Rio +10/World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD)/ Johannesburg 2002/ Earth Summit 2002 26 August – 4 September 2002

DEVELOPMENT WORKERS GATHER AHEAD OF S. AFRICA SUMMIT

The Jordan Times
16 August 2002
AMMAN - Twenty-six Arab and foreign experts are here for a leadership course in exchanging views on development issues ahead of the upcoming World Summit for Sustainable Development (WSSD) in Johannesburg. Those taking part are expected to define and comprehend the challenges facing leadership in order to gain a better understanding of the obstacles to be presented at the Johannesburg conference, said Eve Thompson, director of the United Nations University Leadership Academy, which organised the event. The development workers began sessions Aug. 14 and will travel to Johannesburg for the WSSD conference from Aug. 28-Sept. 4. Those participating in the conference here come from 22 countries including Canada, Oman, Germany, Spain and India. Nidal Hussein, an environmental director in Zarqa Municipality and a Jordanian participant, said he is meeting "experts from different countries and exchanging experiences on environmental issues. Later we get the chance to see the real thing in Johannesburg," he told The Jordan Times. A follow up to the 1992 Rio "Earth Summit" and subsequent international summits, the Johannesburg gathering will call upon countries to implement the comprehensive plan for sustainable development of Agenda 21, a resolution adopted at the Rio summit. Each country is expected to present the South African summit a national plan of its sustainable development achievements over the past 10 years, including the challenges the implementation process faces and future goals. According to Elizabeth Dowdswell, the former executive director of the UN Environment Programme, who directed the first session, many experts are refraining from taking part in the WSSD, believing it would be a "marathon of talking" with 60,000 people participating. "We, however, cannot risk not to go. It will be a chance to hear each country's success story case by case so we can build on them and make a change in our own countries," she said. "The Johannesburg summit should call for the implementation of existing plans, rather than coming up with new policies," said another participant, Zeenat Adam, a Middle East specialist from South Africa working as foreign service officer in the department of foreign affairs. Sessions began on Wednesday, and the academy hopes participants will "learn about leadership directly from leaders." In a country like Jordan where natural resources are scarce, humans are the only assets, said Minister of Higher Education & Scientific Research Walid Maani. Briefing the participants on the education sector in the Kingdom, Maani said local university programmes have adopted international standards and the flavour of a multiethnic society to them. "We try to bring people together," said Maani, referring to a 15 per cent rate of non-Jordanians at private and public universities.