Important Documents (The Citizens Guide to the World Summit)

Important Documents

Summary of Elements and Brackets in Draft Plan

The WSSD Secretariat has put together a very useful chart showing the number of agreed and bracketed paragraphs in the Draft Plan for Implementation [PDF], sorted by issue and concept. A great shortcut for those who want to get a quick idea of where concensus has been reached and what the major sticking points are.

Text of Draft Plan for Joburg released

The latest official text of the Draft Plan for Implementation from the PrepCom 4 (June 12) [PDF] is on the WSSD website. Pay attention to the text in bold brackets - those sections are what governments couldn't agree on in Bali. These will be quite contentious in Johannesburg; it's also where NGOs should focus their lobbying efforts.

US NGO statement in Bali

On June 6th at WSSD PrepCom 4, US NGOs released a statement, "What Should We Do About the United States?", which criticizes the poor US leadership in the Summit process, and questioned whether the US itself measures up to the "good governance" philosophy it advocates for other countries. Quoting from the statement, "Most [Americans representing civil society] here in Bali to promote sustainable development are frustrated and embarrassed with the actions and attitudes of our government. Instead of representing our interests and concerns, we find our current government defending the interests and agenda of big business."