A
young journalist covering the World Economic
Forum decided
to hear what the UN had to say about global environmental
issues. At the Multi-Stakeholders Dialogue, a
side event of the Earth Summit 2002 preparatory
meeting,
an elderly woman caught her attention. The journalist
invited her to chat in the delegates' UN café,
but billowing cigarette smoke drove them out.
So they walked down Park Avenue towards the Waldorf.
Journalist:
I don't get it. Isn't your preparatory meeting for
Earth Summit 2002 about Agenda 21? Whose agenda is
it? What does "21" stand for?
Stakeholder: Your generation always wants
trivial details. It is a global environment
agenda for the 21st century. That document
adopted ten years ago at the Rio Earth Summit
was the first world plan to save the planet.
Even though more than 178 governments signed
it, the ideas belonged to everyone--women,
youth, businessmen, indigenous peoples and
other major groups. Way back in 1992, it made
all the difference. Governments used to think
that saving whales and tropical rain forests
were the most typical global environmental
problems. But Agenda 21 made it clear that
their fate depends on ours and vice versa.
We need to solve development problems like
illiteracy and gender inequality as well as
desertification if we want to do good for the
community of life.
Journalist: Isn't it outdated? I mean, ten
years later it's a new world after September
11 and globalization.
Stakeholder: Sure, lots of things are different,
but most of the old ecosystem problems such
as climate change and poverty are still with
us and getting worse.
Journalist: So will Agenda 21 have a quick
Ten-Step Recovery Plan for a planet's addiction
to over-consumption and waste? Stakeholder:
You really are out of touch. The UN has had
sustainable development on its agenda for years.
Since 1992, there have been UN conferences
on population, women, children, human rights
and human settlements where action plans were
adopted. The trick is to get real commitments.
Journalist:
More empty promises. It's time to rethink
the whole "enchilada"--you
know, start with straight talk. I just came
from the World Economic Forum where they discussed
corporate responsibility and the future of
climate change. No one mentioned jargon like "Agenda
21." Believe me, in the real world it
doesn't exist.
Stakeholder:
I'm glad you are honest about your own ignorance.
That's precisely the problem.
Newspapers and magazines never pay enough attention
to what the UN is doing about the world's environmental
problems. Yet it is the UN where international
agreements can be reached that are binding
on governments and corporations. You need "conflict
and drama," right? Well, you might just
get that. Why do you think protesters are getting
more violent? Confrontations get attention.
Believe me, the media have a stake in Earth
Summit 2002, too. You should be concerned that
half of humanity has never made a phone call
and that the majority of the world's poor don't
have access to the internet.
Journalist: Interesting. My editors would
have lots of opinions on those subjects.
Stakeholder:
Now you're talking. Maybe "sustainability" doesn't
sound like English to you, but I think we basically
agree. Earth Summit II is a chance to get the
action going. How about helping me do a public
television series on "Agenda 21 and Sustainable
Development"?
Journalist: How about if we change the title?
Realizing they
had a common objective, the two women brainstormed
over lunch in a smoke-free
restaurant. They called their television series: "Clash
of the Titans--the Agenda 21 Wars." If
you have a better idea, please send it to the
Earth Times for forwarding.
| 
