South Africa announced this weekend that it has been selected to host the U.N. World Summit on Sustainable Development, a.k.a. the Earth Summit 2002. More than 40,000 delegates will likely attend the conference, which will mark the 10th anniversary of the 1992 Rio Earth Summit, where world leaders agreed to an agenda for protecting the environment and alleviating poverty. Rejoice Mabudafhasi, South Africa’s deputy environmental minister, said she was pleased the conference would take place in a developing nation “where the issues of development and the environment are fundamental to the daily struggle against poverty.” On a related note, the international agreement to reduce the use of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) reached this weekend in South Africa includes a promise by industrialized nations to pay $150 million each year to help developing countries find alternatives to the POPs.
