World Summit on Sustainable Development: Ensuring a Successful Outcome

I wanted to begin by placing the WSSD in a broader development context. Johannesburg is one of a series of landmark international development meetings that began with the Doha WTO Ministerial last November, continued in Monterrey with the Finance for Development Summit, and will be furthered at the "World Food Summit: Five Years Later" meeting in Rome this June.

At Doha, the world’s trade ministers reaffirmed their countries’ commitment to an inclusive trading system which promotes sustainable development. They agreed that an open and non-discriminatory multilateral trading system and protection of the environment "can and must be mutually supportive." In Monterrey, the world agreed that "each country has primary responsibility for its own economic and social development," and that "national development efforts need to be supported by an enabling international economic environment." The international community also recognized in Monterrey that trade, investment and domestic savings offer substantial resources for development that must be unlocked and used effectively along with ODA. Sound policies and strong, accountable national institutions are critical to success.

We carry to Johannesburg, then, the messages of Doha and Monterrey: the globalized economy is a powerful engine for development, and each country must take on the responsibility to harness it by practicing good governance, adhering to the rule of law, investing in its people and encouraging political and economic freedom.

As the U.S. prepares for Johannesburg, we see that the WSSD can be a critical opportunity to deliver concrete results that make these messages a reality for sustainable development. We already have Agenda 21, which provides the policy framework for action on a balanced approach to the three pillars of sustainable development--economic development, social development and environmental stewardship. We also have the international development goals in the UN Millennium Declaration as well as voluntary mechanisms such as the International Coral Reef Initiative and the Arctic Council. All these provide the necessary blueprint.

We need to focus on how to move toward concrete action. Implementation is not just a question of money. Funds are a component of implementation, to be sure, but they are not the primary driving force, nor is the lack of official development assistance the primary impediment to implementing agreements.

We must recognize that, despite the increasingly globalized nature of our world and its economy, sustainable development must begin at home, and poverty alleviation, improved health, and environmental stewardship all require good domestic governance, democratic societies, free markets, and accountable public and private sectors.

In developing our approach to WSSD, therefore, we settled on two broad fundamentals that have to be addressed if we want to achieve concrete results from the treaties and agreements already negotiated: strengthening good domestic governance and capturing the power of partnerships.

By good domestic governance, we are talking about how to, among other things:

-- encourage effective and democratic institutions, including an independent and fair judiciary;
-- promulgate sound monetary, fiscal and trade policies that promote economic growth while encouraging social development and environmental protection;
-- ensure a participatory role for all members of civil society who are affected by decision-makers; and
-- develop sound policies, including through science and the scientific method.

Recognizing the essential role of partnerships to effect change is the other key element--partnerships among governments and, more importantly, between governments and civil society, particularly the private sector. For this reason, we are hoping that the dialogue leading up to Johannesburg opens channels of communication and fosters the kind of creative thinking among national and local governments, NGOs, women’s groups, scientists, business and industry, farmers, foresters, fishermen who identify their common interests and create a plan to advance them together.

By addressing the fundamentals and by creating active partnerships to build upon them with concrete actions, the Summit can shape a new approach to some of the most challenging sustainable development issues facing developed and developing countries alike:

-- increasing access to clean, reliable, affordable energy and to fresh water;
-- restoring coastal zones and fisheries to healthy, abundant environments;
-- protecting forests and promoting sustainable forest management;
-- halting the dramatic trend of biodiversity loss;
-- attacking the scourge of global diseases such as malaria, TB and HIV/AIDS;
-- significantly increasing agricultural productivity and improving the lives of rural poor; and
-- giving hope for the future to the world’s youth through education.

We do not come to the realization of what is required to effect positive change in sustainable development lightly. Nationally, we have decades of experience at the federal, state and local level about the mix of policies, programs and cooperation with civil society that is necessary to undertake dramatic change. Five decades of experience in international development assistance programs since World War II--its successes as well as failures--have informed our conclusions as well. We’ve learned throwing money at the problem doesn’t solve it. Writing a new agreement that talks about it doesn’t solve it. But addressing the underlying fundamentals and encouraging the players who have the most to gain from success to play an active role in strengthening those fundamentals does.

The U.S. is working to develop concrete partnerships to address the sustainable development issues I’ve mentioned, and just this past Friday (April 19), we had a video conference between working-level counterparts of the U.S. and EU to explore potential areas of cooperation. This approach is harder, I agree, and it requires more vision and more effort than writing a check or negotiating a document, but this approach for Johannesburg could make a lasting difference.