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The World Summit on Sustainable Development
Third Preparatory Committee (PrepCom-III)
New York, 25 March - 5 April 2002
Jump to: 25 March - 26 March - 27 March - 28 March - 1 April - 2 April - 3 April - 4 April - 5 April Back to homepage

Morning Plenary
Nitin Desai, Secretary- General for the World Summit on Sustainable Development, reported on outcomes of the International Conference on Financing for Development held in Monterrey, Mexico, noting that it resulted in the largest increases in development assistance at any meeting. He noted that agreement had been finalized before Monterrey that the conference was to be a high-level meeting and not a continuation of negotiations. He highlighted partnerships as being a valuable means to leverage additional resources, as well as to change the quality of implementation. He also highlighted governance and the role of the CSD, noting that the CSD has kept sustainable development on the policy agenda, although it has not been able to generate sufficient pressure for successful implementation. He also highlighted a new atmosphere of North/South interaction, particularly since Doha, and said Johannesburg outcomes should convince the world that successful means of implementation have been devised.
 
Klaus Topfer, UNEP Executive Director, presented the outcomes of the Third Global Ministerial Environment Forum (GMEF-3), held in Cartagena, Colombia from 13-15 February 2002. He grouped the decisions adopted into three categories: substantive programmatic decisions such as those on international chemical management and the global plan of action on protecting the marine environment from land-based sources of pollution; international environmental governance; and the GMEF contribution to WSSD, based on summary of Ministerial views. He then outlined seven priority areas of work for UNEP, including: how UNEP can assist WSSD in achieving tangible outcomes; monitoring and assessment of environmental change; health and environment; and oceans and water.
 
Oumane Moutare (Niger) reported on the Panel of Eminent Personalities to consider the environment-poverty nexus in the context of the implementation of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (CCD), held from 25-28 February 2002 in Agadez, Niger. Participants considered the close relationship between sustainable development, land degradation and elimination of poverty. He outlined the Agadez Call, in which members of the Panel appealed to the international community for increased support for the implementation of the CCD. Specifically, it calls on the G-8 to make available the resources required to fight desertification. It notes an imbalance between the commitments made in Rio and the resources allocated to their implementation, and called for the creation of a funding mechanism for the CCD. Developing country governments are urged, inter alia, to allow for the full participation of all stakeholders involved in the fight against desertification.
 
Severino Soares Almeida (Cape Verde) reported on the Praia Forum on the implementation of the CCD, a preparatory meeting for the WSSD. The meeting brought together Parties to the CCD which have finalized their national action programmes to consult on the concrete steps to be taken in the implementation of the CCD. He outlined the two outcomes of the meeting, documents entitled "Conclusions of the Technical Segment of the Praia Forum", and "Ministerial Message from Praia to WSSD."
 
 
Monday 25 March: During the opening plenary session, Chair Emil Salim (center) outlined the organization of work for the session. He said Working Group I, to be co-chaired by Maria Viotti (Brazil) and Kiyotaka Akasaka (Japan) would address the first four sections of the Chairman's paper: introduction; poverty eradication; changing unsustainable patterns of consumption and production; and protecting and managing the natural resource base of economic and social development. Working Group II, chaired by Ihab Gamaleldin (Egypt) and Richard Ballhorn (Canada) will address: sustainable development in a globalizing world; health and sustainable development; sustainable development of SIDS; sustainable initiatives for Africa; and means of implementation. Working Group III, chaired by Ositadinma Anaedu (Nigeria) and Lars-Goran Engfeldt (Sweden) will address sustainable development governance at the international, regional and national levels.
Chair Emil Salim (Indonesia), in his introductory remarks, outlined the programme of work for the third PrepCom, and emphasized that specific steps and actions must be identified to further the sustainable development agenda, with specific actors and timebound measures being spelled out. He mentioned two types of outcomes expected from the Summit. Type I outcomes will include a concrete and realistic implementation plan. Type II outcomes will consist of partnerships, which would not be negotiated in the PrepCom but would be agreed by partners involved. He said Diane Quarless (Jamaica) and Jan Kara (Czech Republic), would facilitate informal meetings on partnerships and then report to the PrepCom on new ideas and initiatives for partnerships. He expressed confidence that "the Bali meeting would be an important harbor on the journey of hope towards the WSSD."
 
Hossein Moeni Meybodi (Iran) presented the Ministerial declaration and message from the United Nations Forum on Forests (UNFF-2) to the WSSD, and highlighted key points adopted by the Ministers, including enhancing political commitment to achieve sustainable forest management by endorsing it as a priority on the international political agenda.

 

Accreditation of NGOs as observers:
Joanne DiSano, Director, Division for Sustainable Development, noted the relevance of the work of the Tibet Justice Center (TJC) to the work of the WSSD but expressed concern about its politically motivated activities, and said that these should be taken into consideration when deciding upon the Center's accreditation. Chair Salim proposed, and delegates agreed, to approve all requests for accreditation with the exception of the TJC, which will be taken up again at a later stage. He then spoke about recent cuts in meeting services and their implications for the work of the PrepCom. He concluded with a discussion of the Working Groups' mandates and co-chairs.
 
Nitin Desai and JoAnne DiSano
 
Milos Alcalay (Venezuela), on behalf of the G-77/China, said that Monterrey demonstrated commitment to financing development, but it will be in Johannesburg that countries will define what type of development they want to finance. He said during the next two weeks, there is a need to develop a concrete plan of action which will guide countries towards sustainable development. He stressed the importance of desertification, noting that the President of the Republic of Venezuela, who will preside over the G-77/China at the WSSD, will be going to Johannesburg with a mandate to fight for addressing desertification. He outlined the outcomes of the Third High-level Forum on Cooperation between Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean on Desertification, held in Caracas, Venezuela on 19-20 February 2002.
 

Above: Rod Holsgrove, DESA Secretariat, speaks with Kira Schmidt, ENB on the side, and Kimo Goree, International Institute for Sustainable Development and ENB Managing Editor.
 
Delegates waiting for the morning Plenary to commence.
 

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