Jill Evans MEP at the Earth Summit In Johannesburg

Given the fact that there are thousands of people here, that it is being held on three separate sites with slow shuttle buses running between them and that there are about a hundred events happening around the official Summit meetings, it is surprising that there is not complete chaos here in Johannesburg. Most of the world's nearly 200 countries are represented and there are a whole series of plenary debates, policy dialogues and negotiating committees going on in the conference centre. But one of the most important events in my view is the Local Government Session, which was held at the Sandton complex alongside the Summit.

It is important because in the unlikely event of any agreements coming from this Summit, it is local government which will ultimately be responsible for ensuring that they are implemented by people in their own communities. Local government was a major player in Local Agenda 21, together with hundreds of voluntary groups throughout Wales, and that work needs to be built on following Johannesburg.

There were local government representatives from all over the world. I spoke at a session on "Food and Soil" where we discussed food safety issues but also the huge problem of soil erosion and desertification in developing countries. Cities like Bonn, whose Mayor also spoke at the meeting, have taken an active part in setting up the World Forum of Mayors and Cities against Desertification. They helped develop partnerships with other countries because they believed it was the responsibility of all of us. I hope that councils in Wales will follow suit.

A representative from Lesotho who contributed to the debate gave me the opportunity to tell them about Wales's links with Lesotho through Dolen Cymru so that this could serve as a model for other countries.

Listening to councillors from developing countries talking about the problems they face puts problems in Wales very much in perspective. If they fail they can't feed themselves. It was pointed out by Hama Arba Diallo, an Executive Secretary at the United Nations, that people assume that poverty in Africa is rural when that is not entirely the case. For us in Wales it is the opposite. We have high levels of poverty in rural Wales but it is often hidden, whereas the poverty in our urban areas is well known. He stressed that our anti-poverty strategies had to address both situations equally.

A strong message was that partnerships must be forged between different levels of government, between different countries and also between people and their governments.

A good example of this is the Regional Government Network for Sustainable Development to be launched this Friday in Johannesburg. An initiative of the Basque Government, which has a well developed sustainable development strategy, this network should provide an opportunity for sharing experience, knowledge and expertise. Wales is one of the founder members and this will give us another opportunity to raise our profile on the global stage.

I have been surprised that so few people in South Africa were aware of Wales. Those who had heard of us expressed sympathy over the loss of Princess Diana. But there are unexpected similarities. Yesterday we drove past the pit head of an old mine - gold rather than coal, but of identical appearance. I commented to the driver how familiar a sight that had been in Wales but that most of our coal mines were now museums. He drove in to show me not only a museum but a whole theme park, together with big wheel and roller coaster. What a small world!

Diwedd/Ends.