Beckett, Secretary of State
for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.
Commission for Sustainable Development, New York,
April 2003
1. For two weeks in August and September 2002, Johannesburg
was host to the UN World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD)
- the largest and most important gathering on sustainable development
since the landmark Rio Earth Summit ten years earlier. Over a
hundred Heads of State and Government, including the Prime Minister,
Tony Blair, came together with parliamentarians and representatives
from United Nations Agencies, multinational financial institutions,
business, regional and local government, non-governmental organisations
and individual activists. They discussed how to tackle on-going
global problems such as poverty, lack of access to clean water
and sanitation and the unsustainable use of natural resources.
At the Summit, they sought to identify priorities and initiate
implementation plans for future global, national and regional
efforts to attain sustainable lifestyles consistent with economic
development, environmental protection and social justice.
2. The UK Government was one of 180 participating
nations to sign up to the resulting political declaration, Plan
of Implementation, and range of partnership initiatives which
represent the main summit commitments. Our inquiry has examined
the follow-up action being taken by the UK Government to implement
these commitments, and its arrangements for monitoring and reviewing
progress. The commitments cover an extensive range of issues and
policies. We have taken an overview of the general UK approach
rather than investigating specific topics.
3. We launched our inquiry on 28 October 2002.[1]
In November 2002 we took evidence from officials from the Department
of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) to gain an early
indication of the Department's thinking on the implementation
phase of Summit commitments. In February 2003, we heard from Rt
Hon. Margaret Beckett, Secretary of State for the Environment,
Food and Rural Affairs, and head of the UK delegation to Johannesburg.
We also took evidence from a range of stakeholders who had participated
in the Summit including NGOs, the Sustainable Development Commission
and representatives from business. We were especially pleased
to have the opportunity to hear a non-UK perspective on WSSD follow-up
from the Canadian Commissioner of Environment and Sustainable
Development as well as the Chair and members of the Canadian House
of Commons Standing Committee on Environment and Sustainable Development.
4. This inquiry follows on from our scrutiny of the
preparations for the summit which we reported upon in March 2002.[2]
In August 2002 a small delegation from the Committee attended
the Summit to observe first hand the UK's role in the proceedings
and to participate in the associated parallel events. The delegation's
report was published in December 2002.[3]
5. We are grateful to Mr Derek Osborne CB, Chairman
of UNED-UK, for his continuing input into our WSSD-related work.
1 See Environmental Audit Committee press release 042,
New inquiry - call for evidence-World Summit on Sustainable Development
2002:Turning rhetoric into reality, 28 October 2002. Back
2
Environmental Audit Committee, Third Report of Session 2001-02,
UK preparations for the World Summit on Sustainable Development,
HC616 and Cm 5558, The Government's Response to the Environmental
Audit Committee Third Report (2001-02): UK Preparations for the
World Summit on Sustainable Development. Back
3
Environmental Audit Committee, Second Report of Session 2002-03,
Johannesburg and Back: The World Summit on Sustainable Development
- Committee Delegation report on proceedings, HC 169, December
2002. Back
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