High hopes on Johannesburg Summit

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan said on Tuesday that he expected concrete results in the areas of water and sanitation, energy, health, agriculture, and biodiversity at the latest round of the World Summit on sustainable development, to be held in Johannesburg in August.

"These are five areas in which progress will offer all human beings a chance of achieving prosperity that will not only last their own lifetime, but can be enjoyed by their children and grandchildren too," he said in a statement on Tuesday.

Concentrating on these five areas will produce an ambitious but achievable program of practical steps to improve the lives of human beings, while protecting the global environment, Annan said.

He said that he hoped water would be provided to at least one billion people who lacked clean drinking water and two billion without proper sanitation.

There should be access to energy to more than two billion people who lacked modern energy services; the promotion of renewable energy; the reduction of over-consumption and ratification of the Kyoto Protocol to address climate change.

Health issues should address the effects of toxic and hazardous materials; reduce air pollution and lower the incidence of malaria and African guinea worm which were linked to polluted water and poor sanitation.

Nations ought to work to reverse land degradation, which effected about two-thirds of the world's agricultural lands, and reverse the processes that had destroyed about half of the world's tropical rainforests and mangroves.

The success of the World Summit in August, however, hinges on the accomplishments on the preparatory committee (prepcom) meeting to be held in Bali later this month through early June.

More than 6,000 delegates from 189 governments are expected to attend the preparatory meeting at the Bali International Convention Center in Nusa Dua, to be held from May 27 through June 7.

In a media briefing on Tuesday, Indonesia's preparatory committee chairwoman Erna Witoelar said that the meeting in Bali was expected to result in the drafting of three documents, all of which would be endorsed by the heads of State in Johannesburg.

The three documents comprise a political declaration agreed to by the heads of state and government, an implementation program that specifies what priority actions governments agree are needed, and a document of partnership initiatives or specific undertakings that will bring forward real action in particular areas without the need for global consensus on details.

Annan said that new initiatives for sustainable development were needed because the present model of development -- albeit bringing privilege and prosperity to about 20 percent of humanity -- had also exacted a heavy price by degrading the planet and depleting its resources.

"In Johannesburg we will have a chance to catch up," he said.