The World Summit on Sustainable Development

 

The World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD), the first UN Summit of the millennium, will be held 26 August through 4 September 2002, in Johannesburg, South Africa. The Summit, also referred to as Rio+10 or Earth Summit 2002, presents an excellent opportunity to give pressing regional sustainable development issues, especially population and environment interactions, high-profile media coverage that will reach policymakers, opinion leaders, and large public audiences around the world.

 

The United Nations, recognizing the links between environment and development, has created opportunities for global leaders to come together to explore associated challenges and opportunities through various “Earth Summits.”  Sustainable development has been at the heart of the Earth Summit process. In 1987, the UN-sponsored World Commission on Environment and Development produced the Bruntland report, which defined sustainable development as development that “meets the needs of present generations without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” Five years later, the UN sponsored the 1992 Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED or the Earth Summit) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. At this summit, global leaders and representatives developed a thorough and broad-ranging program of action, commonly referred to as Agenda 21, that demanded new ways of investing in the future to reach global sustainable development while minimizing impact on global natural resources. UNCED received significant media attention that helped firmly place environment and development issues in the public arena.

 

The World Summit on Sustainable Development will be a meeting of major international actors, including governments, concerned citizens, UN agencies, and multilateral financial institutions, to assess global change since the 1992 Rio Summit. According to a briefing paper released by the Secretariat of the UN, the goal of the Summit is to “reinvigorate, at the highest political level, the global commitment to sustainable development and to a North/South partnership and a higher level of international solidarity to the accelerated implementation of Agenda 21 and the promotion of sustainable development.”  Population and environment issues, as well as how humans interact with the environment in the pursuit of development, will underlie the overarching focus of the conference - sustainable development.

 

Because of its regional and global importance, the WSSD will offer journalists a significant opportunity to focus on environment and population issues. The agenda will foster discussion of findings in particular environmental sectors (such as forests, oceans, climate, energy, or fresh water) as well as in cross-sector areas (such as economic conditions, new technologies, and globalization). Successes, challenges, and opportunities for future action will be identified, while the global commitment to sustainable development will be strengthened.

 

 

Population Reference Bureau to sponsor journalists from developing countries to attend and report on the World Summit on Sustainable Development

To expand and sustain coverage of population and environment linkages and issues of sustainable development, the Population Reference Bureau (PRB) will bring together several influential journalists from developing countries to cover the events and issues associated with the WSSD.  PRB will fund and support these journalists so that they may attend and effectively cover the WSSD in Johannesburg.   Selection of the participants will be based upon the experience of each candidate in journalism, the candidate’s record of writing on population and environment topics, and the strength of the candidate’s application. Senior-level journalists, as well as editors and senior producers, from print and broadcast media will be targeted and identified by reaching out to in-country media networks and PRB contacts.

Specifically, we are seeking journalists:

·    in influential editorial positions: senior editors, producers and writers;

·    clearly interested in the environment, population and development;

·    committed to covering these topics in their media;

·    representing mainstream and influential media: daily newspapers, popular magazines, radio, television, and wire services;

·    whose publications have a large circulation or whose broadcast media reach large audiences;

·    whose publications or programs are produced no less than six times per year; and

·    who have a functional fluency in English.

 

The selected journalists will be expected to interact with Summit attendees and policymakers and cover events and issues addressed at the Summit. They will produce articles, reports, and supplements in their home countries through appropriate media outlets.   PRB will facilitate information exchanges between the journalists and key experts and policymakers during the Summit, including one-on-one interviews for each journalist with select experts. PRB will also ensure that each journalist has access to computers and email to encourage submission of stories to their news outlets throughout the Summit.  PRB will also organize a reception for the journalists and selected key individuals and policymakers at the Summit to further facilitate interaction. This will provide the journalists with an opportunity to develop relationships with policymakers or population and environment experts in their home countries and provide them with key local contacts.

 

Pre-Summit Seminar

In anticipation of the WSSD, PRB will organize a two-day pre-Summit workshop for the journalists. The seminar will expose the participants to salient regional population and environment linkages, provide information about Rio+10, introduce them to the terms and definitions that would be used during the meeting, and encourage them to cover the population and environment angles of the issues discussed at the Summit.   Speakers from throughout the world will be invited to present on integrated population/environment topics, sustainable development, the Rio Summit, and the issues and expected outcomes of the WSSD. Potential speakers include representatives from UN bodies, regional experts, environmental journalists who have a track record in covering the demographic dimension in their stories, and members from environmental organizations participating in the Rio+10 process.  The seminar will be highly participatory and will include technical information and editorial discussion sessions.

 

 

Follow Up after the WSSD

The journalists who participate in the program will be expected to send copies of their articles, reports, and features to PRB.  PRB staff will then use these materials to form the basis of a compendium of stories on the challenges and highlights of the WSSD.

 

THE POPULATION REFERENCE BUREAU

 

The Population Reference Bureau (PRB) is the oldest private population organization in the United States. PRB is the leader in providing timely, objective information on U.S. and international population trends and their implications. Since 1929, PRB’s mission has been to educate people about the causes and consequences of population change. Through research, electronic and print publications, and a range of outreach activities, PRB provides the most recent data and balanced, objective analyses of the implications of changes in population to policymakers, educators, journalists, and the concerned public, thereby empowering them to address population issues in a well-informed way.

 

For many years, PRB has been collaborating with journalists to expand the coverage of population, health, and environmental issues. PRB helps make technical research accessible to print and broadcast journalists around the world. We do this through collaborative media networks, background publications, seminars, press conferences, and briefings. We also generate articles for many newspapers, magazines, and wire services.  

 

Our MEASURE Communication project, funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), produces global and country-specific materials (in print, video, and electronic formats), provides technical assistance and training to developing country institutions for improved communication of research findings to policymakers and other nontechnical audiences, and expands the use of new technologies and new formats for effective communication. The project is currently working in Kenya, Madagascar, Tanzania, Senegal, Cambodia, India, Romania, Kazakhstan, Russia, Mexico, and Brazil, and conducts regional policy communications training.

 

Our Population, Health and Environment Program disseminates the latest analyses and scientific information on the causes and consequences of critical population, health and environment linkages, and on the ways that these linkages can be addressed. This information is targeted to those who influence policy, such as policymakers and their advisors, the media, and non–governmental organizations. By working in collaboration with established and influential U.S. and international organizations, the program facilitates networking and builds capacity among international partners to communicate research and project results to policymakers. For more information on PRB’s PHE Program, please visit PRB’s website (www.prb.org) or write to us at: PHE@prb.org.