WORLD SUMMIT FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT 

Development, such as the nature could stand

This year, the World Summit for Sustainable Development, organized by the UN, took place in Johannesburg, South Africa from 26 July to 4 August. The Macedonian President, together with a government bodies’ delegation participated at the Summit. About ten thousand representatives from the world governments will be present at the Summit and they will try to find a common language and direct the economical development in a direction that will mean going no further than the threshold of what nature could take.
The Summit is also called Rio + 10, because it is another global effort for sustainable development of the Planet Earth, organized at highest possible level, after the one in Rio in 1992, when the Agenda 21, that is, the global action plan for sustainable development was adopted, but, unfortunately, not carried out completely, especially by the most developed countries, such as the USA. The result from the lack of care and non-implementation of the international contracts in the course of these ten years was evident in the worst possible way: hurricanes and cyclones, El Nynio, floods, extension of deserts, bigger ozone holes around our planets, water, air and soil pollution, reduction of the biodiversity...

The main topics discussed at the Summit are the growth of the world population and protection of the natural resources – two problems, which are closely related with each other, since the first depends on the second. That is, the natural resources are fast reducing or extinguishing, so as the need for food, drinking water, energy, sanitation, shelters, health services and economic stability.

Is Johannesburg going to contribute more than Rio? It depends on all of us, and the non-governmental organizations (which are holding a parallel Forum in Johannesburg with a meeting of the countries’ presidents) are the moving force that can do a lot for the protection of our global home, carrying out their activities and putting pressure on the governmental bodies.

M.I.