In the run up to des World Summit on Sustainable Development the Global Nature Fund (GNF) in cooperation with the South African Wilderness Foundation and the Wildlands Trust held the 7th Living Lakes Conference on the topic "Implementation of Agenda 21 in Lake Regions" from 20 to 25 August 2002 in South Africa. In the framework of the conference, 150 experts discussed ways for building up successful cooperation between non governmental organisations, authorities and business to bring Agenda 21 from paper to practice.