The Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism, Marthinus van Schalkwyk has issued a no-nonsense warning to industries in South Africa, particularly refineries, to clean up their act or face accountability.

He was speaking at the official opening of the Johannesburg+2 Conference on Sustainable Development yesterday afternoon.

Van Schalkwyk also said that he would shortly appoint the members of the National Environmental Advisory Forum in terms of the National Environmental Management Act.

Over 600 delegates representing civil society, business and government have descended on Johannesburg for the three-day sustainable development indaba, aimed at assessing progress in implementing the country's sustainable development targets and to reaffirm a joint commitment to a national sustainable development path.

The conference kicked off yesterday and will run until tomorrow at the Sandton Convention Centre.

The event is being held to mark the anniversary of the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD), which South Africa successfully hosted in 2002.

Discussing the progress which the country has made since the summit laid down the guidelines, Van Schalkwyk said that South Africa has started making vast inroads into the summit targets.

“At our present rate of delivery, our government is on track not only to meet the WSSD targets for reducing the percentages of people without access to basic water and sanitation, but will also eradicate the backlog of infrastructure for water by 2008, and sanitation by 2010,” he said.

The conference has been structured around thematic roundtables that include water and sanitation, human settlements, energy and climate change, agriculture and food security, science and technology, natural resource management, governance for sustainable development, and the role of business.

Van Schalkwyk also highlighted government's new approach to sustainable human settlement and emphasised the importance of using alternative energy sources.

“We must diversify our energy sources to reduce our over dependence on coal - exploring all other options like gas, solar power, wind generation, hydroelectric power and nuclear energy,” he said.

“All of these issues are addressed in the targets that we have adopted for renewable energy - meeting the commitments made by our Minister of Minerals and Energy at the WSSD - and the energy plan that has been compiled by our Department of Minerals and Energy.”

The Deputy Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism, Rejoice Mabudafhasi, yesterday officially opened the Sustainable Development Best Practice Exhibition and the Learning Centre.

Various other side events have been organised.

City of Johannesburg Executive Mayor Amos Masondo hosted the evening's opening reception.

The patron of the conference, Minister of Foreign Affairs Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, officially launched the WSSD book, 'Ten Days in Johannesburg: A Negotiation of Hope'.

Visitors to the conference from other parts of the world will include Kenya, Tunisia, Senegal, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Zimbabwe, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Mozambique and Hungary.