Finding the right balance

Last week's declaration from the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg is a far cry from the expectations raised by the promises contained in the declaration of the Earth Summit ten years earlier, in Rio de Janeiro.

While the 1992 Rio summit concluded that economic, social and environmental concerns were inescapably interlinked in world development, and pledged to eradicate environmental problems, reduce poverty and foster sustainable development, the Joburg Summit failed to produce a concrete and comprehensive action plan to execute the pledges.

The 65-page declaration signed by 189 countries attending the UN-organized summit indeed vows action on 163 issues from diverse topics, but not a single one is binding. The document covers almost everything from trade, farm subsidies, development aid, climate change and women's access to health and protecting biodiversity, via outlawing child labor. It does not, however, provide specific objectives and binding timetables by which progress in eradicating environmental problems, reducing poverty and fostering sustainable development can be measured.

Yes, there has been some progress between Rio and Joburg, producing a few specific targets and timetables regarding issues such as sanitation, fisheries, dangerous chemicals and the loss of biodiversity. Yes, it is also encouraging to see that more countries have announced their intention to ratify the Kyoto Protocol on Climate Change, especially the "big guys" like Russia, China and Canada. Yes, there is some consolation when 50 nations -- with Germany as the leading proponent -- signed a declaration committing themselves on renewable energy.

But yet it is hard to escape the symbolism of South Africa's recent history. The host country made a crucial step eight years ago when the white minority agreed to share power rather than live under the threat of bloody revolution. The minority rich nations attending the 10-day summit were seemingly not as enlightened as the white minority of South Africa eight years ago. It is not surprising that Uganda's President Museweni was applauded by the audience when he accused the rich minority of arrogantly engaging in building a Tower of Babel that would collapse and affect the whole world.

The summit, however, is more than just a confrontation of interests between rich and poor nations. Participants to the summit came from three distinctly different forces within society: governments, large corporations and communities, represented by what we know as non-governmental organizations (NGOs). While government representatives and business interests were housed in the Johannesburg suburb of Sandton, the NGOs were "conveniently" secured in the slum suburb of Alexandra, on the other side of Johannesburg. Some selected NGO members were admitted to Sandton, but they were outnumbered.

Judging from the outcome of the summit, it is obvious that business interests were very dominant in watering down the whole concept of sustainable development. In the beginning it seemed as though there was some kind of alliance between business and community interests, forged in opposition to governments. It looked like an important shift as compared with the summit's preparatory meeting in Bali last June, where business and governments colluded against community interests.

In the end, however, business interests prevailed. There are no specific objectives and binding timetables for the more important issues such as reducing poverty or renewable energy, because those issues are not compatible with the current interests of large corporations. It is not surprising that the NGOs accused the summit of selling out, under U.S. influence, to corporations.

The summit will probably not become a total failure or disappointment. At least the term "sustainable development" has now become established as an essential part of the vocabulary of global negotiation in the years to come. Learning from the shortcomings of Johannesburg and previous global agreements, however, the world needs to develop a balanced dynamic between governments, communities and business.