Issue #3 ENB on the side - WSSD PC-III PUBLISHED BY THE INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT (IISD) in cooperation with UNDP Written and Edited by: Tamilla Gaynutdinova Jenny Mandel Kira Schmidt Editor: Kira Schmidt Digital Editors: Andrei Henry Leila Mead Diego Noguera Kenneth Tong Managing Director: Langston James Goree VI "Kimo" Issue #3 Thursday, 28 March 2002 The WWW version of ENB on the side (with photos), can be found at http://enb.iisd.org/2002/pc3/enbots/ Events convened on Wednesday, 27 March 2002 Title: International environmental governance: Proposals for reform Presented by United Nations University/Institute of Advanced Studies (UNU/IAS) W. Bradnee Chambers, UNU/IAS, introduced a recent UNU report analyzing various proposals for reform of the current international environmental governance (IEG) system. Werner Obermeyer, UNEP, outlined conclusions reached by UNEP's IEG process, including on: a greater policy advisory role for UNEP's Governing Council; increased civil society participation; closer inter-agency cooperation and improved implementation of coordinated work programmes throughout the UN system; and enhanced synergies and coordination among MEAs. Steve Charnovitz, Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering, noted the perception that the existing environment regime is poly-centric, incoherent and ill-equipped to deal with global environmental problems, and said although a global environment organization is ultimately needed, the WTO is not an appropriate model. Emphasizing that NGO participation adds legitimacy and expertise, he stressed the need for more organized venues for NGOs to contribute within the UN system. Peter Haas, University of Massachusetts, outlined the principle functions that a governance system should perform: issue linkage; monitoring and early warning; rule making; norm development; policy verification; enforcement; capacity building; environmental advocacy at the WTO; and financing. He stressed the need to inventory what institutions are performing these functions and to assess how they can be better coordinated and improved, and emphasized that decentralization is the appropriate institutional design to address complex systems such as IEG. He suggested that the role of a global environment organization would include advocating environmental issues at the WTO and providing institutional support for clustering MEAs. Marc Levy, CIESIN, highlighted the growing importance of information, which has been underrepresented in WSSD discussions. He stressed the need for ways to identify progress and assess which mechanisms and partnerships are achieving results, and recommended advocating a right to environmental information and encouraging multi-level partnerships on improving access to information. Joost Pauwelyn, WTO, discussed the need for a judicial mechanism for international environmental law, such as a world environment court, in which many MEAs could be enforced before one environmental tribunal. He said existing tribunals could be useful, but their remedies would need to be adapted to focus on enforcement mechanisms specific to the environment. More information: http://www.ias.unu.edu Contact: W. Bradnee Chambers Werner Obermeyer Peter Haas Steve Charnovitz Marc Levy Joost Pauwelyn Title: Sustainable human settlements: Issues of good governance Presented by the NGO Committee on Human Settlements and the Commonwealth Human Ecology Council in association with the Commonwealth Consultative Group on Human Settlements At this event, participants discussed how to ensure that the WSSD will adequately address key habitat issues. Jochen Eigen, UN Human Settlements Programme, outlined three main issues in the Habitat Agenda: the crucial contribution of cities to sustainable development; the need to improve cities' planning and management capacities; and the need to promote the efficiency of international support for local capacity building. Swati Raut, Safe Bombay Community, stressed that good local governance must be built on adequate infrastructure, citing local initiatives in Bombay. Littha Musyimi-Ogana, African Center for Empowerment, Gender and Advocacy, shared experiences of the Women's Caucus and identified key elements of good governance, including democratic values and principles, human rights, transparency and accountability, equitable distribution of resources, and peace and security. She underscored that sustainable development cannot be attained without women's participation in decision making. John Langmore, International Labor Organization, stressed that employment is central to sustainable development. He emphasized the importance of ensuring continued growth of employment in the service sector, which could help to reconcile environmental and development goals. More information: http://www.unhabitat.org http://www.tpac.gatech.edu/sthd Contact: Jochen Eigen Swati Raut Littha Musyimi Ogana John Langmore Title: The rural energy challenge: Meeting the needs of the poor Presented by UNDESA and UNDP The event discussed challenges and partnership opportunities for clean rural energy service provision. J. Gururaja, UNDESA, said that technologies are already available for rural energy service provision. He called for short-term targeted subsidies to support the basic energy needs of the poor, and long-term energy commercialization. Dominique Lallement, World Bank, and Judy Siegel, Winrock International, outlined a proposed Global Village Energy Partnership, incorporating energy stakeholders and other development partners, to address implementation of modern energy service provision and to support the Millennium Development Goals. Susan McDade, UNDP, noted agreement on challenges within the energy community, and stressed the need to focus on implementation. She presented advantages of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) in meeting heating and cooking needs cleanly and economically. Cahit Gürkök, UNIDO, and Sandile Tyatya, South African Department of Mines and Energy, shared experiences with renewable and alternative energy projects and infrastructure programmes. Emmanuel Chantelot, LP Gas Association, described the LPG industry's success in providing a widely used clean energy source. More information: http://www.undp.organization/seed/eap http://www.worldlpgas.com Contact: J. Gururaja Dominique Lallement Judy Siegel Susan McDade Cahit Gürkök Sandile Tyatya Emmanuel Chantelot Title: Linking poverty reduction and environmental management: Policy challenges and opportunities Presented by UNDP, the UK Department for International Development (DFID), the European Commission (EC) and the World Bank Frank Pinto, UNDP, explained that DFID, the EC, UNDP and the World Bank are preparing a paper for the WSSD on linking poverty reduction and environmental management, and this event, as well as an online discussion, are part of an ongoing consultation process on the current draft. Kristalina Georgieva, World Bank, explained that the paper highlights the need to move beyond narrow environmental management by employing cross-sectoral solutions, and to view the environment as a solution rather than a constraint to development. The paper identifies policy opportunities to reduce poverty and improve the environment, including improving governance, protecting and expanding the assets of the poor, and focusing on the quality of growth. Another opportunity identified is reforming international policies by, inter alia: enhancing access to OECD markets for developing countries; capitalizing on environmental standards to build capacity and market access; providing new and additional funding for the protection of global public goods; and mainstreaming the environment into poverty reduction by donors. The paper concludes that it is unnecessary to sacrifice the environment for economic growth; better environmental management is crucial for poverty reduction; and the WSSD provides an important opportunity to forge a set of coherent actions. Discussion: Participants suggested that the paper address: subsidies; developed countries' unsustainable energy policies; unsustainable consumption patterns; effective means to enable participation of the poor; the impact of population growth on sustainable development and how the WSSD can address it; and sustainable development education, especially of youth. More information: http://vx.worldbank.org/cgi-bin/lyris.pl?enter=env-rio-10 Contact: Frank Pinto Kristalina Georgieva Title: Findings and lessons: Mining, minerals and sustainable development Presented by International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) and the World Business Council on Sustainable Development (WBCSD) Richard Sandbrook, Mining, Minerals and Sustainable Development (MMSD), described the MMSD process and its mandate to examine how the mining and minerals sector can contribute to sustainable development. He noted that while initial implementation process goals recognized social, environmental and economic issues, the process revealed a need to incorporate governance at a fundamental level. Peter Eggleston, Global Mining Initiative, noted that reception within the industry of the MMSD process’ Project Report was mixed, and underlined the Report's value in bringing stakeholders into contact to work together on issues raised. Manuel Pulgar-Vidal, Sociedad Peruana de Derecho Ambiental, described the combative spirit in which mining operations and communities interact, stressing the need to adopt a more constructive attitude. Daniel Limpitlaw, University of Witwatersrand, highlighted governance as a key cross-cutting issue that emerged from the MMSD process, in addition to poverty alleviation, job creation, and lack of capacity. Namakau Kaingu, SADC Women in Mining Trust, noted that poverty alleviation is needed to address causes of the often environmentally damaging practice of small-scale mining. Wanda Hoskin, UNEP, solicited comments on a draft proposal for a new Global Forum on Mining, Minerals and Metals, which would act as a venue for further dialogue on sustainable development within this sector. The proposed forum could promote dialogue, facilitate the implementation of recommendations, and develop information knowledge networks. More information: http://www.iied.org/mmsd http://www.globalmining.com http://www.mining.wits.ac.za/mmsd http://www.mineralresourcesforum.org Contact: Richard Sandbrook Peter Eggleston Manuel Pulgar-Vidal Daniel Limpitlaw Namakau Kaingu Wanda Hoskin Title: Decoupling economic growth from environmental degradation through eco-efficiency Presented by the Governments of Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden Astrid Jacobsen, Danish Ministry of Environment and Energy, highlighted challenges in the decoupling of economic growth from environmental degradation, which is a central component of sustainable production. She emphasized that large efficiency improvements, effective partnerships, and ambitious targets and indicators are necessary for achieving decoupling, and recommended consideration of a global work programme on decoupling. Mikko Jalas, Helsinki School of Economics, explored the potential of product services and information communication technologies for decoupling, and stressed the need for both eco-efficiency and structural changes. Helen Ċgren, Swedish Environmental Protection Agency, explained that integrated product policy is a framework to minimize environmental impacts of economic growth by integrating sustainable development in all types of products and services. Sven-Olof Ryding, Swedish Environmental Management Council, presented environmental product declarations (EPDs) as a tool to facilitate sustainable production and consumption, and called for harmonization of EPDs internationally. Tormod Lien, Nordic Eco-labelling, highlighted the success of the Nordic Eco-label, and called for global coordination and cooperation in promoting eco-labelling based on scientific and transparent processes, mutual recognition, and consideration of international trade concerns. Amb. Viveka Bohn, Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs, presented the Nordic countries' proposal that the WSSD endorse a ten-year global work programme on decoupling, focused on product-oriented initiatives. Discussion: Many participants supported the proposal for a work programme and offered their cooperation. Others emphasized consumers' role in decoupling and highlighted unintended consequences of product policies. More information: http://www.uneptie.org http://www.envirodec.com/gednet http://www.naturvardsverket.se http://www.ecolabel.no Contact: Astrid Jacobsen Mikko Jalas Helen Ċgren Sven-Olof Ryding Tormod Lien Amb. Viveka Bohn Title: Food security and wild biodiversity: A new partnership Presented by IUCN, Future Harvest, the Equator Initiative, UNDP and partners Charles McNeill, UNDP, moderated this event, which discussed the concept of "ecoagriculture" - a complex of technologies that both enhance agricultural production and conserve wild biodiversity. Jeff McNeely, IUCN, outlined the challenge of conserving biodiversity while addressing the needs of the rural poor, who live among some of the world's richest biodiversity. Sara Scherr, University of Maryland, described ecoagriculture and outlined strategies to enable farmers to be conservationists, including improved land tenure and redirection of agricultural subsidies. Walter Rodriquez Vargas, Association of Small Farmers of Talamanca, Costa Rica, described how organic agriculture involving numerous tree crops has significantly increased wildlife populations, particularly birds. Participants stressed the need for the WSSD to address the linkage between food security and wild biodiversity. More information: http://www.iucn.org http://www.futureharvest.org http://www.equatorinitiative.org Contacts: Charles McNeill Jeff McNeely Sara Scherr Walter Rodriquez Vargas The Earth Negotiations Bulletin (ENB) on the Side is a special publication of the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) in cooperation with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The Editor of ENB on the Side is Kira Schmidt . This issue has been written by Tamilla Gaynutdinova , Jenny Mandel and Kira Schmidt . The Digital Editors are Andrei Henry , Leila Mead , Diego Noguera and Kenneth Tong . Funding for publication of ENB on the Side at PCIII is provided by UNDP. The opinions expressed in ENB on the Side are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of IISD and funders. Excerpts from ENB on the Side may be used in non-commercial publications only and only with appropriate academic citation. For permission to use this material in commercial publications, contact the Managing Editor at . Electronic versions of issues of ENB on the Side from PC-III can be found on the Linkages WWW server at http://enb.iisd.org/2002/pc3/.