By Jim Fuller
Washington File Staff Correspondent

Johannesburg -- The top U.S. environmental official says the World Summit on Sustainable Development has helped to raise the awareness of people around the world to the importance of taking action to alleviate poverty and protect the world environment.

Christie Whitman, administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and a delegate at the summit, told reporters September 3 that the focus on these issues would not have been the same "if there had not been a world summit -- if you hadn't gotten world leaders, if you hadn't gotten delegates from around the world here to hammer out" an agreement.

Whitman's remarks came after an agreement was reached September 2 by high-level ministers -- following several around-the-clock meetings -- on all the outstanding issues in the summit's 71-page plan of action. The plan of action is a non-binding text that is expected to shape the environmental agenda for the next decade.

The plan of action is expected to be formally approved at the end of the 10-day summit on September 4, along with a statement of commitment by world leaders to the principles of sustainable development.

U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell is scheduled to arrive in Johannesburg on September 3 and to address the summit early on September 4, as well as to meet with leaders attending the summit.

The ministers attending the summit agreed on action plan programs to halve the number of people who do not have access to clean water and proper sanitation, to come up with better trade and aid deals for developing countries, to maintain the world's biodiversity and protect the global environment, and to emphasize the need for good governance to achieve sustainable development, among other steps.

"It may seem on the surface that the text doesn't do as much as some people would have liked, but it is very significant ... and it does help focus people and raise awareness," Whitman said.

Assistant Secretary of State John Turner called the plan of action "a very positive statement and a message of hope to impoverished areas of the world."

He added that agreement on the action plan reinforces the important work begun at the Doha WTO trade ministerial in November 2001, which among other things relaunched negotiations on agricultural trade liberalization, and at the financing for development conference in Monterrey, Mexico, in March of this year, where heads of states and governments from developed and developing countries vowed to work in partnership to boost financial flows.

Turner said the U.S. delegation was also pleased that negotiators in Johannesburg agreed to emphasize the role of good governance in achieving sustainable development. He called this agreement a new compact, for both developing and developed countries, which recognizes that economic development assistance can be successful only if linked to sound policies in developing countries.

"It's the realization that we can't have sustainability if we have violence, if we have corruption, if we don't have rule of law, and if the public doesn't participate in the decisionmaking process. That recognition has been a real breakthrough," he said.

Summit negotiators have also reached agreement on renewable energy sources, one of the major stumbling blocks in the action plan. The agreed text includes a commitment to "urgently" increase the global share of renewable energy sources, such as wind and solar, with the objective of increasing their contribution to total energy supply. It sets no percentage target or target date.

The European Union had been pushing for a target of 15 percent of global energy coming from renewable sources by 2015. The United States opposed the setting of targets, judging them unrealistic and arbitrary.

Turner said the U.S. delegation was very pleased with the final energy package. "The United States has worked very hard in molding that package, which I think is an excellent statement underlying that energy is an absolute essential component for lifting people out of poverty," he said. "The energy package ... recognizes that different countries will have to build energy security based on different strategies and different fuels to meet their needs, rather than demanding one narrow technological approach."

Summit delegates have also agreed that partnerships are the best way to implement the plan of action. The United Nations has received about 220 proposals for development, poverty alleviation and environmental protection projects calling for partnerships between governments, businesses and non-governmental organizations.

The United States announced several proposed partnerships during the summit, including one that pledges $970 million from the U.S. government over three years that would leverage another $1,600 million from the private sector to expand access to clean water and sanitation services, and another proposing a U.S. government investment of $43 million in 2003 to leverage about $400 million from government and private sources to provide millions of people with new access to energy services and reduce respiratory illnesses associated with air pollution.

Calling the present model of development "fruitful for the few, but flawed for the many," U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said he hoped the world summit would mark the opening to a new approach that includes responsibility, partnerships and implementation.

In remarks delivered September 2 at the opening meeting of more than 100 world leaders attending the summit, Annan said that action starts with governments. "But governments cannot do it alone," he said. "Civil society groups have a critical role, as partners, advocates and watchdogs. So do commercial enterprises. Without the private sector, sustainable development will remain only a distant dream."