From August 26 to 4 September 2002 the World Summit on Sustainable Development was held at Johannesburg. More than 60.000 people (including heads of State and Government, national delegates and leaders from non-governmental organizations (NGOs), businesses and other major groups) attended different meetings, conferences and seminars to analyze progress made since Rio 1992 on Agenda 21 and to look for new ways to achieve Sustainable Development. Here we provide 10 main statements that reflect the different views during the Summit and also on the SARD (Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Development) Initiative presented by FAO.

Here you can find also:

- the Key Outcomes of the Summit
- the official documents of the Summit
- some information on the multi-stakeholder dialogues
- a list of the partnerships initiatives during the Summit

• About the SARD Initiative: "Agriculture and rural development are sustainable when they are ecologically sound, economically viable, socially just, culturally appropiate, human and based on a holistic scientific apprach (...) This means that sustainable agriculture and rural development (...) must meet the nutritional requirements and other human needs of present and future generations, provide durable and decent employment, maintain and, where possible, enhance the productive and regenerative capacity of the natural resource base, reduce vulnarability and strengthen self-reliance". Eve Crowley, Task Manager of Chapter 14 of Agenda 21 at FAO.



• About the "Type 2" Initiatives: "I want to change the world, but I want to change it from the inside", Torsten Bartsch, from the Young Managers Team of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development.



• About the SARD Initiative "What is more inspirational than the principle behind the SARD Initiative itself is that it provides a multi-stakeholder framework which is "civil-society led, government supported and FAO facilitated" Philippines Ambassador Delia Domingo Albert, Under Secretary of Foreign Affairs, at the SARD Initiative Side Event.



• "We believe the the problems are basically the same in most countries. Sufficient rural employment and decent income generation are the main challenges facing a viable rural economy. Linked to this are the need to improve productivity, efficiency and market orientation, as well as diversification and cross-sector-cooperation". Switzerland Ambassador Jean-Francois Giovanni at the SARD Initiative Side Event.



• "Rural areas could not adopt the models of industrialized agriculture promoted in the past. Among the most difficult problems were the overexploitation of natural resources and the underestimation of local knowledge and lack of its incorporation into agricultural policies. Among other things, the initiative would help ensure sustainable use of water resources." Christopher Beier, Director General, Planning and Development Department, GTZ, Germany.



• "The key difference is that Rio focused attention on trying to change the way people thought about development, while Johannesburg is trying to change the way in which people acted. The World Summit is about implementation. Those at Rio had not been as conscious of HIV/AIDS and globalization as those attending the present Summit. The key issue now is to come out with actions addressing those matters". Nitin Desai, Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs and Secretary-General of the Summit.



• "A global human society based on poverty for many and prosperity for a few, characterized by islands of wealth surrounded by a sea of poverty, was unsustainable". Thabo Mbeki, President of South Africa.



• "Indigenous peoples still maintained the philosophy that had taught them to live in a sustainable way. The younger generations must be taught to hold the line of resistance against corporations that are exploiting the sacredness of mother earth. Globalization was unchecked and even water was becoming privatized". Tom Goldtooth, the Indigenous Environmental Network.



• "Agenda 21, in terms of rhetoric, has provided all the answers. What has been missing since then was action. Financing of Agenda 21 simply has not happened at the expected level and both rich and poor nations has failed to act with the needed political will". Marcelo Furtado, Greenpeace Brazil.



• "It is ironic for the rich and powerful groups in the world to say they are not interested in those goals because they have failed before, especially since they failed largely because those groups with the means to do so had failed to come through. They have signed up to those lofty declarations, and if they hadvedone so in complete cynicism, they should explain that to the rest of the world. If they have taken those commitments seriously, and I think they have, they need, on moral grounds, to follow through with the means to achieve them". Jeffrey Sachs, Special Adviser to the UN Secretary-General.