WORLD SUMMIT ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT (WSSD)
JOHANNESBURG, AUGUST 26 - SEPTEMBER 4, 2002

Welcome to the World Summit Web Site of the Heinrich Boell Foundation. This Web Site wants to provide you with basic information about the World Summit, outline its main policy issues and present civil society activities in the run up to and during the summit, as well as analysises of the summit outcomes.

"With the world's most powerful governments fully behind the corporate globalisation agenda, it was agreed even before the Summit that there would be no new mandatory agreements. Rather the focus was to be on implementation of old agreements, mainly through partnerships with the private sector. In other words, those aspects of sustainability that are convenient for private sector would be implemented." Kenny Bruno, CorpWatch ++ [ The Earth Summit's Deathblow to Sustainable Development; CorpWatch article; September 4 ]

"We invited the leaders of the world to come here and commit themselves to sustainable development, to protecting our planet, to maintaining the essential balance and to go back home and take action. It is on the ground that we will have to test how really successful we are. But we have started off well. Johannesburg is a beginning." Kofi Annan, United Nations Secretary-General ++ [ The Johannesburg Summit Test: What Will Change? Feature Story United Nations; September 25 ]


LATEST ENTRIES
	The Jo'burg Memo	Think Tank
	Publication: Now Hindi version available! The Jo'burg Memo is Heinrich Boell Foundation's contribution to the debate on both the desired outcomes of the Summit and the critical path for the sustainable development agenda in the next decade. Sixteen authors, eminent activists, politicians, intellectuals, and managers from across the world joined forces in order to produce this Memorandum for the World Summit. YOU are invited to comment on the Memo. MORE
	The EU between Jo'burg follow-up and Cancun politics	Public Hearing
	Public Hearing, March 6, 2003; Brussels -- This public hearing, organised by the Heinrich Boell Foundation in collaboration with the European Parliament, will assess the outcomes of WSSD on globalisation, trade and corporate accountability, and public-private partnerships in the field of water. It will further address some of the sustainable development-related aspects of the EU's services liberalisation (GATS) and investment agenda in the WTO and elaborate on alternatives to trade and investment liberalisation and possibilities for developing binding rules for corporations at the European and international level. MORE
	Changing Course	Publication
	Publication: World Summit Paper #22, Changing Course: A Contribution to a Global Energy Strategy, an Öko-Institut Policy Paper by Uwe R. Fritsche and Felix Chr. Matthes; commissioned and published by the Heinrich Böll Foundation. MORE
	The World Comes to One Country	Publication
	Publication: An insider history of the World Summit on Sustainable Development, Johannesburg 2002; by Victor Munnik and Jessica Wilson, published by the Heinrich Boell Foundation Southern Africa Office. What happened at the World Summit on Sustainable Development? The World Comes to One Country attempts to answer this question from a civil society perspective, based on interviews with insiders, ongoing discussions with prominent players from all sides and the author's own experience. MORE
	Making Global Trade Work for People	Publication
	Publication: A UNDP study prepared by an international team of experts, with support from the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, the Rockefeller Foundation and UNDP, joined by the Ford Foundation, the Heinrich Boell Foundation and the Wallace Global Fund. The study is an independent reassessment of the current system of global trade and looks at ways that it can be improved to contribute more effectively to human development. MORE
	What has happened in Johannesburg	Travel Guide
	Travel Guide -- The Johannesburg World Summit has ended on September 4. Governments deliberated on their Political Declaration and the Johannesburg Action Plan; developing countries fought for market access and increased foreign aid, the United States blocked meaningful targets and timetables and NGOs feared that not even the achievements of the Rio Earth Summit ten years ago would be reaffirmed. MORE
	Freier Handel, Nachhaltiger Handel	Globalisation
	Publication (in German): World Summit Paper #21; Free Trade, Sustainable Trade, a Contradiction? Background Paper debating trade and sustainable development after Johannesburg. A study by the Sustainable Europe Research Institute (SERI). MORE
	Comments on the Jo'burg Memo	WSSD Challenges
	Publication: World Summit Paper #18; Comments on the Jo'burg Memo: With contributions from David Fig, Angel Ibarra, Martin Khor, Fred Luks, Wangari Maathai, Daniel Mittler, Ricardo Navarro, José Ramos-Horta, and Silvia Ribeiro. MORE
	Limits to Sustainable Development?	Publication
	Publication, updated version: World Summit Paper #14: Limits to Sustainable Development? A case study of Thailand from a Cultural Perspective on Sustainable Development in Southeast Asia; by Karl H. Segschneider: For the last two years the Heinrich Böll Foundation has played an active role in the preparatory process for the Johannesburg Summit in various regions of the world, including South East Asia. The publication reflects problems regarding development strategies and conflicting paradigms that were imposed to the region after World War II. Based on a specific case study, it considers the cultural dimension of Thailand’s development process and its impact. MORE
	Energy Turnround	Publication
	Publication: World Summit Paper #15: Energy Turnround -- The Path to a Sustainable Energy System in Germany: Commissioned by the Heinrich Boell Foundation, the Oeko-Institut has taken a thorough look at the future of energy in Germany. Based on studies produced by different institutes, this publication develops strategies for embarking on a new energy system, culminating in two scenarios for the period to 2020 that are compared with a status quo scenario. MORE
	Managing Sustainability World Bank-Style	Publication
	Publication: World Summit Paper #19; Managing Sustainability World Bank-Style: An Evaluation of the World Development Report 2003 -- This publication, a co-operation between the Heinrich Boell Foundation Washington and the London-based Bretton Woods Project, offers a timely collection of discussion pieces on the WDR 2003, the World Bank's flagship publication to be launched during the World Summit. MORE
	Arabic World Summit Sourcebook	Publication
	Publication -- The large amount of information and material available about the World Summit in English is not useful for many non-English speakers. Relevant material has now been compiled and translated into Arabic, in order to distribute it amongst civil society activists from different Arab countries. It's purpose is to facilitate the national debates on the major challenges towards WSSD 2002 and to provide activists with further reading and Internet resources. The Manual is now for download. MORE