ABSTRACT
Ten years earlier the Rio Summit topped a crescendo of environmental concern that had been growing since the early 1970s. However, by Johannesburg the optimism of Rio had long gone. The official Johannesburg website acknowledged that ‘progress in implementing sustainable development has been extremely disappointing since the 1992 Earth Summit’. The UK press coverage picked up on this theme of dashed hopes or focused on the apparent mismatch between hospitality for the official delegates versus the living conditions of South African shanty dwellers a kilometre down the road. The UK tabloid newspaper the Sun, under the banner headline ‘It makes you sick’, explored the catering with a list that resembled a biodiversity audit: 5000 oysters, 100 lb of lobsters and shellfish, 4000 lb of steak and chicken, 450 lb of salmon and 220 lb of kingclip (a South African fish delicacy). The event proved fraught with bitter demonstrations outside and the US Secretary of State, Colin Powell, being booed by delegates for suggesting that US economic polices benefited biodiversity. Greenpeace produced a school report style assessment of the event comparing what was required with what was achieved: genetic engineering? Caught cheating. Toxics? Sickening performance. Oceans? Too much fishing for compliments and not enough real work. Friends of the Earth were more damning, concluding that the events finished up with a stunning lack of progress.
