ENB:05:55
[Next] .
[Previous] .
[Contents]
DRAFTING GROUP II
By the end of the day, the Group had agreed to all texts. A contact group negotiated outstanding issues in the draft decision on changing production and consumption patterns (Chapter 4) and outstanding issues in the draft decisions on finance (Chapter 33) and trade, environment and sustainable development (Chapter 2). Delegates debated: a proposal to note that the 1997 review would provide an opportunity for a “more action oriented approach” to the programme of work. Also debated were the balance between the supply and demand approaches to changing unsustainable consumption and production and emphasizing the need to change consumption patterns and unsustainable lifestyles in industrialized countries.
In the draft decision on finance, delegates debated: a reference to sustained economic growth and sustainable development in the context of external debt and debt servicing; a reference to the “rights” of indigenous holders and developers of technology in the context of the matrix approach; and replenishment of the GEF.
The Chair of the contact group, Geir Sjoberg (Norway), presented compromise texts to an afternoon meeting of Drafting Group II. In a paragraph on external debt and debt servicing in the finance draft, the Commission recognizes that solutions can contribute to the efforts of developing countries aimed at achieving economic and social development and environmental protection, and that these are interdependent and mutually reinforcing components of sustainable development. In a paragraph on the matrix approach, the Commission recommends that coverage include benefits to traditional holders of indigenous knowledge. A paragraph on innovative mechanisms includes “adequate replenishment” of the GEF. On the decision on consumption and production, the EU said parts of the document are not perfectly tuned with other decisions taken at the CSD. MEXICO said the decision on trade and sustainable development does not prejudge related discussions at the WTO.