12 / 208
[
] 12
JACOB GEDLEYIHLEKISA ZUMA, PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA
The future we want can only be the future we make.
In Rio de Janeiro in 1992, at what was popularly called the Earth Summit, the countries of the United
Nations agreed to Agenda 21, a programme of action for sustainable development and reaffirmed that
sustainable development was delimited by the integration of economic, social and environmental pillars.
The spirit of the conference was captured by the expression ‘Harmony with Nature’, exemplified by the first
principle of the Rio Declaration.
State leaders expressly acknowledged the urgent need for deep change in consumption and production
patterns, resulting in agreements being reached on the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Framework
Convention on Climate Change.
When we convened for the ten year review of the Earth Summit, in South Africa at the World Summit on
Sustainable Development in 2002 it was hardly a secret, or even in dispute, that progress in implementing
sustainable development has been extremely disappointing since 1992.
With poverty deepening and environmental degradation worsening, what the world wanted was not a
new debate but rather a summit of actions and results. And so the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation,
encapsulated in its commitment to ‘Making it Happen’ became the new global deal from the Summit.
Rio+20 convenes in the context of emerging challenges such as the food security and price crisis, climate
change and unstable international financial systems, which continue to reverse some of the gains made by
developing countries in their efforts to achieve sustainable development.
Today, Africa lags behind in the implementation of the Millennium Development Goals, and Small Island
States continue to be vulnerable to adverse weather conditions. Workers around the world continue to lose
jobs, and children are still hungry and sick.
The future we want should be the future we make as governments and our partners. Rio+20 should build
on the concrete experience of twenty years in implementation, reinvigorate political commitment and work
towards assisting developing countries in their efforts to achieve agreed international developmental goals.
We can only build the future we want through transformation to a greener economy, promoting sustainable
and inclusive growth and protecting vulnerable groups. In this way, we reduce carbon dependency, reverse
ecosystem degradation and move closer to achieving the Millennium Development Goal of ending extreme
world poverty.
Jacob Gedleyihlekisa Zuma
President of the Republic of South Africa