"GREENING THE WORLD SUMMIT OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT": PARTNER PROFILES

Local and global players have formed partnerships to make Greening the WSSD possible. Greening the WSSD is funded and supported by the Gauteng Department of Agriculture, Conservation, Environment and Land Affairs (DACEL); the Global Environment Facility (GEF); the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the World Conservation Union (IUCN)..

The Gauteng Department of Agriculture, Conservation, Environment and Land Affairs (DACEL)
The Department's mission is described as: "Working together to enhance the quality of life". Among others, it aims to optimise the contribution of sustainable agriculture towards the development of all communities and the economy in the Gauteng -- and to enhance food security, income generation, job creation and the quality of life of the people of the province.
The Directorate of Conservation promotes the sustainable use and conservation of biological diversity for the development of all communities in Gauteng. The Directorate of Environment promotes sustainable development and a good quality of life for all by contributing to a healthy living environment.
The Department also has a number of other directorates that work towards protecting the environment and improving the quality of life of the people of Gauteng.

 

The Global Environment Facility (GEF)
The GEF facilitates international co-operation to address the following threats to the global environment: biodiversity loss, climate change, degradation of international waters, land degradation and desertification, and the release of persistent organic pollutants.
The GEF provides grants and concessional funds to developing countries and economies in transition for projects designed to mitigate these threats. The GEF has been designated as the financial mechanism for three global environmental conventions: the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Framework Convention on Climate Change, and the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants. The GEF also supports implementation of regional treaties to protect the integrity of international waters and activities that address the problem of land degradation.
Launched in 1991 as an experimental facility, the GEF was restructured after the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, to serve the environmental interests of people all over the world. Since its inception, the GEF has committed over US$ 4 billion to projects worldwide, securing co-financing of more than US$ 9 billion. These initiatives have played a seminal role in assisting countries and communities to meet their sustainable development goals and strategies.
In South Africa, the government has prepared a medium term strategy for its GEF supported activities, ensuring that these activities advance the country's larger sustainable development programmes, including poverty reduction and sustainable livelihoods.
The GEF is co-financing the Greening of the Johannesburg World Summit, with a US$ 1 million grant, to complement funding from the government of South Africa and UNDP.

United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
As the UN's development agency, UNDP has a special mandate from the UN General Assembly and global conventions to further the UN's agenda for sustainable development. At the UN Millennium Summit, held in New York in 2000, world leaders pledged to cut poverty in half by 2015. UNDP is charged with helping to achieve this and other key development goals, in the areas of environment management and sustainable energy, democratic governance, crisis prevention and recovery, information and communications technology and HIV AIDS. UNDP provides policy support, and supports pilot projects, demonstrating good policy practice and innovative approaches to sustainable development on-the-ground. With 135 offices covering 185 countries world wide, UNDP has established wide-reaching partnerships with governments, development agencies, academic institutions, the private sector, civil society and key non-government organisations. UNDP facilitates information flow and networking in order to substantively link global, national and local development objectives, strategies and activities, and plays a major role in developing national capacities for sustainable development.
UNDP has an active Programme in South Africa that is working with the government and numerous national institutions to translate the country's policies and strategies for sustainable development and political, social and economic transformation into reality.
UNDP is the GEF Implementing Agency for the Greening of the Johannesburg World Summit Project, and is also contributing funding to the initiative, complementing other resources.

The World Conservation Union (IUCN)
The World Conservation Union brings together States, government agencies and a diverse range of non-governmental organizations in a unique world partnership: over 980 members in all, spread across some 140 countries. It's mission is to influence, encourage and assist societies throughout the world to conserve the integrity and diversity of nature and to ensure that any use of natural resources
is equitable and ecologically sustainable.
The Union has helped many countries to prepare National Conservation Strategies, and demonstrates the application of its knowledge through the field projects that it supervises. Operations are increasingly decentralized and are carried forward by an expanding network of regional and country offices, located principally in developing countries.

Message from the partners