August 25, 2002

Johannesburg will try to achieve what Rio failed to deliver. But in the ten years since the first Earth Summit, the challenges have grown to bigger proportions

TEN years back when the first Earth Summit was held in Rio de Janiero, high hopes were attached to it. Among them, the most important issue was how to use the world’s resources in a more environmental-friendly manner and how could a sustainable development take place throughout the world without discrimination.

Today, when we recall the pledge and evaluate the results of what happened during the decade, it becomes improbable to think of which hopes can be attached to the second summit, from August 26 to September 4, in Johannesburg, South Africa.

The paradox of this summit is that the pomp and grandeur with which the summit is being held is opposed to the very essence of the moot. Just imagine, over 100 leaders of the world would be among the 65,000 delegates and officials, including 22,000 from United Nations and its affiliated bodies, and over 40,000 from the non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that directly or indirectly are associated with social uplift. The basic objective, as underlined by the organizers, is that it will be a world summit on sustainable development and the projected aim is to reduce poverty by 50 per cent within 13 years i.e., by 2015.

So far, all the hotels in the South African capital have been booked to capacity and it is estimated that upto 60 million US dollars would be spent on only lodging and boarding of the delegates, besides the spendings various governments would be making on their delegations. Keeping the outcome of Rio conference in view, a number of experts and environmentalists have cast doubts over the results of the Johannesburg summit, and many have attached low hopes on what could be achieved. Some have even expressed scepticism over its objectives. For instance, about 2,500 proposals were put forth at the Rio moot, most of them have never been implemented and half have not come into force. This is mainly due to the ineptness of United States and other rich nations. The main cause breeding this scepticism is the experience of the last decade, during which the poor countries become poorer and the developed world’s policies have remained a stumbling block for the poor world’s development.

The question of how the poor part of the world can be developed and a sustainable growth ensured, is a multi-pronged issue. The basic issue remains to be the rising population and depleting resources. About 2.8 billion people live in poverty and most of them live in poverty. The present figure of 6.1 billion people promises to rise to 9.3 billion by 2050. However, it will be the poor of the world who will bear the brunt of the population explosion. The population of the world’s 49 poorest nations will treble to 1.86 billion. Wars, famines and epidemics will follow. With most of their resources being exploited by the rich of the world, the poor nations don’t even have access to basic amenities like food and sanitation. In contrast, 80 percent of the wealth is concentrated in the hands of 15 percent of the people in rich countries.

On the whole, the post-Rio scenario has been quite dismal. Despite pledges made a decade ago, the rich world continues to add to the miseries of the planet. Poverty and inequality remain the prominent issues. Global warming is a main issue. The over use of oil, gas and coal is increasing the planet’s temperature and experts believe it will rise by 5.8 centigrade before the century’s end.

Over 11,000 mammal species face extinction mainly due to the loss of habitat. Forests, specially the tropical forests are diminishing at the rate of 2.4 percent since 1990 and 40 percent are feared to vanish during the coming 10 to 20 years. More than 1.16 billion people do not have access to portable water and about 2.4 billion have no sanitation facilities. The use of water is increasing at such pace that water table is lowering at a dangerous level and may be a threat to the very existence of human race in the next century.

This has many reasons, mainly the unfriendly policies of rich nations have restricted the process of development. Trade has been tied to conditions that are difficult to follow. Transfer of technology has been subjected to chosen ideologies and almost all policies regarding sustainable development, productivity and even health have been confined to improbable attitude of the developed world. In the absence of firm and justifiable policy, it has become impossible to maintain a sustainable growth in developing nations.

Take for example Pakistan. With its 140 million population, its society is increasing at a rate of 3.1 million souls a year. And with a burden of USD38 billion of loans, nearly half of its national budget goes into debt servicing.

An estimated 3.3 million children work to generate income for their families. The literacy rate remains low and gender disparity remains a problem. In a feudal society, rigid customs stay a stumbling block towards growth. Here taboos rule more than reasoning, which makes it impossible for a change in attitude towards poverty alleviation. Apparently, this needs concerted efforts, which must emanate from a strong political system — a far cry from reality.

Health is another area where radical changes are needed. Recently, speakers at a seminar said that one maternity-related death occurs every 20 minutes, or 30,000 women die every year during child birth, which is preventable. In remote areas no basic health care is available and the budget for this sector is deplorably low. And yet, politicians are actively considering slashing the number of seats in medical colleges.

In fact, corruption is the root cause of all ills. Fortunately, Pakistan’s population is still manageable. It has an infrastructure which can be improved to remove this defect. But here no sound political culture has ever been attempted at. Led by traditional political families, comprising of some 550 people, laws are made that protect their privileges and enhance their riches. Policies are formed that aim at burdening people of average income which force them to behave like irresponsible citizens without considering about the future. Various experiments in political field have rendered the country to be run by the army whenever its deems necessary. And yet, people are facing newer experiments.

In the absence of a political will there are countless problems that can be solved without even spending a single penny. The only need is of management. In fact we have yet to decide about the kind of management we need. Economic development has been subjected to personal gains. Even education, the noblest sector, has been converted into an industry.

Pakistan may have sailed fairly good. But the rich nations pushed their policies through proxy representation curbing its trade and economy on their whims. This has caused uneven growth. Political strings are attached that lead to policies enabling the creation of extremist elements. Our own planners, without being realistic take a queue from developed nations and offset its fallout to the poor people.

Change is the key word that is needed for development, that too when it is aimed at sustainable growth. The summit in Johannesburg will take account of the results of the first summit and lay down another set of objectives. Keeping in view of the political developments that had taken place in the world during the past decade or so, the fact remains that the industrial world has become stronger and the wedge between the poor and rich has increased. The laid out major objectives before the summit will be: “How to use the world’s resources in a more environmentally friendly manner?” However, the question needs to be answered is that when the rich world itself is depleting nature of its resources and degrading the environment by cutting rain forests and dumping nuclear waste near poor nations, how can sustainable growth be attained?

The general view is that millions of dollars would be spent on the summit, new targets would be fixed and leaders will disperse after September 4. A vague and watered down programme will be prepared and agreed upon till another such meeting is held. What kind of hope can be attached with this moot which is being held near Soweto, a place where some of the worst shanty towns in the world can be seen. And where apartheid was at its ugliest for more than four centuries.

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