One individual's account of the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, South Africa, 2002, and discovering the importance of social entrepreneurship.

1. My experience at the World Summit on Sustainable Development
Johannesburg, South Africa
August- September 2002
Anamaria Aristizabal
anamaria@aristizabal.net
This past August I had the opportunity to attend the United Nations World Summit on
Sustainable Development (WSSD) in Johannesburg, South Africa. I’m collecting my
impressions here to share with colleagues and friends who might be interested in an
individual’s experience of this gigantic event.
I went to the WSSD with an organization called Ashoka, which is based in Washington
DC. Ashoka’s mission is to support the work of “social entrepreneurs,” which Ashoka
defines as creative individuals who are exploring innovative solutions for a given social
or environmental problem. These Ashoka Fellows, as they are called, come from all over
the world.
Ashoka took advantage of the WSSD to organize a meeting of Ashoka Fellows prior to it.
Twenty Fellows (ten from Africa, and the rest from around the world) were invited to
attend the Fellow Caucas and the WSSD. The Fellow Caucus took place at Tlholego, an
ecovillage and the home of Paul Cohen, a South African Ashoka Fellow. Paul promotes
sustainable building techniques, sustainable agriculture, and community life in
Rusthenburg, two hours north of Johannesburg. The Caucus lasted four days, with a
dynamic agenda covering, among other things, the discussions at the WSSD, and the
finalization of the Ashoka Green Paper (AGP). The AGP is a document in which the
Ashoka Fellows present the approach of the social entrepreneur in tackling sustainable
development. The Fellows entitled it “Social Entrepreneurs: Doing Sustainable
Development”.
It was remarkable to meet and interact with so many inspiring role models at once,
concerned about making the world a better place starting with their own communities.
Pati Ruiz, Marie Haisova, and Ravi Agarwal are prime examples of Ashoka Fellows.
Pati, from Mexico, is dedicated to educating people to live sustainable at the Sierra
Gorda, a biosphere reserve in her country. Marie, from Czech Republic, studies how
environmental problems affect each gender, and promotes a more integrated approach to
the environment including feminine and masculine perspectives. Ravi, from India, raises
awareness of toxic waste and pollution issues to a wide network of NGOs and
communities to avoid negative impacts.
At both the Fellow Caucus and the WSSD itself, a major focus was the creation of
partnerships. Partnerships were presented by the UN as an important instrument for
implementing sustainable development. Throughout the preparations for the summit,
partnerships were encouraged between businesses, NGOs, governments, and civil society
to find solutions for big development or environmental problems such as climate change,

2. ecosystem degradation, water scarcity, and poverty. The Ashoka Fellows became
engaged this concept by forming collaborations amongst each other. Ravi and a group of
South Indian Fellows formed a group about waste issues in cities, to exchange
information and work on projects together. Pati and Fellows from South Africa and
Indonesia created a group to work on carbon sequestration projects, a topic of increasing
importance as the Kyoto Protocol gets implemented. Marie created a women’s group
among the Ashoka Fellows to explore and tackle issues that concern women social
entrepreneurs. Some people at the WSSD criticized the heavy emphasis on cross-sector
partnerships, saying it lets governments get away with doing the minimum for sustainable
development and gives the responsibility to other actors, and too much power to
corporations. This is indeed a risk, which is why partnerships should only be used as one
instrument among many, without replacing government action, or any other level of
environmental and development work. All the levels are important.
The actual UN meeting took place at the Sandton Convention Center, but that was only a
fraction of what was going on in Johannesburg. There were innumerable parallel events
of different sizes. Ubuntu Village was an exhibition center created for countries,
organizations, and programs related to sustainable development. It showcased elements
of the South African culture such as music and crafts. The Global Forum was the
alternative WSSD for NGOs. It was located 45 minutes from the official events, close to
Soweto, whereas the UN meetings took place in one of the richest parts of Johannesburg.
Local governments, business, the World Conservation Union and the Earth Island
Institute all had their own conferences as well, attracting a large number of people.
Making sense of this colossal number of events and people in Johannesburg wasn’t easy.
Many people, including myself, often felt overwhelmed by the long distances between
events, the difficulty in finding out schedules of events or what went on behind closed
door meetings at the Sandton Convention Center, and choosing what meeting to go to
among thousands at the same hour. Some people, like Marie, followed their intuition at
all times to guide them step by step. Without any particular plan, she spent most of her
time at the Ubuntu Village and got to know virtually every person there. She made
fabulous contacts with whom she will most likely work in the future. Pati, on the other
hand, had a tight schedule of presentations and meetings all over the place with key
stakeholders from her country and key foundations that could potentially fund her
project. She met with Mexico’s President and First Lady, solidified contacts from major
organizations and exhibited her work in the Virtual Exhibition, a service that showcased
the best sustainable development projects.
Amidst this ocean of discourses on sustainable development, I found a theme that linked
the different events I attended: the role of social entrepreneurship in implementing
sustainable development. I picked up this message not only from Ashoka, but from a
number of organizations that have arrived at the same conclusion: that the solution is in
the hands of ordinary people who decide to undertake extraordinary tasks. I went to an
event presented by the Stockholm Institute, in which the concept of the “civic
entrepreneur” was explained. The Institute recently published a seven volume book with
case studies of these individuals, who like the Ashoka Fellows are responding to

3. longstanding problems with innovative approaches. I also attended a Ford Foundation
event. They have just put out a book called Sustainable Solutions about people who
realized what it was precisely that his or her community needed to be more sustainable,
and who implemented those solutions. Another big event was the Equator Initiative Prize,
an Academy Awards-style ceremony recognizing effective environmental projects with
positive impact in the Equator region. And over the course of the summit, I met three
Goldman Prize winners, who are given the equivalent of the Nobel Prize for their
environmental achievements. Goldman Prize winners are truly remarkable people who
have overcome exceptional difficulties and even life threats.
For any good big event, there is always a good big protest. In fact, there were two in this
case. Unfortunately I got stuck in the wrong one. Both protests left from Alexandra, a low
income Township and ended at the Sandton Convention center, in the rich part of town
(clearly showing the pronounced income disparities throughout the six kilometers we
walked). The march I joined, along with 5000 other people, was organized by the ruling
party, the African National Congress (ANC). Thabo Mbeki, the South African President,
inaugurated it with a fiery speech. The purpose of the march seemed to be to celebrate the
successes of the party and to express contempt for developed nations who accumulate
wealth at the expense of developing countries. It was a diverse event, with Palestinians
and Tibetans crying for freedom, alongside signs saying “Where is the earth in the earth
summit?” and tons of ANC banners. The other, much more exciting march (25,000
people) was a classic anti-globalization protest, joined by the South African civil
society’s landless movement, protesting for government irresponsibility and corporate
control of natural resources. This was much more of a true activist’s protest march, but I
didn’t get to see it.
What were the results of the WSSD? Many claim it was a failure, not setting clear targets
for issues such as alternative energy or poverty. Agreements that had been established in
Rio or at the Millennium Conference were put into question again, and attendance was
much lower than expected both by the public and by the presidents of countries. (They
originally expected 60.000 people and got around 25,000.) So what actually happened at
the WSSD? Two documents came out of it: the “Plan for Implementation of Agenda 21,”
and the “Political Declaration.” A number of partnerships were formed both formally and
informally. It’s hard to measure and estimate the effect of thousands of people working in
the same field networking and coming up with joint projects. The clearest effect of this
event was the media attention it attracted. The event was covered worldwide, raising
awareness on sustainable development issues, and elevating the status of these
discussions at the global level.
“What are we to do after the Summit?” one can ask oneself. For those who attended it, I
think they should cultivate the contacts that they established there, because above all
these events are excellent networking opportunities. These contacts can lead to new
projects and partnerships. This takes advantage of a positive side of globalization: the
exchange of ideas and solutions that create positive impact.

4. For those who didn’t attend the WSSD but only read about it in the papers, I say get
familiar with the documents produced, and try to engage your government to comply
with the few targets set and begin the high priority lines of work. We all know that
environmental and development problems can be overwhelming. How could things
change? The truth is that monumental changes do happen, as was seen with the fall of
apartheid in South Africa. We just need to find that tipping point that makes society
switch to a new paradigm.