World Summit on Sustainable Development Department of Public Information - News and Media Services Division - New York
	Johannesburg, South Africa 26 August-4 September 2002	26 August 2002

PRESS CONFERENCE BY WORLD BANK   Poverty and sustainable development, including the issues of water, energy, preservation of biodiversity and rational use of natural resources, were at the core of the World Summit on Sustainable Development, Ian Johnson, World Bank´s Vice-President for Sustainable Development, told correspondents this morning on the first day of the Johannesburg Summit. Also participating in the briefing were the Bank's Environment Director, Kristalina Georgieva, and its Africa Region Environment and Social Development Sector Manager, Richard Scobey. Expected to become a watershed meeting, the Summit needed to articulate a vision of the world for the middle of the 21st century, Mr. Johnson said. At plausible rates of growth, the world product was expected to total some $140 trillion by 2050. The question was how to make such an economy sustainable. Investment decisions made in the near future needed to factor in the risks that such growth posed to the environment. In its work, he added, the World Bank had already begun to address such important issues as water, energy, health, agriculture and biodiversity. Now, it was important to rededicate international efforts to a new form of growth that was both economically viable and socially and environmentally responsible. At the heart of sustainable practices in poor countries were the health and skills of their populations, agriculture and rural development, as well as water and energy supplies. Continuing, he stressed the importance of partnerships and monitoring development. In Johannesburg, it was necessary to forge partnerships between developed and developing countries, the public and the private sector, governments and civil society. Without those, the world would not have a sustainable future. "Why does it take a Summit for the World Bank to re-examine what it is doing?" a correspondent asked. Mr. Johnson replied that, like other participants, the Bank saw the Summit as an opportunity to put new important issues on the agenda and discuss matters relating to sustainable development. The World Bank had participated in the Rio process and had initiated numerous projects in its implementation. In particular, it had introduced international development standards. "We are on a journey towards sustainable development, and our record proves that", he said. Responding to a comment regarding the need to increase corporate accountability, he said that transparency in the organization's dealings was coming to the fore. When providing financing, the Bank was holding governments increasingly accountable for their policies, stressing that "at the end of the day", there should be qualitative improvements in their performance. Ms. Georgieva added that when designing a project within the framework of its Finance, Private Sector and Infrastructure Network, the Bank looked not only at its partners' economic performance, but also at social and environmental issues. The Bank's contribution to promoting transparency also included a global reporting initiative on the basis of agreed standards and public disclosure of governmental policies. For example, work was under way in China to make environmental data more accessible to the people. When informed, the public was much better equipped to put pressure on the authorities to achieve results. Asked to comment on a report, which blamed the World Bank policies for the famine in southern Africa, Mr. Johnson said that he was not familiar with such a document. Mr. Scobey added that the Bank was very active in the area. Contributing to the problem were excessive rains in some areas, combined with a long drought in others. The World Bank was stepping in to provide assistance in the emergency situation, at the same time providing increased financing to build an infrastructure for better yields in the future. To several questions regarding agricultural subsidies in the North, Mr. Johnson said that the Bank was not against the idea of subsidies on the whole. However, as across-the-board subsidies, which were not targeted towards specific goals, tended to be inefficient, it was opposed to such policies. Although in the past the Bank had not advocated against the subsidies as strongly as it should have, now it was conducting analytical work to better understand their impact and enhance the discussion on the matter. To a question regarding developing countries' external debt versus their wealth in natural resources, including gold and diamonds, Mr. Johnson said that currently both governments and civil society were engaged in making sure that proceeds from mineral resources, as well as Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Debt Initiative, were used for the benefit of sustainable development there. Meeting Summaries Summit News