Johannesburg Action Plan

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The Johannesburg Action Plan ( English : Johannesburg Plan of Implementation ) was adopted in September 2002 at the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg (South Africa). It confirms the goals of the Millennium Declaration of 2000. It comprises a large number of agreements that take up and expand on the goals of the 1992 Rio de Janeiro conference . It also contains newly formulated goals.

Background: Rio de Janeiro 1992

In 1992, at the UN Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro , the international community met with the aim of sustainable development. An independent commission should develop politically and legally binding guidelines. In addition to environmental problems, global development problems in the context of environmental politics were also dealt with. Five “documents” came into being in Rio. One result of this conference was Agenda 21 . This contains 40 chapters, which deal with all essential policy areas for environmentally friendly and sustainable development. Many activities relating to the “Local Agenda 21” were subsequently networked on a regional, national and global level.

Johannesburg Action Plan 2002

United Nations flag

Ten years after Rio de Janeiro, the topic of sustainability was taken up again in 2002 at the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg. An important agreement at this summit included consolidating economic and social development and environmental protection under politically stable conditions. This should be done at the global, local, national and regional levels. In order to live up to this agreement, the summit participants adopted the so-called "Johannesburg 2002 Action Plan". In this, the goals of the Millennium Declaration of 2000 were adopted.

Strategies

With this in mind, Johannesburg should send a clearly formulated political message for the "sustainable development of globalization". This should be done in the five “key areas” of water, renewable energies, health, agriculture and biodiversity. The specific goals should be implemented as quickly as possible. In addition, the term “sustainability” defined that development is only sustainable if the needs of today's generation are met without impairing the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. The focus here is on the satisfaction of basic needs and the sustainability of the global ecosystem.

aims

Building on the Millennium Declaration, the delegates agreed the following goals in the action plan:

  1. The so-called extinction of species should be reduced significantly by the beginning of 2010.
  2. The negative effects of chemicals on the environment and humanity must be reduced significantly by 2020.
  3. Countries are obliged to increase their development aid to 0.7 percent of the gross national product.
  4. significant increase in the share of renewable energies .
  5. Damaged fish stocks should recover by 2015.
  6. Discrimination against women must end.
  7. Globally acting companies have the task of assuming ecological and social responsibility.
  8. Environmentally harmful subsidies are to be abolished, especially in the area of ​​hard coal subsidies .
  9. The international environmental agreements must not be subordinate to the rules of the WTO .
  10. A change in consumption and production behavior must be brought about.
  11. All states should join the Kyoto Protocol .
  12. The loss of natural resources such as lakes and forests must be stopped immediately.
  13. A “World Solidarity Fund” is to support the fight against poverty. This fund should be based on voluntary contributions.
  14. The proportion of people without access to clean drinking water should be halved by 2015.

Critical discussion

With the conference in Johannesburg, an action plan was finally adopted, which should be implemented in an ongoing process. A large number of critics viewed this conference and the resulting goals in retrospect on the basis of various criteria:

successes

Even if the "World Summit for Sustainable Development" was accused of failure in the first few years after its adoption, this adoption resulted in long-term progress. Since Johannesburg was a follow-up conference to the 1992 Rio Summit, it was clear in advance that they would not be able to achieve the same results as then. Despite the lack of binding implementation, it was possible to build on this action plan very well in retrospect. Compared to “Rio 1992”, progress has been made here in a relatively short time.

An absolutely measurable success of the Johannesburg Action Plan was the formulation of the objectives for "sustainable development". It has become a model that is actually seen as a solution across all policy areas.

Another success of the adoption was the combination of economic and financial issues with environmental issues. A decisive basis was laid here, which states that neither in the area of ​​finance nor in the economy should environmental and social issues be excluded.

Deficits

While the adoption of the Johannesburg Action Plan brought a few successes, there were many shortcomings.

Since the negotiations at the World Summit were strongly influenced by “economic globalization” and “ trade liberalization ”, the industrialized countries in particular were not prepared to go beyond the resolutions of Monterrey and Doha . As a result, the action plan that had been adopted suffered from the lack of time constraints and the ambiguously formulated targets. In addition, the “World Summit 2002” failed to take into account the goals of the major UN conference in 1990 on the subjects of women, population issues or HIV / AIDS. This deficit, in particular, has been very heavily criticized.

Above all, critics criticize the unclear formulation of the goals. Most of these were formulated very weakly and, above all, imprecisely. Such “inaccuracy” leads to the inefficiency of some goals. An example of this is minimizing the toxins in numerous chemicals. It is only stated that these chemicals should be reduced, but no further details are given here. This goal then loses its importance and consideration, as do some other goals.

Rio de Janeiro Conference 2012

Building on the action plan in Johannesburg , another and, for the time being, last conference for sustainable development took place in Rio de Janeiro from June 20-22, 2012 . One of the aims of this conference was to re-commit states to sustainable development. This conference took up some of the goals of the action plan and made them more concrete. An example of this is the introduction of measures to maintain global fish stocks at such a level or to reduce it to such a level that ensures the highest possible sustainable yield. A specific time window that should extend to 2015 was decided. As the decision to phase out harmful subsidies was weak at this point, countries were encouraged to streamline these subsidies.

Due to the brisk and very slow implementation of the Rio-Johannesburg Action Plan, the delegates in 2012 lacked trust in the political will of the other side to turn things around in the direction of “sustainable development”. More emphasis should be placed on this in this conference.

In the final declaration of this conference, the so-called “SDGs” ( Sustainable Development Goals ) were resolved, which were given a new time window that should extend into 2015. Although a lot was left open in this final document, it offered a lot of room for improvement and opened up opportunities to subsequently upgrade the results.

Current situation

The implementation of the action plan is ongoing and new ones are developing based on this.

With this aim it was stated that the threatened species included in the Red List should improve by one category. The proportion of wilderness and natural forests should also be significantly increased.

However, this goal has not yet been achieved. In Germany in particular, almost a tenth of all mushroom, plant and animal species have died out. Another 30 to 40 percent are threatened or endangered with extinction .

  • The negative effects of chemicals on the environment and humanity must be reduced significantly by 2020.

Within this goal it was stated that the accumulation of chemicals in food chains, in the air and in the waters should be reduced significantly.

If you trace the development of this goal back to today, you can see that this goal is still in the implementation process. Building on this goal, various measures and environmental quality standards are taken within the countries. Some countries, such as Switzerland, set different time periods within the goal. This will partly expand until 2030.

  • Countries are obliged to increase their development aid to 0.7 percent of the gross national product.

Within this goal, the industrialized countries committed themselves to provide public aid amounting to at least 0.7 percent of the gross national product. This 0.7 percent target is attributed miserable failure in the circle of various critics. Too large a proportion of humanity still lives in poverty .

  • Significant increase in the share of renewable energies.

The topic of "renewable energies" is still a big topic today. Since the demand for energy will grow steadily due to the exponentially growing world population , it is very important in terms of energy, environmental and climate policy to expand renewable energies and reduce energy consumption. Here it is specified within the target that a 20 percent energy saving must take place compared to the trend development. From a large number of investigations and studies it is now known that the natural gas and oil reserves are only sufficient for about 50 years. The reasons for this are the strong population growth as well as the increased transport volume. Growing demand for energy also plays its part. Demand is particularly high in Russia, China and India. To date, China and India have increased their energy consumption sixfold since 1980, and it will double again by 2030. Here, too, we are still in the constant process of implementing an increase in renewable energies.

  • Damaged fish stocks are expected to recover by 2015.

Even within this goal one is still in the implementation process. Here, 3 billion euros are lost every year due to overfishing . In addition, 41% of the stocks examined in the north-east Atlantic and the adjacent waters are still overfished. 91% of 97 stocks in the Mediterranean are overfished.

In order to achieve this goal, a new Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) was established. This came into force on January 1, 2014. With the CFP, the fish stocks should recover and, as a result, be used for food. In addition, a good environmental status can be achieved in the seas and fair fishing by EU fleets in non-EU waters can be guaranteed. The CFP also contains measures to prevent overfishing and reduce discards. The EU has a unique opportunity to help sustainable fisheries achieve a breakthrough inside and outside the EU.

  • Discrimination against women must end.

This goal forbids discrimination against women in all areas of life. This includes, for example, the areas of politics, education, family, work, economy, social affairs, culture and legislation.

The member states have to report regularly on the implementation of the convention at national level. These reports on the elimination of discrimination against women are submitted to the UN Committee at least every four years. The participation of women in society and politics shows progress, especially in Africa. This can be seen very well in African politics. In 1960, only one percent of women were represented in politics, whereas in 2009 the proportion was around 20 percent. However, this does not improve the social situation of the majority of women in Africa. A large proportion of these women are still discriminated against to this day. That is why the European Parliament decided on October 8, 2015 to renew the EU action plan. This should address gender equality and equal power for women in development cooperation. This succession plan should include all aspects of EU foreign policy. These include: development cooperation, humanitarian aid, trade, human rights and foreign affairs, migration and asylum.

  • Globally acting companies have the task of assuming ecological and social responsibility.

This goal was implemented in many areas of different companies. This was able to be implemented in particular because in 2014 the EU Commission requested that large companies be required to report on sustainability performance. The EU Commission demands more transparency from companies regarding the ecological and social consequences of their business. They should explain what emissions they caused themselves or through their value chain and what they wanted to do about them. In addition, they should explain whether they are achieving greater energy and resource efficiency, including what they are doing for their employees to make the working conditions at their suppliers bearable and people to receive fair wages. However, the guideline is only intended to apply to “companies in the public interest”, especially those listed on the stock exchange. This reduces the number of companies that were originally targeted at 18,000 to 6,000.

A lot of money was invested in this measure until 2015. Germany in particular spent around 35.8 billion euros on this goal in 2010. However, a sustainable budget policy is still a long way off. Within the United Nations one can clearly see that the dismantling of environmentally harmful subsidies has had little success to date. As a result, a Europe 2020 strategy was adopted. With the help of this strategy the progress of the member states is to be monitored. Above all, dismantling steps should be made binding and verifiable.

  • The international environmental agreements must not be subordinate to the rules of the WTO .

This goal has been met by the United Nations. The environmental agreements are not subordinate to the WTO. However, as an international organization, the WTO participates in environmental agreements, even if their primary tasks are not in the environmental field. In addition to the WTO, a number of other actors are involved in the international environmental agreement. These are, for example, the Energy Agency , the World Bank , UNDP , WHO and many other international organizations.

  • A change in consumption and production behavior must be brought about.

The goal was concretized in the Marrakech Process , which was started in 2003 and which focuses on the development of strategies and measures to strengthen sustainable consumption and production patterns. The Marrakech Process forms the basis for national strategies to promote sustainable production and consumption patterns. Against this background, the Federal Environment Ministry and the Federal Environment Agency launched the national dialogue process on sustainable consumption and production methods in Germany in 2004 . At the European level, the “Sustainability in Production and Consumption” action plan followed in 2008.

At the World Summit for Sustainable Development in Rio de Janeiro in 2012 (Rio + 20), the ten-year framework for the program of sustainable consumption and production methods in the version of CSD 19 was decided. This goal is also still in the implementation process.

  • All states should join the Kyoto Protocol.

The Kyoto Protocol , which was adopted on December 11, 1997 and is intended to serve as an additional protocol for the formulation of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) with the aim of climate protection, is named within this goal . This protocol states that industrialized countries should reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by a total of 5.2 percent by 2012 compared to 1990 levels. Developing countries have also signed the agreement but are exempt from the obligations. The Kyoto Protocol has been binding for the participating states since February 16, 2005. In practice this means that the agreed targets must be adhered to, otherwise sanctions will come into force. Around 188 countries joined the Kyoto Protocol, but not all countries could be reached by 2015. After the protocol had been extended until 2020, Russia, Canada, Japan and New Zealand announced their exit on December 8, 2012. The US has not yet ratified the Kyoto Protocol. Canada left in 2013.

  • The loss of natural resources such as lakes and forests must be stopped immediately.

This goal could not be achieved until 2015 either. The biodiversity is exposed still strong threats. These include habitat loss, pollution of forests and cities, over-exploitation of resources, invasive alien species and climate change. Here, too, a new period of time is given to achieve the goal. This lasts until 2020.

  • A “World Solidarity Fund” is intended to counteract poverty. This fund should be based on voluntary contributions.

Various solidarity funds based on voluntary contributions have reportedly existed at national level. However, in most countries these funds are insufficient with numerous other means of combating poverty.

  • The proportion of people without access to clean drinking water is to be halved by 2015.

Access to clean drinking water and sewage systems was recognized by the United Nations in 2010 as a fundamental human right. There is still a need for action in some developing countries. In these countries attempts are being made to improve this situation with the help of infrastructure projects. Here you can see clear successes. However, the desired positive health effects sometimes fall short of expectations. According to an interim report in 2013, this goal was even achieved in 2010.

In conclusion, one can say that in the area of ​​sustainable development not all goals were sufficiently implemented by 2015. The area of sustainability has had to assert itself over the last few decades. As early as 2002 in Johannesburg , the delegates failed to draw up an effective action plan for the implementation of the sustainability policy. In addition, at the Rio de Janeiro conference, economic growth came to the fore as a means of development and poverty reduction . Here one can clearly see that the goal of “environmental protection” still has to assert itself today against the goals of “growth and social progress”.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Active for marine nature conservation, Federal Agency for Nature Conservation, 2002
  2. ↑ World Summit Rio de Janeiro 1992 , September 15, 2015, accessed on February 1, 2016
  3. ↑ Local Agenda 21 , December 9, 2015, accessed on February 1, 2016
  4. ↑ The World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg 2002 , undated, accessed on December 8, 2015
  5. ↑ a b c d Sustainable strategies and perspectives after the World Summit for Sustainable Development (WSSD) ( Memento of the original of November 21, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF file), pp. 2–7, October 2002, accessed December 8, 2015 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.perglobal.org
  6. ↑ Sustainable Development Strategy 2012–2015 ( Memento of the original from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , January 25, 2012, p. 4, accessed February 26, 2016 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / sib-admin.netconsult.sylon.net
  7. ↑ The Johannesburg Action Plan  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , December 7, 2002, accessed December 8, 2015@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.rp-online.de  
  8. ↑ a b c Rio + 20 - Realpolitik and the consequences for “The future we want” (PDF file), July 2012, pp. 5–8, accessed on January 8, 2016
  9. ↑ "Stop species extinction!"  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , undated, accessed on February 26, 2016@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.szf-jfs.org  
  10. ↑ "Sustainable Water Management" , Prof. Dr. Ing.Martin Grambow, 2013, p. 2010, accessed on February 9, 2016
  11. ↑ "Invasive Neobiota: From the Basics to the National Strategy" , 2014, p. 147, accessed on February 26, 2016
  12. ↑ “Development Policy in the Erhard Eppler Era” , 2009, Dorothee Fischer, p. 12, accessed on February 26, 2016
  13. ^ "Energy and Resource Efficiency and the Rebound Effect" , 2014, Meike Reineke, accessed on February 26, 2016
  14. ^ "Recovery of fish stocks" , 2014, pp. 1–2, accessed on February 9, 2016
  15. ↑ "Equality within the United Nations" , 2015, accessed on February 28, 2016
  16. ↑ "Women and their rights" ( Memento of the original from March 5, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , 2015, accessed February 28, 2016 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.gemeinsam-fuer-afrika.de
  17. ↑ "Resolution of the European Parliament of October 8, 2015 on the renewal of the EU Action Plan on Gender Equality and Equal Power for Women in Development Cooperation" , 2015, accessed on February 28, 2016
  18. ↑ Sustainability reports & CSR reporting obligation , 2015, accessed on February 28, 2016
  19. ↑ Ways to reduce environmentally harmful subsidies (PDF file), 2011, Holger Bär, Klaus Jaco, b Eike Meyer, Kai Schlegelmilch, pp. 38–39, accessed on February 28, 2016
  20. ^ Environment , 2015, Helmut Weidner, accessed on February 28, 2016
  21. ↑ Sustainable Consumption , 2015, accessed on February 28, 2016
  22. ↑ The Kyoto Protocol , 2016, accessed February 28, 2016
  23. ↑ Kyoto Protocol , 2015, accessed February 28, 2016
  24. ^ Report from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council, 2015, European Commission, pp. 4–12, accessed on February 29, 2016
  25. ↑ Portugal: Poverty eats its way through , 2015, Markus Lahrmann, accessed on February 29, 2016
  26. ↑ Funding for refugees, asylum seekers and migrant organizations ( Memento of the original from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , 2015, accessed February 29, 2016  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.eine-welt-netz-nrw.de
  27. ↑ Water and wastewater infrastructure and health in developing countries , 2015, Johannes Rieckmann, p. 1, accessed on February 29, 2016