Environment and sustainable development: Johannesburg World Summit 2002, 10 years after Rio

The Council adopted conclusions on the key messages for an EU Communication strategy for Johannesburg and on the EU initiatives derived from the conclusions of the Seville European Council. It that the communication strategy of the EU should cover: - specific EU initiatives being prepared in the spirit of partnership and responsibility for the World Summit and beyond in the areas of drinking water and sanitation and energy, as well as activities in fields such as trade and development, health and sustainable consumption and production, - the objectives of the EU internal and external sustainable development strategy, including decoupling economic growth from environmental degradation, the Lisbon process, the Cardiff process on environmental integration, trade and development co-operation, including through association agreements with third countries such as the Cotonou Agreement and the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership, - the positive measures or priorities put forward by the EU to support action building on the Doha Development Agenda and the Monterrey Consensus, as well as to implement the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation in areas such as health, food security, water, energy, globalisation, trade and finance including facilitating developing country exports, global public goods, sustainable patterns of consumption and production, and governance for sustainable development. In addition, the Council stresses that the EU is investing considerable resources in these areas of international development co-operation. In responding to the priorities of partner countries and recalling its commitments made in Monterrey, the EU is ready to increase and deliver these resources over the following years within the context of countries' efforts to reduce poverty in the framework of sustainable development. It also confirms its strong support for developing a "Water for Life" initiative which, in partnership with countries and regions, should bring together public and private funds, stakeholders and experts to provide long term, sustainable solutions to problems of water management and will help deliver the target of halving the proportion of people who are unable to reach or afford safe drinking water as well as the Bonn target of halving the proportion of people lacking access to improved sanitation by 2015. Lastly, it invites all countries and stakeholders to build up partnerships contributing to the goals of reversing the loss of environmental resources by 2015, with particular emphasis on fresh water, energy, oceans, land and soil, and forests and of significantly reducing the loss of biodiversity by 2010.�