World Summit on Sustainable Development
“More than ever today, a new wind is blowing through the world of development transforming our potential to make development happen.”
— James D. Wolfensohn, President of the World Bank Group
“We live on one planet, connected in a delicate, intricate web of ecological, social, economic and cultural relationships that shape our lives. If we are to achieve sustainable development, we will need to display greater responsibility—for the ecosystems on which all life depends, for each other as a single human community, and for the generations that will follow our own, living tomorrow with the consequences of the decisions we make today.”
— Kofi Annan, Secretary-General of the United Nations
The Johannesburg Summit 2002—the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD)—was the 10-year anniversary follow-up to the Rio Earth Summit. The Summit took place in Johannesburg, South Africa, from August 26 to September 4, 2002. The goal of the Summit was to regenerate, at the highest political level, a global commitment to sustainable development and to accelerate action to implement Agenda 21. Agenda 21 was the principal agreement to emerge from the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio. It calls for the integration of environment and development in order to fulfill basic needs, improve living standards for all, and better manage and protect ecosystems for long-term sustainability.
The Johannesburg Summit is no longer an "environment summit" but has become a platform to look at long-term sustainable development, particularly the linkages between sustainable growth and poverty reduction.
The World Summit on Sustainable Development brought together tens of thousands of participants, including heads of state and government, national delegates and leaders from non-governmental organizations (NGOs), businesses and other major groups to focus the world's attention and direct action toward meeting difficult challenges, including improving people's lives and conserving our natural resources in a world that is growing in population, with ever-increasing demands for food, water, shelter, sanitation, energy, health services, and economic security.
For more information on the UN Summit on Sustainable Development, please see the official UN website, linked above on the right.