You are viewing our old site. See the new one here

ENB:05:68 [Next] . [Previous] . [Contents]

STRUCTURE OF THE DOCUMENT

The structure of the Co-Chairs’ "Proposed Outcome" dominated many statements during discussion of the initial draft on Tuesday, 4 March. The draft consisted of four sections: Statement of Commitment; Assessment of Progress Reached After Rio; Strategies for Implementation; and International Institutional Arrangements. Most changes focused on the third section, Strategies for Implementation, which was divided into three parts: Policy Approaches, Areas Requiring Urgent Action and Means of Implementation. The EU welcomed the Co-Chairs’ structure. The G-77/CHINA suggested that the final document follow the structure of Agenda 21. NEW ZEALAND disagreed. The EU and SWITZERLAND suggested that poverty eradication should be an over-arching objective in the section on urgent action. The EU also suggested that changing production and consumption patterns should be an over-arching objective. The EU, CANADA and SWITZERLAND called for a clear distinction between emerging issues on which progress can be made by the CSD and UNGASS and those issues being addressed in other processes. NORWAY divided the issues according to: follow-up to global conferences; on-going processes under UN conventions; and other urgent areas.

An informal group, chaired by Antonio Mello (Brazil), met on Wednesday, 5 March, to discuss the structure of the draft document. Three proposals containing new elements for the section on Strategies for Implementation were distributed. The Co- Chairs’ redraft contained two parts, "Comprehensive Policy Approaches and Means of Implementation" and "Areas of Focus, Convention Processes and Follow-up to Global Conferences." The G-77/China’s draft also contained two parts: "Comprehensive Approach to Environment and Development," which was divided into "Integration of Economic, Social and Environmental Objectives" and "Conservation and Management of Resources for Development;" and "Means of Implementation." The Norwegian draft (supported by Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand and Switzerland) contained three parts: "Policy Approaches," "Means of Implementation" and "Areas Requiring Specific Action."

Delegates generally agreed to call the third section "Implementation in Areas Requiring Urgent Action" and to include three subsections: Integration of Economic, Social and Environmental Objectives; Sectoral Issues; and Means of Implementation. They could not agree on the title for the part on sectoral issues, however, and decided to transmit to the Co-Chairs their agreement that the section contain three parts. Many agreed that the identification of the document’s substance would facilitate further consideration of its structure. The Co-Chairs used this generally-agreed structure to guide their revised draft, with the understanding that no commitments to the headings had been made.