INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND

Early in 2002, just a few months before the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) was held in Johannesburg from 26 August to 3 September, Gauteng Premier Mbhazima Shilowa, announced the start of a Clean and Green campaign in his speech at the opening of the Legislature.

The objective of the World Summit was to explore the best possible ways to implement Agenda 21, the global programme for sustainable development which was adopted in 1992 at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development ( Earth Summit ), held in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) . Deliberations at the WSSD in 2002 resulted in an action-oriented implementation plan called the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation (JPOI). This JPOI focuses on sustainable development targets and time frames, adopts a thematic cluster approach to environmental issues and is implemented in two-year cycles.

Immediately after the WSSD, the Gauteng Provincial Government (GPG) adopted the Clean and Green campaign as a strategy to implement the JPOI. Now called the "Bontle ke Botho" Clean and Green Campaign, it adopted "Sustainable living and poverty alleviation" as its overarching theme, supported by a number of cluster themes.