Government of the Federated States of Micronesia

FSM joins World Summit in Johannesburg

PALIKIR, Pohnpei (FSM Information Service): August 27, 2002 – President Leo A. Falcam is heading a delegation to Johannesburg, South Africa where they will join global leaders for the World Summit on Sustainable Development.

The Summit which begins August 26 to September 4 will gather leaders of the world to pursue new initiatives on the implementation of sustainable development and the building of a prosperous and secure future for their citizens.

According to statement issued by the Summit, the gathering hold great importance to the sustainability of many of the worlds developing nations:

“The Johannesburg Summit promises to be one of the largest and most important international meetings ever held on the integration of economic, environmental and social decision-making. It will focus on building a commitment at the highest levels of government and society to better implement Agenda 21, the roadmap for achieving sustainable development adopted at the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development the “Earth Summit” held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Sustainable development has been defined as development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. It calls for improving the quality of life for all the world’s people without increasing the use of natural resources beyond the earth’s carrying capacity. Efforts to build a truly sustainable way of life require the integration of action in three key areas: economic growth and equity; conserving natural resources and the environment; and social development.

The World Summit offers a historic opportunity to confront serious and growing threats to human well-being: one third of the world’s people live on an income of less than two dollars a day; the use of fossil fuels is increasing rapidly; patterns of production and consumption continue to eat up natural resources faster than they can be replenished; three quarters of the world’s fisheries are fished to their sustainable limits or beyond; mountain glaciers are melting away; and the world’s forests have shrunk in the last decade by an area larger than that of Venezuela.”

For further information on the Summit, please consult its Web site: www.johannesburgsummit.org.