ENB:08:17
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XV. IMPLEMENTATION, MONITORING AND REVIEW:
Delegates spent most of the week negotiating this complex and crucial chapter. The "clean" text produced on 10 March 1994 was the basis for discussion on the final day as the Committee tried to clarify where there was no agreement, so that each delegation understood what remained to be negotiated in Barbados. The final review proved more arduous than the Chair foresaw as the text had omitted many of the amendments made previously. The following is a summary of the remaining bracketed text.Paragraph 61: Reference to the international community's commitment to meeting Agenda 21 agreements on implementation remains in brackets.
Paragraph 61 bis bis: A sentence to be inserted at the beginning of this paragraph, noting that wherever Agenda 21 is referred to it should be considered in its entirety, remains in brackets.
Paragraph 63: One group made a proposal for language to be added at the end of this paragraph that would clarify the role of the public in decision making. The paragraph remains in brackets.
Paragraph 63 bis. 1. Finance: This paragraph containing two alternative proposals remains bracketed. They refer to the reordering of economic priorities in the use of resources and increased use of economic instruments.
2. Trade: The first half of this paragraph consisting of different proposals had been collapsed into one. It will be bracketed to show the differences between the two proposals on export production.
3. Technology: The language on the role of the private sector and on the rights of resources owners and intellectual property rights remain bracketed.
4. Legislation: One proposal referring to traditional and indigenous understanding as well as western concepts of law remains in brackets.
5. Institutional Development: After a heated discussion about what an intergovernmental conference can tell national governments to do, this whole paragraph was placed in brackets.
6. Information and Participation: This paragraph on increasing public awareness and information dissemination remains in brackets pending a concrete proposal from a Permanent Observer.
7. Human Resource Development: This paragraph now reads "Increase national capacity building at all levels through education, public awareness and human resource development including training and skill development, in particular of technicians, scientists and decision makers to better plan and implement sustainable development programmes."
Paragraph 64: This paragraph on regional implementation still contains a number of brackets. The first tiret of Paragraph 64B on collaboration between appropriate institutions and organizations remains in brackets. The second paragraph of the tiret now reads, "Relevant non-UN regional organizations should be encouraged to take the Programme of Action into account in the fulfillment of their respective functions." Paragraph 64C on reporting by SIDS remains bracketed as a whole.
Paragraph 64 bis: Despite attempts to resolve outstanding differences the paragraph remains in brackets with no agreement in sight on the sharing of financing responsibilities for sustainable development in SIDS.
Paragraph 66: The chapeau of this paragraph on financial resources and mechanisms remains bracketed in several places, as do tirets b, c, d, and e, on different types of financial and technical assistance, which were thought to be duplicative.
Paragraph 66 bis: This paragraph, which links financing of the Programme of Action to the Ad-Hoc Working Group of the Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD), remains bracketed.
Paragraph 67 bis: This paragraph dealing with the origins of inputs in manufacturing for exports remains bracketed.
Paragraph 68: After some confusion, a series of brackets remains throughout the body of the text dealing with commodity prices and markets.
Paragraph 69: This paragraph suggesting a study of the impact of global trade liberalization on SIDS remains in brackets.
Paragraph 71: The references to intellectual property rights remain bracketed and will have to made consistent with similar references in Paragraph 63.
Paragraph 75: This remains bracketed, signaling a technical rather than a substantive problem of how to mandate a UN agency to act.
Paragraph 77 bis: This paragraph, which deals with the role of the CSD in monitoring implementation of the Programme of Action, remains in brackets.
Paragraph 78: Brackets remain around the words "endeavour to" marking developed country unease with the degree of support they should provide to the transfer of environmentally sound technologies to SIDS.
Paragraph 80: Different alternatives for funding mechanisms remain bracketed.
Paragraph 81: Argentina had been charged by the Chair with resolving some of the issues in this paragraph on institutional follow-up. While progress had been made in informal consultations and a draft proposal had been circulated among delegates, no specific language was agreed upon. The Chair ruled that the results of these informals would be carried in the minds of delegates, but that the text would have to continue to reflect the original brackets. This was not disputed from the floor, but clearly frustrated many delegates. Paragraphs 81 bis and 81 ter on the role of UNCTAD and the Inter-Agency Committee on Sustainable Development (IACSD) also remain bracketed.
Paragraph 83: This paragraph on better UN coordination remains bracketed.
Paragraphs 83 bis and bis bis on the roles of UNEP and UNDP in support of SIDS are bracketed.
Paragraph 85: The last sentence, referring to the development of a vulnerability index, remains bracketed.
Paragraphs 86 and 86 bis: These paragraphs, dealing with the establishment of a vulnerability index remain in brackets.
Paragraphs 88 and 88 bis: Language dealing with review and monitoring of the Conference remains bracketed.
Some delegates asked for the previous paragraph 87 on institutional follow-up to be reinstated as amended as they had no recollection of its deletion. This was overruled by the Chair and remains deleted.