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MAIN COMMITTEE

The Main Committee met in the morning to review the status of all outstanding issues in the Programme of Action.

PREAMBLE: Consultations are still in progress on: paragraphs 5 and 6 (responsibility of SIDS for the marine environment); paragraph 15 (financing of the Programme of Action); and paragraph 16 (the special needs of the least developed SIDS).

III. MANAGEMENT OF WASTES: Paragraph 22 still contains brackets around reference to transboundary movement of hazardous and toxic wastes.

IV. COASTAL AND MARINE RESOURCES: Agreement was reached on paragraph C(v), which now reads: "Use the relevant results of the World Coast Conference of November 1993 as well as of the ongoing work within UNEP's Regional Seas Programme to assist small island developing States with the development and implementation of integrated coastal zone management plans, to improve international coordination in that field, and to develop strategies to prevent further marine and coastal degradation." The long paragraph that follows in A/CONF.167/L.1 is now divided into two sub-paragraphs (vi) and (vii).

V. FRESHWATER RESOURCES: Australia's proposal for paragraph 27 on groundwater resources is still being considered by AOSIS.

VII. ENERGY RESOURCES: Delegates reached agreement on paragraph A(ii), which reads: "Promote the efficient use of energy and the development of environmentally sound sources of energy and energy efficient technologies, paying special attention to the possibilities of using, where appropriate, economic instruments and incentive structures and the increasing economic possibilities of renewable sources of energy."

IX. BIODIVERSITY RESOURCES: Paragraph A(vii) on intellectual property rights is still under negotiation.

XII. TRANSPORT AND COMMUNICATION: Consultations are still underway on paragraph C(v) on the lowering of international telecommunication costs to SIDS.

XIV. HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT: Consultations are still underway on paragraph 58, which references population-related policies.

XV. IMPLEMENTATION, MONITORING AND REVIEW: Paragraphs 71 and 95, which address technology, are still under negotiation. Agreement has been tentatively reached on paragraph 91, which now reads: "Given the limited possibilities of generating local value added, deriving from their small market size, narrow resource base, and limited production of inputs, special efforts are needed to assist SIDS to increase their production and exports. Towards this objective, special consideration should be given, where appropriate, to the local value added criteria applied to the exports of SIDS."

In the afternoon, delegates reviewed a non-paper prepared by Vice-Chair Takao Shibata, based on consultations to consider additional proposals for inclusion in Chapters II-XIV. The non-paper contained nearly 50 proposals. Some of the more substantive additions included: reference to the International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction in Chapter III; reference to the International Ministerial Conference on Drinking Water and Environmental Sanitation (the Netherlands, 1994) in Chapter V; reference to the Conference of Small Island Countries on Sustainable Development and Environment in Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (Barbados, 1992) in Chapter VI; reference to effective and efficient ways of utilizing, disposing, recycling and reducing the by-products of waste of energy production in Chapter VII; the involvement of NGOs, women, indigenous people and other major groups in the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity in Chapter IX; and references to drug abuse control in Chapter XIV.

Three of these new proposals were placed in brackets. The first, which is a new sub-paragraph A(viii) in Chapter III, refers to the formulation and enforcement of laws or regulations that ban the importation of hazardous wastes from OECD to non-OECD countries. During the discussion, AOSIS/G-77 replaced the word "importation" with "exportation." The entire sub-paragraph is bracketed. In Chapter VIII, a new sub-paragraph C(iii) "promotes closer cooperation to improve national and international measures to combat illicit drug trafficking and money laundering." AOSIS/G-77 thought that reference to money laundering should be deleted from the paragraph. Finally, in paragraph 61 A(iii), there was a proposal to add "options" after reference to "family planning." Since several delegates questioned this proposal, there will be further consultations.

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