Posted on August, 30 2002

Johannesburg, South Africa - WWF, the conservation organization, is asking world leaders in the South African city of Johannesburg to take decisive action in order to guarantee both people and the planet a secure future. WWF is concerned that currently, the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) seems to be moving backwards on the environmental and trade agenda but is still hopeful that the tide can be turned. "World leaders are in danger of sleepwalking right into an environmental catastrophe if this trend is upheld through to next week," warned Kim Carstensen of WWF. "It is not too late for a wake-up call." This week has been characterised by many governments reneging, instead of progressing, on a number of issues that had already been agreed upon at other international meetings including the Rio Conference or during the preparatory conference at Bali, Indonesia. WWF is concerned that governments are still generally reluctant to hammer out concrete, measurable and time-bound action programmes for most of the issues that have been under discussion.

For further information contact: Kyla Evans Head of Press, WWF International Tel. in Johannesburg: +27 828 588 464