Word: summiteer
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...Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro was the last time world leaders assembled to look at how to heal the ailing environment. Now, 10 years later, Presidents and Prime Ministers are convening at the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg next week to reassess the planet's condition and talk about where to go from here. In many ways, things haven't changed: the air is just as grimy in many places, the oceans just as stressed, and most treaties designed to do something about it lie in incomplete states of ratification or implementation. Yet we're oddly smarter...
What can one conference do, especially given that the record in the decade since the Earth Summit is largely one of painfully slow progress and a deepening global environmental crisis? Johannesburg will surely sound another alarm. Above all, it must revive high-level political commitment to sustainable development. We have seen the results that can be achieved when leaders speak publicly about an issue--be it aids, aid or trade--and put the full weight and resources of their administrations behind...
...more about the summit, visit www.johannesburgsummit.org
...answer is to get smart about how we use water. Agriculture accounts for about two-thirds of the fresh water consumed. A report prepared for the summit thus endorses the "more crop per drop" approach, which calls for more efficient irrigation techniques, planting of drought- and salt-tolerant crop varieties that require less water and better monitoring of growing conditions, such as soil humidity levels. Improving water-delivery systems would also help, reducing the amount that is lost en route to the people...
...giants including Ford, Chevron, Texaco and Shell to draft guidelines for incorporating biodiversity conservation into oil and gas exploration. And the center has helped Starbucks develop purchasing guidelines that reward coffee growers whose methods have the least impact on the environment. Says Nitin Desai, secretary-general of the Johannesburg summit: "We're hoping that partnerships--involving governments, corporations, philanthropies and NGOs--will increase the credibility of the commitment to sustainable development...