What the WSSD agreed

Date: 05/09/02

• To halve the number of people without access to basic sanitation by 2015, thereby drastically cutting the number of deaths due to substandard hygiene.
• A 'substantial increase' in the amount of energy generated by renewable sources, though no precise targets were set.
• The Kyoto treaty on cutting emissions of gases linked to climate change was boosted by Russia's decision to ratify it; as a result enough major producers of greenhouse gases have accepted Kyoto for it to come into effect.
• Plans to 'significantly reduce' loss of species by 2015 - but no precise targets set for biodiversity.
• Trade, environment and development measures should be 'mutually supportive'; a call for environmental rules to be consistent with those on international commerce was rejected.
• Healthcare should respect human rights; this clause is aimed at ending such practices as genital mutilation in some African states.

A summary of the agreements reached at the World Summit on Sustainable Development held in Johannesburg at the end of August 2002.

http://www.johannesburgsummit.org/ http://www.johannesburgsummit.org/

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