On August 26, 2002 (July 18, 2002 in the lunar calendar), the World Summit on Sustainable Development was held in South Africa. The World Summit on Sustainable Development, with the purpose of "saving the planet, focusing on action", opened grandly at the Johannesburg International Convention Center on August 26, 2002. This is the most important international conference on global environmental issues organized by the United Nations after the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. It is also the largest international conference held on the African continent to date. The meeting first elected South African President Mbeki as chairman of the conference. In his opening speech, Mbeki first pointed out that over the past 30 years, the torch of sustainable development has traveled from Europe and the Americas to Asia, and today it is burning in the land of Africa. "For the benefit of all mankind and the planet we share, with a very serious attitude and urgency, we will focus on answering the responsibilities we face together-adopting the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation of the great significance." Mbeki believes that poverty, backwardness and inequality, coupled with the deteriorating global ecological environment, are the shadows hanging over the path of mankind's progress. "A human society in which the majority is poor and the minority is prosperous is surrounded by a sea of poverty and cannot achieve sustainable development." Mbeki emphasized that the goal of common prosperity for mankind is achievable,"because for the first time in human history, human society has the ability, knowledge and resources to eradicate poverty and defeat backwardness." Successful use of these capabilities, knowledge and resources to achieve sustainable development requires all countries to adhere to the principle of "common but differentiated responsibilities." Mbeki said that important documents such as the Rio Declaration and Agenda 21 adopted 10 years ago, as well as a series of international conferences related to human progress and social development held since then, show that the world has reached this consensus: Social progress and economic development must be coordinated with environmental protection and ecological balance, improve the living standards and quality of all mankind, and promote the common prosperity and prosperity of human society, and must be achieved through global sustainable development. He said the world hopes that this meeting will adopt feasible plans to realize the ideals of sustainable development. About 10,000 representatives from all over the world attended the opening ceremony. More than 200 representatives from the State Planning Commission of China, the State Environmental Protection Administration and the All-China Women's Federation attended the meeting. According to the agenda of the meeting, the conference will mainly hold general discussions on health, biodiversity and ecosystems, agriculture, water and sanitation, energy, etc. from August 26 to September 1. The summit stage will begin on September 2, with more than 120 leaders of the country planning to attend, and China Premier Zhu Rongji delivered a speech at the conference. The meeting concluded on September 4 after adopting the Plan of Implementation of the World Summit on Sustainable Development, the Johannesburg Declaration and other documents.