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Special Session of the General Assembly to Review and Appraise the Implementation of Agenda 21

Late Breaking News from the Informal Consultations

Updated 16 June 1997

Reported by Peter Doran, Earth Negotiations Bulletin

On Monday, 16 June 1997, the Chair of the Commission on Sustainable Development, Mostafa Tolba (Egypt), convened the first day of informal consultations on the bracketed text in the draft outcome of UNGASS and on the draft political statement for Heads of State. These informals will culminate on Friday, 20 June, when the President of the General Assembly, Amb. Razali Ismail (Malaysia), is expected to meet with delegates to discuss outstanding organizational issues. Tolba told participants that only two and a half days will be available for formal negotiations in the Committee of the Whole during the Special Session.

Monday's consultations were devoted to discussion of the draft political statement issued on 6 June by Dr. Tolba and CSD Vice-Chair, Monika Linn Locher (Switzerland). The draft is based on responses from a number of governments to an earlier version circulated at the conclusion of CSD-5 (E/CN.17/1997/L.12) After expressing some doubt at CSD-5, the G-77/CHINA had agreed to the procedures proposed by Tolba and submitted their amendments within the framework of the informal consultations. Some G-77 States stressed that the draft must be agreed in an inter-governmental process involving all participants.

The G-77/CHINA introduced amendments to the fifteen paragraphs of the draft political statement including additional language, alterations, additional subparagraphs and proposals to delete three of the paragraphs. Their amendments included calls for:

  • No renegotiation of Agenda 21
  • Acknowledgement of the lack of fulfillment of international commitments
  • Acknowledgement that the overall outlook for sustainable development is worse today than it was in 1992.
  • Time-bound commitments for concessional transfer of ESTs, preferential terms and financial resources.
  • Urgent implementation of sustainable development given the uneven impact of globalization and persisting patterns of unsustainable consumption in developed countries.
  • Reaffirmation of States' common but differential responsibilities, commitments to resources for developing countries, and States' sovereign rights to the exploitation of their own resources.
  • Identification of coercive economic measures, armed conflicts and foreign occupations as obstacles to sustainable development.
  • Reaffirmation of the need to maintain an open rule-based, accountable, predictable just, equitable, comprehensive and non-discriminatory global system of economic relations. The amendment also calls on developed countries to undertake necessary structural adjustments and refrain from protectionism.
  • Time-bound targets in developed countries for the reduction of unsustainable consumption patterns.
  • Encouragement to adopt national policies, supported by international assistance, for the transfer of financial resources and ESTs to reduce by half, by the year 2015, the proportion of people living today in absolute poverty.
  • Deletion of a call for the establishment of achievable time-bound goals and targets for the next five and ten years for achieving sustainable development.
  • Durable solutions to external debt.
  • A move from words to action to fulfill commitments to ODA targets
  • Urgent fulfillment of Chapter 34 of Agenda 21 commitments on transfer of ESTs and know-how.
  • Deletion of a paragraph on international research cooperation regarding global change and sustainable development.
  • Deletion of a paragraph calling for expeditious conclusion of on-going and planned international environmental negotiations.

The EU introduced amendments, inter alia, on the participation of women and men on the basis of equality; the integration of democracy, respect for human rights and good governance; targeting ODA; sectoral issues identified for special attention in the new CSD programme of work; forests; the Bretton Woods institutions and the WTO; and on-going international environmental negotiations. The US introduced amendments on national policies to reduce by half by 2015 the proportion of people living in absolute poverty; CSD monitoring of local, national and regional goals and targets; and commitment to assist EST transfer.

Tolba appealed to delegates not to introduce controversial amendments and to recall that the political statement should be no more than three pages long. He challenged the G-77/CHINA to explain a number of amendments, including a proposal to delete a reference to the need to reduce the use of raw material and energy in the production process. The EU said he had formed the impression that delegations were engaged in a renegotiation of parts of the draft basic document on the UNGASS outcome. Along similar lines, the US asked delegations to pay more attention to and take into account the progress that had been made during the earlier negotiations on sectoral and cross-sectoral issues. Issues were being raised again in the context of the draft political declaration, with even more detailed proposals.

The EU warned delegations that they were entering a dangerous avenue by trying to conduct two parallel negotiations at the same time. The amendments being raised were in some cases more elaborate than those proposed for the draft outcome. He described Monday's consultation as a retrograde exercise. In view of the interaction between the issues contained in the draft outcome document and those raised in the informal consultations on the draft political statement, he proposed that the consultations be adjourned. He suggested that it might be more useful to proceed to remove brackets from disputed text in the draft outcome document. This would create a more conducive atmosphere in which to proceed with the consultations on the draft statement for the Heads of State.

Tolba agreed and decided to reconvene the informal consultations on Tuesday afternoon to begin discussions on the bracketed text on sectoral and cross-sectoral issues. Delegations will return to their discussion on the draft political statement on Thursday. On Tuesday morning delegations will receive a compilation text with all the new amendments to the draft political statement submitted on Monday. The G-77/CHINA will then meet as a group, and a number of bilaterals are also expected to take place.

Things to Look for on Tuesday

Consultations on cross-sectoral issues will take place at 3:00 pm in Conference Room 6.

Consultations on sectoral issues will take place at 3:00 pm in Conference Room 3.