Podcast 6 The World Summit on Sustainable Development
The following seven podcast episodes are adapted from the book "Only One Earth" by Felix Dodds, Maurice Strong (the father of sustainable development), and Michael Straus e In this episode, we look at the World Summit on Sustainable Development - the 2002 Johannesburg Summit which was meant to reinvigorate global commitment to sustainable development, and arrived at a turning point in world affairs. With over 40,000 participants, including 104 heads of state, the summit echoed the ambitions of the 1992 Earth Summit but collided with a shifting global landscape in the aftermath of 9/11. This episode traces the ambitions, negotiations, and ultimate disappointments of WSSD, from the promise of a “Global Deal” to the emergence of public-private partnerships, and the tensions between trade, governance, and sustainability. We examine how institutional fragmentation, political polarization, and unmet financing commitments left the summit's bold agenda largely unfulfille...