The Johannesburg Summit happened ten years after the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, where climate change and the environment were prominent on the agenda.

Although climate change wasn't part of the official programme in Johannesburg, it featured heavily in many of the discussions.

However Johannesburg was about sustainable development as a whole - reducing world poverty, improving access to water and sanitation, as well as improving agricultural opportunities in the developing world.

Agenda 21, which was devised in Rio, was important at Johannesburg - the aim was to come up with partnerships to implement the programme. Coalitions were made between governments, non-governmental organisations and international groups.