Practical Action at the Earth Summit
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Johannesburg, 26 August - 4 September 2002 |
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ITDGPractical Action at the Earth Summit
The World Summit on Sustainable Development - the Earth Summit - was held in Johannesburg, South Africa from 26 August to 4 September 2002. In addition to the official UN conference of national governments, several parallel events also took place, including the Civil Society Global Forum, a Science and Technology Forum, the WaterDome and the alternative People's Earth Summit.
ITDGPractical Action's focus in Johannesburg was on energy and agricultural biodiversity, based around two position papers which are available to download - Power to the People: sustainable energy for the world's poor, and Preserving the Web of Life: agricultural biodiversity.
ITDGPractical Action also prepared a paper on technology transfer for the Peoples' Global Forum, hosted a seminar on making knowledge networks work for the poor and participated in several events at the Earth Summit.
NB: This pages have not been updated since 2002, and are retained here for archive purposes only. For up-to-date information on the issues debated at WSSD, please visit our Policy and Advocacy section.
| Index: ITDGPractical Action at the Earth Summit |
- Power to the People: position paper
- Power to the People: seminar
- ITDGPractical Action-Greenpeace Sustainable Energy Action Plan
- Action Plan launch event
- WSSD energy agreement is a sham
- "Asian brown cloud" demonstrates the need for action
- Preserving the Web of Life: position paper
- Biotechnology and GMO Commission at the Peoples' Global Forum
- Africa resists US biotech onslaught at Earth Summit
- Statement of solidarity with Southern African nations over GM food and crops
- Technology Transfer and Development
- Making Knowledge Networks Work for the Poor
- Power to the People: seminar
- Action Plan launch event
- African Home exhibition at the WaterDome
- Virtual Exhibition
Energy
ITDGPractical Action's principal focus has been on energy, and in particular our position on the access to modern, clean energy for the two billion people in the developing world currently without it. We promoted our own position set out in the paper Power to the People: sustainable energy for the world's poor, and supported the Choose Positive Energy campaign.
Working with Greenpeace, ITDGPractical Action has produced an action plan, Sustainable Energy for Poverty Reduction, which reviews international actions taking place to provide sustainable energy services to the world's poor, and outlines the steps necessary to achieve the win-win goal of poverty reduction and action on climate change.
Download ITDGPractical Action and Greenpeace's joint Action Plan, Sustainable Energy for Poverty Reduction 
NB: large file 933K or read a summary This action plan was launched at the World Summit on 30 August at an event hosted by the singer Baaba Maal.
3 September: Earth Summit energy agreement a sham
70,000 reasons why the Summit failed: the WSSD agreement on access to energy, targets and subsidies is a sham offering little hope of getting clean energy to almost a third of humanity.
Live webcast 30 August: Micro-hydro in Peru
Teo Sanchez of ITDGPractical Action Latin America talked about the use and impact of micro-hydro projects in Peru, live via Virtual Exhibit's Sandton Cube in Johannesburg. This is now archived on the Virtual Exhibit website
ITDGPractical Action's micro-hydro projects
Agricultural biodiversity and sustainable agriculture
ITDGPractical Action, in partnership with other organisations, enabled the voices of poor farmers to be heard at WSSD, and through the issues paper Preserving the Web of Life is seeking support for measures to ensure farmers have access to genetic resources for food and agriculture.
Events
ITDGPractical Action was involved in a number of events at and around the Earth Summit:
- Power to the People: sustainable energy for the world's poor
An ITDGPractical Action forum for action on energy and poverty reduction, Hall 5, Room 11, Johannesburg Expo Centre (Nasrec), 2 September, 10am-12noon - Making Knowledge Networks Work for the Poor
An ITDGPractical Action seminar on knowledge resources, Breakway Room VII, Johannesburg Expo Centre (Nasrec), 30 August, 1-3pm - Technology Transfer and Development
ITDGPractical Action is presenting a session at the Global Peoples' Forum's Commission on Science and Technology, which will form part of the formal NGO report to WSSD, 30 August 9am-1.30pm.
Download ITDGPractical Action paper 116K
Read the report on the technology transfer session - LAMNET Joint Workshop
Kwa Shukela Convention Centre, Durban, 19-21 August - Stakeholder Forum for Our Common Future Implementation Conference
Indaba Hotel, IUCN Environment Centre, Johannesburg, 24-26 August - Farmers' Caravan
Harare to Johannesburg, 20-22 August - International Small Farmers Convergence Summit
Johannesburg, 23 August - 4 September - HEDON (Household Energy Network)
Johannesburg, 27-28 August - Sustainable Urbanisation
Crown Plaza, Johannesburg, 27 August - Water Dome Exhibition
Northgate, Johannesburg, throughout WSSD
ITDGPractical Action African Home exhibition at the WaterDome
Virtual Exhibition
The WSSD "virtual exhibition" is a multi-media showcase of sustainable development initiatives from all around the world. It is available 24 hours a day via the web, and will also provide an opportunity for people working on sustainable development projects in the field to interact directly with Earth Summit delegates through live webcast links.
Four ITDGPractical Action projects are featured as part of the Virtual Exhibition:
- Maasai Housing in Kenya
- Micro-hydro power production in Peru
- Shambob Brick-producers Cooperative Society in Sudan
- Small Wind Systems for Battery Charging in Sri Lanka
These projects have been filmed for the Hands On TV series, and the videos can be viewed via the Virtual Exhibition website.
Live webcast 30 August: Micro-hydro in Peru
Teo Sanchez of ITDGPractical Action Latin America talked about the use and impact of micro-hydro projects in Peru, live via Virtual Exhibit's Sandton Cube in Johannesburg. Now archived on the Virtual Exhibit website
Reports
3 September: Draft Political Declaration from the Earth Summit
Download PDF from World Business Council for Sustainable Development 170K
3 September: Earth Summit energy agreement a sham
70,000 reasons why the Summit failed: the WSSD agreement on access to energy, targets and subsidies is a sham offering little hope of getting clean energy to almost a third of humanity.
27 August: ITDGPractical Action has signed the petition against GM Food Aid, to be released at WSSD. "We the undersigned, as representatives or advocates of the people of the Global South, hereby declare our condemnation of the coercive techniques being used by the USA to force the nations and people of the South to accept genetically modified food in food aid shipments."
| Earth Summit Links |
Power to the People: ITDGPractical Action's first seminar on sustainable energy and poverty reduction
ITDGPractical Action's Sustaining Life and Livelihoods campaign
ITDGPractical Action pages on Energy for the Poor and The Global Commons
The official United Nations website for the Johannesburg summit
WSSD Civil Society Global Forum
The People's Earth Summit
Virtual Exhibition website
EarthSummit Info - a central hub of links on WSSD for the non-specialist
Earth Negotiations Bulletin - a daily report on negotiations at WSSD
ENB On The Side - daily reports on side events at WSSD
The Daily Summit offers instant news and comment on WSSD
Sustainable Development: the UK Government's approach
Stakeholder Forum's Earth Summit 2002 website
ITDGPractical Action is not responsible for the content of external sites.