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A feeling of inertia and lack of progress permeated the high-level informal consultations on climate change held Friday evening, 20 April and Saturday, 21 April, at New York's Waldorf Astoria Hotel, attended by some 40 environment ministers. The meeting was convened to: express support for the Kyoto Protocol as the framework for international climate change negotiations; provide feedback on UNFCCC COP-6 President Jan Pronk's proposal on ways to advance key political questions to be resolved at COP-6 bis; and chart a way forward, following recent US pronouncements against the Protocol. During the discussions, delegates questioned the US position, noting, in particular, new findings that suggest that implementation costs are lower than initially anticipated, and underlining the fact that the US is the world's largest emitter of greenhouse gases. The US is currently engaged in a Cabinet-level policy review, the results of which are to be presented at COP-6 bis in Bonn in July. The policy review process is considering working from a different track to that of the Protocol, particularly regarding developing country commitments and the IPCC's scientific findings on, inter alia, the duration and location of climate change consequences. Some participants are said to have urged for a middle ground instead of confronting the US, and there are also indications that there was a willingness to show greater flexibility on sinks within the clean development mechanism. Regarding Pronk's proposal, developing countries apparently expressed displeasure at not being consulted, and indicated a preference for Pronk's first proposal developed soon after COP-6. They urged Pronk to convene a meeting to discuss adaptation and the proposal prior to COP-6 bis. Further consultations are expected to take place in Stockholm, Sweden, during the diplomatic conference for the signing of the POPs Convention in May 2001. Photo: Dutch Environment Minister and COP President Jan Pronk

CSD Chair Beldrich Moldan opened the interactive dialogue, which addressed the questions: How successfully have we integrated sustainable development into our policies? What experiences can we share in this regard? What is the way forward?

In his closing remarks, Chair Moldan commended Ministers on their productive early morning informals, and summarized the key points raised during this week's High-level Segments, inter alia: new mechanisms for financing, including micro-level and public-private partnerships; poverty eradication as sustainable development's main goal; the need for renewable energy technologies, especially for decentralized rural electrification; near-unanimous support for the Kyoto Protocol; the need for effective land use planning that incorporates the transport requirements of women; the use of scientifically-based information for transparent decision making; capacity building to overcome the digital divide; and a renewed global commitment to sustainable development at the 2002 Summit.

The US delegation speaks with Under Secretary General Nitin Desai, (left) and Mark Hambley, US, speaks with Gail V. Karlsson, UNDP (right)

French Environment Minister Dominique Voynet, noted the need to review the development model and said that the long term challenge is the achievement of fair growth, that a major concern is how to ensure that lifestyles change every day, and that although the Kyoto Protocol is not perfect, it is the only agreement to combat climate change and associated disasters, and thus would not allow "ourselves to be destabilized or distracted by the unilateral position of one state that is a major consumer of hydrocarbons."

Ahmed Bouhaouli, Secretary-General of the Department of Environment, Morocco Underlining his country's vulnerability to climate change impacts, he called, inter alia, for: immediate implementation of international obligations regarding the transfer of financial resources and technology transfer; programmes that promote renewables; and better co-ordination of international environmental governance, welcoming UNEP's actions on this.

 

Francisco Reyes, Vice-Minister of Transport, Cuba, underlined the growing inequity of resource distribution, increasing environmental degradation and "the absurd models of consumption being imposed on us." He highlighted the principal responsibility of developed countries, advocated the development of advanced fossil fuel technologies, and rejected the US position on Kyoto which he suggested "shows the shortsightedness and arrogance for which they are known."

Ambassador Hasmy Agam, Malaysia

Drawing attention to the financial crisis in South East Asia a while ago, he highlighted the challenges of globalization on developing countries, noting the need for developing country resilience in the integration process, called for consideration of globalization as a cross-cutting issue during the session and in the 2002 Summit and said the CSD should be a step ahead of developments within and outside the UN to ensure it not a moribund institution

Burkina Faso highlighted the challenges and strategies to meet the country's energy demands, the relation between transport and energy and, noting the lack of private sector investments in energy provision due to unprofitability, he called for international cooperation in capacity building, technology transfer and resource provision. He also drew attention to the multidimensional nature of transport and energy problems.