Jordan Times
16 May 2002
Internet:
http://www.jordantimes.com/Thu/homenews/homenews10.htm
AMMAN - The heads of the
Kingdom's 99 municipalities on Wednesday endorsed the Declaration of Support
to the Earth Charter at the Greater Amman Municipality. The adoption of the
Earth Charter by local municipalities is intended to promote an integrated
and strategic plan in Jordan to advance sustainable development in
preparation for the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD). The
event, at which HRH Princess Basma acted as patron, was organised by the
Jordanian Hashemite Fund for Human Development (JOHUD) and the Ministry of
Municipal and Rural Affairs and the Environment, in cooperation with the
General Corporation for Environment Protection (GCEP). In addressing
yesterday's national gathering, Princess Basma said: "The consequences of
wasting natural resources and harming the environment -- especially after
the spread of globalisation and its repercussions on the world as a whole --
are no longer limited...but rather everywhere in varying degrees."
"Endorsing the Earth Charter Declaration will be to our benefit because it
is in agreement with our traditions, values and customs," said the Princess.
According to Minister of Municipal and Rural Affairs and the Environment
Abdul Razzaq Tbeishat, "the Earth Charter forms an `international code of
ethics.'" It calls for the "respect and care for the community of life,
ecological integrity, social and economic justice and democracy,
non-violence and peace." The charter will "help bridge the North-South gap,"
said the minister. The Earth Council is an international NGO dedicated to
ensuring the follow-up and implementation of the results of the Rio Earth
Summit. The task of the commission is to oversee and guide the Earth Charter
through to its submission at the United Nations. Princess Basma is a member
of the Earth Council and Earth Charter Commission. In March 2002, Princess
Basma took part in the meetings of the Earth Charter Commission that were
convened at UNESCO headquarters, where the commission finalised and endorsed
the Earth Charter and approved its worldwide advocacy campaign. In
supporting the Earth Council's initiative in Jordan, the Princess also acted
as patron of a conference last October, organised by JOHUD and the Greater
Amman Municipality, to spearhead the Declaration of Support to the Earth
Charter, which was signed by eight civil society institutions and
environmental organisations. The event was followed by an Earth Charter
Regional Meeting in November, which brought together around 50 participants
from the Arab world to endorse the "Amman Statement of the Earth Charter,"
and also formulated recommendations within an Arab context, which will be
submitted during the World Summit on Sustainable Development in
Johannesburg, South Africa.
The Guardian
16 May 2002
Internet:
http://politics.guardian.co.uk/green/story/0,9061,716185,00.html
Britain will today launch its
strongest attack on George Bush's rejection of the Kyoto climate protocol,
as the government warns that Washington's actions threaten to make the
planet "uninhabitable". Angered by the US government's decision to rule out
signing up to Kyoto for the next 10 years, the environment minister, Michael
Meacher, writes in today's Guardian that the world is running out of time.
"We do not have much time and we do not have any serious option. If we do
not act quickly to minimise runaway feedback effects [from global warming]
we run the risk of making this planet, our home, uninhabitable." The
minister's intervention came after Washington's chief climate negotiator,
Harlan Watson, said in London earlier this week that an independent US
initiative to cut emissions of greenhouse gases would not be assessed until
2012. "We are not going to be part of the Kyoto protocol for the foreseeable
future," he announced. Mr Watson's remarks prompted an outspoken attack on
the US by Mr Meacher. "I am so disappointed that this week the US refused to
reconsider coming back into the climate talks for 10 years. The need for
action is urgent," he writes. Tony Blair also admitted last night that
Britain and the US were at odds over the Kyoto protocol, the international
agreement drawn up to help slow, and mitigate the effects of, climate
change. In an interview on BBC2's Newsnight, the prime minister said: "On
Kyoto, there is a difference of opinion. We have made that clear." Mr
Meacher takes a swipe at the US's apparent complacency when he warns that
there are strong reasons for "doubting the comforting US picture that
there's plenty of time to deal with the problem". The minister adds: "One
[reason] is that climate change may be not steady but abrupt; the other is
that the pressures we inflict on the climate may trigger wholly unexpected
developments from feedback effects." Latest scientific evidence suggests
the impact of climate change on Britain could be "faster and sharper" than
expected, says Mr Meacher. Almost two million homes in England and Wales are
at risk from floods, and Britain will experience a 65% increase in river
flooding if defences do not account for climate change. "The UN
intergovernmental panel on climate change ... has forecast that global
average temperatures will rise by between 1.4 to 5.8 degrees Celsius by
2100. "That may not sound much. But it is worth remembering that the last
ice age, when much of the northern hemisphere was buried under an ice pack
thousands of feet thick, was triggered by a fall in temperature of only some
five degrees Celsius." A rise in temperature of just 5.8C could melt
glaciers and Greenland's ice sheet, causing a rise in sea water that could
submerge island nations. Mr Meacher's intervention comes after the deputy
prime minister, John Prescott, said he would not attend an environmental
summit at a Bali resort next month. Mr Prescott was criticised for
considering attending the summit, a preparatory meeting for the Earth Summit
in Johannesburg this September. Amid reports that the trip would cost
taxpayers £250,000, he said Margaret Beckett, the environment secretary,
would be the only cabinet minister attending. Speaking to the parliamentary
Labour party, the deputy prime minister said: "I'm not going to Bali. But I
live in hope."
Reuters via Planet Ark
16 May 2002
Internet:
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/15977/story.htm
JOHANNESBURG - A leading South
African campaigner urged Western nations yesterday to ensure that a
forthcoming world development summit produced action to combat AIDS and
poverty in Africa and not just words. Zakes Hlatswayo, president of Sangoco,
the South African coalition of non-governmental organisations (NGOs), called
on the West to avoid adding to a history of major summits whose resolutions
were seldom implemented. NGOs, including environmentalists, labour, youth
and women's groups, will be represented by a 40,000-strong delegation at the
World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg from August 26 to
September 4. A follow-up to the Rio Earth Summit of 1992, it aims to map out
a concrete set of action plans to reduce global poverty and the North/South
income gap in a sustainable way without inflicting irreparable damage to the
environment. Hlatswayo told Reuters there had been past commitments by
governments to fight poverty and improve the lives of Africans, but no
tangible action followed the lofty promises. The South African government
expects 65,000 delegates for the summit, including at least 100 heads of
state. "We need the summit to go beyond rhetoric. Churning out another list
of development needs will not be good enough, it would be a failure,"
Hlatswayo said. "To be successful, we would expect institutions to be put in
place to implement agreements," he said.
PICKETS AND DEMONSTRATIONS
Hlatswayo said South African NGOs
and their peers from around the globe would voice their opinions through,
forums, pickets and demonstrations, because "one cannot criminalise the
expression of ideas, it is a democratic right." "We would like to see a
focus on the issues of AIDS and other diseases, on poverty, on easier access
to productive resources within southern Africa," he said. Malaria is
Africa's number one killer while AIDS is decimating the cream of African
professionals and is considered the continent's biggest development
challenge. Africans want greater pressure on Western pharmaceutical
companies to provide access to cheaper drugs, especially for AIDS,
tuberculosis and malaria. Hlatswayo said NGOs planning to attend the summit
were hampered by a lack of cash as governments had not backed their
commitment to ensure civil society participation with money. Only 15 percent
of his group's 100-120 million rand (about $10-12 million) budget has been
delivered by foreign donors. "My greatest fear, and the fear grows real
every day, is that we are not seeing a flow of resources as well as we
thought we would have," he said. "The international commitment to NGOs
remains purely rhetoric, it is not backed by action." "When you look at
Africa as a continent, one cannot avoid seeing the impact of colonisation
and deprivation. It is inevitable that we reflect on how this impacts on
Africa and (must) provide funding to help reverse things," he said.
Reuters Via Planet Ark
16 May 2002
Internet:
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/15985/story.htm
PARIS - Despite the best efforts
of a minority of firms, world industry as a whole is failing to pull its
weight on protecting the environment, a United Nations report concluded
yesterday. Advances in the recycling of key materials and in car efficiency
were still being outweighed by the effects of increased consumption,
including a trend towards disposable products, the United Nations
Environment Programme (UNEP) found. "Despite many good examples of how
industries are reducing waste and emissions...we have found that the
majority of companies are still doing business as usual," UNEP chief Klaus
Toepfer said in a statement. Issued three months before the Johannesburg
"Earth Summit 2" on the environment, the UNEP report sought to measure
progress made since the 1992 Rio Earth Summit that aimed to come up with
ways of balancing environmental concerns with economic growth. The report
drew on industry evidence that recycled metal now satisfied about a third of
world demand for aluminium, while the iron and steel sector was saving
energy costs by recovering more of its product from scrap. Yet it cited the
"rebound effect" of industry responding to increased and changing consumer
demand with new "throw away" products that generated more ecologically
harmful waste. "The clear message emerges: growing consumption levels are
overtaking environmental gains," UNEP found. Earth Summit 2, running from
August 26 to September 4, will aim to hammer out a set of action plans to
pull people out of poverty without inflicting damage on the environment.
However, there have already been concerns it will fall below expectations.
The European Union has said preparations are going ahead too slowly, while
ecologist groups have accused the United States of trying to block any major
decisions at the summit.
Washington File
15 May 2002
Internet:
http://usinfo.state.gov/cgi-bin/washfile/display.pl?p=/products/washfile/latest&f=02051501.glt&t=/products/washfile/newsitem.shtml
Washington -- U.S. officials
preparing for the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) see growing
support for the creation of action-oriented partnerships between
governments, the private sector and citizen groups as the way to fight
poverty and improve living standards in countries around the world. The
summit, which will be one of the largest gatherings of world leaders ever
held, will take place August 26 to September 4 in Johannesburg, South
Africa. The meeting comes 10 years after the 1992 Rio Summit on the
Environment in which goals were established to guide sustainable development
into the future. Anthony Rock, principal deputy assistant secretary of state
with the Bureau of Oceans, International Environmental and Scientific
Affairs, said in a recent interview that the United States will place heavy
emphasis on social development, especially issues related to poverty
eradication, at the upcoming Johannesburg Summit. It is estimated that
close to a third of the world's people live on less than two dollars a day
and lack access to clean water, sanitation and electricity. "Poverty not
only saps human potential and drains economies, but at the same time is
destroying environments and is breeding social unrest," Rock said. "This
social unrest and economic instability, and subsequent political unrest,
becomes a breeding ground not only for disease and impoverished
circumstances, but potentially for crime, corruption and ultimately
terrorism." Rock noted that this view -- placing special emphasis on people
and poverty eradication -- was repeated several times during his recent trip
to Europe, where he met with numerous government and private sector
officials and spoke at the European Policy Center. "We believe that you
simply will not have sustainable development if you cannot at least raise
the quality of life among the world's poverty stricken," Rock said. "So this
summit is an opportunity for nations of the world, and particularly the
United States, to emphasize the value of coalitions and partnerships ...
with the goal of building up the poor and disenfranchised elements of global
society." Rock said that while governments set the basis for development,
by and large, development is carried out by the private sector and civil
society. "So from our point-of-view, if we don't have partnerships with the
private sector and with civil society as part of the process, we will not
make an effective contribution to sustainable development," Rock said.
International delegates at the latest round of New York-based preparatory
talks for the summit supported proposals for partnerships devoted to
specific actions to tackle social and environmental concerns. This
represents a major departure from business as usual, according to officials.
Assistant Secretary of State for Oceans, International Environmental and
Scientific Affairs John Turner, speaking at a summit preparatory meeting in
Johannesburg in April, said delegates expressed strong interest in creating
coalitions of partners that can come together to make new commitments to
action. Such commitments, he said, "will really make a difference around the
globe to lift people's aspirations .. and perhaps to develop some new models
... to incorporate economic, environmental and social agendas." "I truly
believe, as does the United States, that Johannesburg offers an historic
opportunity to provide a new way of building sustainability," Turner said.
Rock said these partnerships would be called on to take action in certain
key sectors that are crucial to advancing the poverty eradication agenda of
the summit. These key sectors would include water, energy, food security,
health and education. Environment ministers from the group of eight (G-8)
industrialized countries, meeting April 12-14 in Banff, Canada, reached
agreement that the world summit must deliver partnerships that can produce
tangible results and mobilize action at all levels. For example, they
called for strategic partnerships to promote sustainable water resource
management, including access to safe water and sanitation in developing
countries. In the field of energy, they said specific projects are needed to
reduce the number of people without access to energy supplies, increase
energy efficiency, improve the conservation of energy resources, and develop
new technologies and promote the use and share of renewable energy sources.
Turner emphasized that the participation of the private sector will be
crucial. "Business needs to be at the summit in a major way, ready to make
commitments, offering their inputs and ideas," he said. Assistant Secretary
of State for African Affairs Walter Kansteiner, speaking at the April
preparatory meeting in Johannesburg, said that official development
assistance is very important, but that ultimately the private sector must
get involved to help Africa reach its fullest potential. "In that light, I'm
here in South Africa leading a group of private equity fund managers ...
(and) talking to African entrepreneurs on what their capital requirements
and needs are, and seeing if there isn't a match -- if there isn't a
partnership -- between some American capital and some very good African
business plans," he said. Rock noted that the most effective
poverty-reduction strategy rests with an open, stable, vibrant, growing
economy, and that efforts would be focused on ways to strengthen developing
country economies to become supporters of their own sustainability. He said,
in this regard, the importance of private capital flows cannot be
overemphasized. "What goes along with private capital flow is not just the
money or the access to markets, but also new technologies, management, good
environmental practices, and ultimately that ability of countries to manage
their resources more efficiently and adopt sustainable practices," he said.
"It's the engine that helps that occur." Under Secretary of State for
Economic, Business and Agricultural Affairs Alan Larson, speaking recently
to the European Partners for the Environment in Brussels, said that foreign
investment flows to and among developing countries amount to $200,000
million ($200 billion) annually. He noted that developing countries receive
on average about $50 million every year in aid from donor nations, which is
much smaller than the amount received from financial flows. "Foreign
investment flows to developing countries have grown exponentially and can
increase much more as countries put in place sound investment policies," he
said. Larson added that official development aid also plays an indispensable
role, especially if it helps countries tap into the larger flows of private
finance. President Bush, in remarks delivered March 22 at the U.N.
Conference on Financing for Development in Monterrey, Mexico, proposed a
50-percent increase in U.S. core development assistance over the next three
years, which eventually will mean a $5,000 million annual increase over
current levels. These new funds will go into what Bush called a new
Millennium Challenge Account that fund initiatives to help developing
countries improve their economies and standards of living. Bush also called
for a new compact for development -- defined by greater accountability for
rich and poor nations alike. He said greater contributions from developed
nations must be linked to greater responsibility from developing nations.
"We must tie greater aid to political and legal and economic reforms," Bush
said. "When nations adopt reforms, each dollar of aid attracts two dollars
of private investments. When aid is linked to good policy, four times as
many people are lifted out of poverty compared to old aid practices."
UNEP News Release
15 May 2002
Internet:
http://www.unep.org/Documents/Default.asp?DocumentID=248&ArticleID=3049
Industry and the environment -
achievements, unfinished business and future challenges. Global launch of 22
Industry Reports prepared for the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable
Development PARIS/NAIROBI, 15 May 2002 - There is a growing gap between the
efforts of business and industry to reduce their impact on the environment
and the worsening state of the planet, a new report by the United Nations
Environment Programme (UNEP) reveals today. This gap, says UNEP, is due to
the fact that in most industry sectors, only a small number of companies are
actively striving for sustainability, i.e. actively integrating social and
environmental factors into business decisions. And, secondly, because
improvements are being overtaken by economic growth and increasing demand
for goods and services: a phenomenon known as the "rebound effect." The new
findings appear in the UNEP overview report 10 years after Rio: the UNEP
assessment. This overview report assesses progress todate by industry on
sustainability issues. It draws on the 22 global sustainability reports
written by different industry sectors ranging from accounting and
advertising to waste and water management. This collection of reports is
known as the Industry as a Partner for Sustainable Development series.
"Today, we are still confronted with worsening global trends related to
environmental problems like global warming, loss of biodiversity, land
degradation, air and water pollution," said Klaus Toepfer, UNEP's Executive
Director. "Some companies have risen to the challenge. Such efforts need to
be acknowledged and applauded." "However," Toepfer continued, "The new
reports clearly show that progress since Rio has been uneven within and
amongst industry sectors and countries. Despite many good examples of how
industries are reducing waste and emissions, becoming more energy efficient,
and helping poor communities to meet their basic needs we have found that
the majority of companies are still doing business as usual."
Congratulating those that have worked with UNEP to produce the industry
sector reports, Toepfer said, "The industry associations, and others that
embarked on this reporting process with UNEP, are to be congratulated for
their first attempt at compiling a global sustainability progress report for
their sector." Each report, written by industry representatives in an
unprecedented cooperation with the UN, labor and non-governmental
organizations, looks at achievements, unfinished business and future
challenges with respect to implementing Agenda 21 - the global action plan
to save the planet that was agreed to at the Rio Earth Summit in 1992. In
response to the findings, UNEP has identified priority areas for business
and industry and suggests a number of recommendations. These include:
spreading the use of "best practices" that bring "triple dividends' -
economic, environmental and social; greater integration of environmental and
social criteria into mainstream business decision-making; and improving the
implementation and monitoring of voluntary initiatives and industry
self-regulation. All the sector reports highlight the crucial role of
governments, combining regulatory, economic and voluntary instruments, in
spurring social and technological innovation, and in ensuring that laggard
or negligent companies do not benefit at the expense of those investing in
best practices. "Significant efforts have been made by participating
industries in reducing their ecological footprint," said Jacqueline Aloisi
de Larderel, UNEP's Assistant Executive Director and director of the team
that helped produced the reports. "But, it is in industry's own
self-interest to do more to spread best practice and raise the performance
levels of all its members everywhere. Not enough companies, particularly
small and medium-sized ones are leading the way and there is insufficient
monitoring." Other recommendations from UNEP include the development of
"sustainable entrepreneurship" in less developed countries as part of the
wider goal to combat poverty, and the need to expand and support
environmental and sustainability reporting. "Since Rio," Mrs Aloisi de
Larderel continued, "more than 2000 companies have issued reports on their
environmental performance, but corporate sustainability reporting is still a
minority practice in many industries and countries, particularly where legal
frameworks or public pressure is weak." Stressing the growing disparity
among world regions and the need to make corporate environmental and social
responsibility a reality, she said, "There is a growing awareness among
business and industry that the social side of global sustainable development
needs to be taken into account alongside environmental and economic aspects.
The industry reports need to be seen as part of a long-term process of
dialogue and what matters is not so much the past, but the direction in
which we are heading."
PROGRESS
On the positive side, the reports
reveal an increased awareness by industry of environmental and social
issues. In many cases this is reflected by more environmental reporting and
the development and use of tools like ISO 14000, life-cycle management and
voluntary commitments to integrate sustainability into business strategies
and activities. In some cases, this awareness can be seen in improved
environmental performance. This is especially true in areas like cleaner
production and waste minimization where there have been significant advances
over the last ten years driven largely by business self-interest in reducing
treatment costs and increasing competitiveness. For example, the aluminium
industry reports that recycled metal now satisfies about a third of world
demand for aluminium. It says that total recycling of aluminium in the form
of beverage cans show rates that range from 79 % in Japan and 78 % in Brazil
to 62 % in the US and 41 % in Europe. In another example, the iron and steel
industry reports that by recycling nearly 300 million tonnes of scrap each
year, they do not have to extract 475 million tonnes of natural iron bearing
ore. They estimate that this saves the energy equivalent of 160 million
tonnes of hard coal. On the down side increased economic activity and the
associated rise in consumption means waste generation rates per capita
continue to increase around the world. New "throw-away" products continue to
be introduced by industry to meet changing consumer needs and expectations,
with little or no consideration of sustainable development beyond short-term
economic gain. The waste industry example is repeated in other reports and
the clear message emerges: growing consumption levels are overtaking
environmental gains.
FUTURE CHALLENGES
In their reports, some industry
sectors have outlined specific targets to reduce their impact on the
environment and support sustainable development. For example, the
Refrigeration industry wants, "to develop more environmentally friendly,
energy efficient vapor compression systems with ambitious objectives:
reduction of energy consumption by 30 to 50 percent and reduction of
refrigerant leakage by 50 per cent." While the chemicals industry says it
will, "Develop and implement a core set of quantitative indicators of
performance towards achievement of sustainable development." And the
Advertising sector wants to "Find brand champions for sustainability." Some
reports put emphasis on "best practice." The Electricity report says
"electric power companies should implement Guidelines for Best Practices to
improve their operations and reduce environmental impacts." And the Food and
Drink sector calls for "better global co-ordination... in order to share
best practices and to facilitate progress on sustainability, and that
sustainable agricultural practices need to be fully supported so that the
become increasingly systematic and globally widespread." Others sectors keep
their future challenges and commitments more general. The automotive sector
says it will "further enhance the ecological efficiency of vehicles
throughout the entire life-cycle." The Aluminium report is "committed to
increasing global recycling rates." While the coal industry highlights
"furthering the development and deployment of cleaner coal and carbon
sequestration technologies worldwide" and the construction report calls for
"further reducing CO2 emissions in the built environment through the
development and integration of renewable energy technologies." "Industry is
a key partner for sustainable development," says Klaus Toepfer. "We rely on
industry, not only for reducing the environmental impacts of the products
and services it provides us with, we also increasingly depend upon industry
for the innovative and entrepreneurial skills that are needed to help meet
sustainability challenges." "In a world increasingly interconnected
economically, environmentally and socially this will require not only
partnerships with governments and civil society, but also for industry to be
fully transparent about its level of progress. This UNEP-facilitated
reporting initiative is an important step toward reaching this goal," he
said. The 22 reports cover the following industry sectors: Accounting,
Advertising, Aluminium, Automotive, Aviation, Chemicals, Coal, Construction,
Consulting engineering, Electricity, Fertilizer, Finance and insurance, Food
and drink, Information & communications technology, Iron and steel, Oil and
gas, Railways, Refrigeration, Road transport, Tourism, Waste management and
Water management. They have been prepared as a specific input to the World
Summit on Sustainable Development, scheduled to take place in Johannesburg,
South Africa, from 26 August to 4 September 2002.
The UNEP overview report and the
22 individual sector reports are available on the Web at:
http://www.uneptie.org/outreach/wssd/sectors/reports.htm
Associated Press
15 May 2002
Internet:
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20020515/ap_wo_en_ge/oecd_ministerial_meeting_2
PARIS - Ministers from the
world's most developed countries opened a two-day meeting in Paris on
Wednesday to review prospects for an economic recovery, development and the
impact of terrorism on prosperity. Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt,
chairing the gathering at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and
Development, expressed "cautious optimism" about an upturn in the world's
economy in the second half of this year. However, the prime minister
reflected the growing concern among trading partners of the United States
over its new farm subsidy bill and recent implementation of tariffs on steel
imports. "I'm anxious about what's been happening on the issues of steel and
agriculture," Verhofstadt said. He said that several delegations had voiced
their concern about agricultural and steel subsidies, saying they fly in the
face of efforts to open markets. The two most senior members of the U.S.
government on trade issues, Commerce Secretary Don Evans and Trade
Representative Robert Zoellick, were not present at the meeting of the
30-member OECD. Deputy Trade Representative Peter Frederick Allgeier was
attending in their place. Business and labor leaders, along with members of
international organizations, also joined the gathering at the Paris-based
Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, a think tank of 30
industrialized nations. The meeting opened with discussions on how to
promote growth and reduce unemployment as the world economy gathers steam.
Talks also focused on ways to combat financial crime and bribery. On
Thursday, delegates were to look at how best to contribute to a new round of
international trade negotiations and examine poverty reduction strategies in
a follow-up to the recent U.N. Conference on Financing for Development in
Monterrey, Mexico. OECD ministers also were to meet with their African
counterparts to discuss the New Partnership for African Development, or
NEPAD, ahead of the upcoming World Summit on Sustainable Development in
South Africa this August.
The Jakarta Post
15 May 2002
Internet:
http://www.thejakartapost.com/yesterdaydetail.asp?fileid=20020515.B02
United Nations Secretary-General
Kofi Annan said on Tuesday that he expected concrete results in the areas of
water and sanitation, energy, health, agriculture, and biodiversity at the
latest round of the World Summit on sustainable development, to be held in
Johannesburg in August. "These are five areas in which progress will offer
all human beings a chance of achieving prosperity that will not only last
their own lifetime, but can be enjoyed by their children and grandchildren
too," he said in a statement on Tuesday. Concentrating on these five areas
will produce an ambitious but achievable program of practical steps to
improve the lives of human beings, while protecting the global environment,
Annan said. He said that he hoped water would be provided to at least one
billion people who lacked clean drinking water and two billion without
proper sanitation. There should be access to energy to more than two
billion people who lacked modern energy services; the promotion of renewable
energy; the reduction of over-consumption and ratification of the Kyoto
Protocol to address climate change. Health issues should address the
effects of toxic and hazardous materials; reduce air pollution and lower the
incidence of malaria and African guinea worm, which were linked to polluted
water and poor sanitation. Nations ought to work to reverse land
degradation, which effected about two-thirds of the world's agricultural
lands, and reverse the processes that had destroyed about half of the
world's tropical rainforests and mangroves. The success of the World Summit
in August, however, hinges on the accomplishments on the preparatory
committee (prepcom) meeting to be held in Bali later this month through
early June. More than 6,000 delegates from 189 governments are expected to
attend the preparatory meeting at the Bali International Convention Center
in Nusa Dua, to be held from May 27 through June 7. In a media briefing on
Tuesday, Indonesia's preparatory committee chairwoman Erna Witoelar said
that the meeting in Bali was expected to result in the drafting of three
documents, all of which would be endorsed by the heads of State in
Johannesburg. The three documents comprise a political declaration agreed
to by the heads of state and government, an implementation program that
specifies what priority actions governments agree are needed, and a document
of partnership initiatives or specific undertakings that will bring forward
real action in particular areas without the need for global consensus on
details. Annan said that new initiatives for sustainable development were
needed because the present model of development -- albeit bringing privilege
and prosperity to about 20 percent of humanity -- had also exacted a heavy
price by degrading the planet and depleting its resources. "In Johannesburg
we will have a chance to catch up," he said.
Reuters
14 May 2002
Internet:
http://reuters.com/news_article.jhtml;jsessionid=PRUCRV25ZYOZCCRBAEKSFFAKEEATIIWD?type=sciencenews&StoryID=960377
TORONTO (Reuters) - The
environmental and social costs of closing and rehabilitating old and
abandoned mines around the world are likely in the trillions of dollars, and
far beyond the capability of mining companies alone to deal with, Sir Robert
Wilson, chairman of London-based metals giant Rio Tinto Plc said on
Tuesday. Wilson told Reuters at a mining industry conference on sustainable
development in Toronto that a recent estimate puts rehabilitation costs just
in the United States, where regulation is stricter than in many other
countries, at $35 billion. "If you look at where the real problems are, in
Russia, Eastern Europe, South Africa, India, China, the extent of the (mine)
legacy issues is enormous, and it's totally beyond the capability of this
industry, either financially or technically, to make a meaningful
contribution to that," Wilson said. "Huge" and "gigantic" were other terms
being tossed around to describe the problem of old and abandoned mines at
the three-day Global Mining Initiative meeting in Toronto, which is being
held in preparation for the World Summit for Sustainable Development in
Johannesburg in August. But attempts were few at fixing an exact cost on
what the industry calls "legacy issues" -- the environmental destruction and
tears in the social fabric left over from a 100 years of mining projects
that no one has taken responsibility for. And they are still happening,
some experts at the conference said. James Kuipers, of the U.S. Center for
Science in Public Participation, which provides technical services to local
and tribal governments, said his group estimates that 95 percent of
operating mines in the United States have only vague plans for dealing with
the environmental consequences of shutting down, such as the pollution of
local water courses. He said that in cases where owners have just walked
away or gone bankrupt, it is the taxpayer that has been stuck with the
liability. "The public no longer favors new mining in the United States,
and mistrusts existing mines," he said. Wilson told Reuters that most
large, established companies are able to come to terms with mine closures.
Rio Tinto and several other big companies make serious provisions for
environmental and social rehabilitation as the planning stages of their
projects, he said. "But there are some particular areas of concern for large
gold operations in the United States, which have got quite a substantial
environmental legacy," he said. "I know that is worrying one or two
companies quite a lot in terms of the potentially very large liabilities
that will be crystallized on closure. There are going to be some companies
that are going to be sweating on this a bit." There have been major problems
with cyanide pollution at gold-mining operations in the western United
States. Many delegates at the conference stressed that governments must
become more involved in the issues of mine closings and Kuipers suggested
taxing metals consumption to help pay for the clean-up. Some said a global
closure fund should be created with contributions from industry, government
and institutions. But World Bank official Monika Weber Fahr, who noted that
the World Bank is the No. 1 source of mine-closing finances, warned that
knowing there is a back-up would encourage irresponsibility. "It should be
the polluter that should be paying," she said.
United Nations
14 May 2002
Internet:
http://www.johannesburgsummit.org/html/whats_new/feature_story.html
14 May, New York-In his first
major policy address on expectations for the World Summit on Sustainable
Development to be held this August, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi
Annan identified water and sanitation, energy, health, agriculture and
biodiversity as five key areas where concrete results can and must be
obtained. By concentrating on these five areas, the Secretary-General said,
in a speech delivered by his wife Nane Annan at the American Museum of
Natural History, the Summit could produce an ambitious but achievable
programme of practical steps to improve the lives of all human beings while
protecting the global environment. "These are five areas," he said, "in
which progress would offer all human beings a chance of achieving prosperity
that will not only last their own lifetime, but can be enjoyed by their
children and grandchildren too." The World Summit on Sustainable
Development, which will be held in Johannesburg, South Africa, from 26
August to 4 September, will bring world leaders, citizen activists and
business representatives together to work on an agenda for ensuring that
planet Earth can sustain a decent life for all its inhabitants, present and
future. A fourth and final round of preparatory negotiations for the Summit
will take place in Bali, Indonesia, from 27 May to 7 June, and participants
in the process agree that the outcome of the Johannesburg Summit must
produce action and results. At the last preparatory committee meeting in New
York, however, there were so many proposals recommended by delegations that
an implementation document of 21 pages swelled to almost 150 pages by the
end of the meeting. A new 39-page Chairman's text has been prepared for the
start of the Bali meeting. The Secretary-General, in his speech, said he
sensed a need for greater clarity on what Johannesburg was all about, and
what it could achieve. From the broad smorgasbord of issues that will be
considered in Johannesburg, the Secretary-General said the five areas he
targeted were "areas in which progress is possible with the resources and
technologies at our disposal." The Secretary-General proposed the following
actions:
* Water- Provide access to at
least one billion people who lack clean drinking water and two billion
people who lack proper sanitation.
* Energy- Provide access to more
than two billion people who lack modern energy services; promote renewable
energy; reduce over-consumption; and ratify the Kyoto Protocol to address
climate change.
* Health- Address the effects of
toxic and hazardous materials; reduce air pollution, which kills three
million people each year, and lower the incidence of malaria and African
guinea worm, which are linked with polluted water and poor sanitation.
* Agricultural productivity- Work
to reverse land degradation, which affects about two-thirds of the world's
agricultural lands.
* Biodiversity and ecosystem
management- Reverse the processes that have destroyed about half of the
world's tropical rainforest and mangroves, and are threatening 70 per cent
of the world's coral reefs and decimating the world's fisheries.
The Johannesburg Summit is
expected to conclude with a political declaration, an implementation
programme agreed upon by Governments, and the launch of new voluntary
partnership initiatives by various groups to take action and achieve
results. The Secretary-General said that "the most creative agents of
change" may well be partnerships among governments, private businesses,
non-profit organizations, scholars and concerned citizens. Although
sustainable development was considered a "conceptual breakthrough" at the
1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, progress since then has been slower
than anticipated, and often, has been overshadowed in the policy-making
process by more immediate problems, such as conflicts, globalization, and
most recently, terrorism, the Secretary-General said. But he added that the
Johannesburg Summit offers humanity "a chance to restore the momentum that
had been felt so palpably after the Earth Summit." New efforts are needed,
he added, because the present model of development, which has brought
privilege and prosperity to about 20 per cent of humanity, has also exacted
a heavy price by degrading the planet and depleting its resources. Yet,
according to the Secretary-General, "at discussions on global finance and
the economy, the environment is still treated as an unwelcome guest."
High-consumption lifestyles continue to tax the earth's natural life-support
systems, research and development are under-funded and neglectful of the
problems of the poor, and developed countries "have not gone far enough," he
said, to fulfil either of the promises they made in Rio - to protect their
own environments and to help the developing world defeat poverty. The issue,
the Secretary-General said, is not environment versus development, or
ecology versus economy. "Contrary to popular belief," he said, "we can
integrate the two." "In Johannesburg, we have a chance to catch up," he
said, concluding. "Together, we will need to find our way towards a greater
sense of mutual responsibility. Together, we will need to build a new ethic
of global stewardship. Together, we can and must write a new and hopeful
chapter in natural-and human-history."
New Zealand Herald
14 May 2002
Internet:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/./latestnewsstory.cfm?storyID=1845135&thesection=news&thesubsection=world
LONDON - The general-secretary of
the Commonwealth called on Monday for immediate international action to help
the millions of people facing starvation in southern Africa because of
drought and failing crops. "I appeal to all Commonwealth countries and to
the international community as a whole to show solidarity and increase food
aid and other humanitarian relief to the Southern African region," Don
McKinnon said. There were already severe food shortages in Lesotho, Malawi,
Mozambique, Namibia, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The UN World Food
Programme has calculated that close to four million people face starvation
in the region due to causes ranging from erratic rainfall to failing
harvests. In Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe in particular, the harvests last
year were around one-third down on the previous year. In Zimbabwe the
problem has been exacerbated by a state-sponsored land grab that has stopped
many white-owned commercial farms from working and divided up fields into
small uneconomic parcels. The looming famine comes as leaders of the G8
countries -- Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the
United States -- prepare to gather for a summit in Canada next month to
discuss the New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD). The initiative
is a plan for Africa drawn up by Africans, rather than imposed by
international institutions, aimed at lifting the whole continent out of the
cycle of poverty and debt. Earlier on Monday, international charity
Christian Aid appealed for the developed world to give Africa a new deal by
tilting the terms of trade in favour of the poverty-stricken and
strife-ridden continent. "Africa needs unfair trade. It needs trade
policies that explicitly and deliberately discriminate in its favour,"
Christian Aid director Daleep Mukarji wrote in an open letter to British
Prime Minister Tony Blair. Striking a chord that is likely to become the
refrain of the World Summit on Sustainable Development due to take place in
Johannesburg at the end of August, Christian Aid said it was the
responsibility of the rich north to help the poor south.
The Guardian
14 May 2002
Internet:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/globalwarming/story/0,7369,715127,00.html
It is wishful thinking to believe
that the United States will "trash its economy" in order to take action on
climate change and there is no chance of the Bush administration
reconsidering its position on the Kyoto protocol, America's senior climate
negotiator has said. Harlan Watson told a briefing in London yesterday that
the White House would not return to negotiations for the next review of
greenhouse gas reductions, due under the Kyoto protocol in 2005: "We want no
part of that ... The next time we take stock on climate change has been set
by the president at 2012." His remarks about the potential loss of millions
of American jobs and the uncertainties in the science of climate change
echoed points made in the last 10 years by the oil and coal lobbies. "The
US has a multi-trillion dollar infrastructure, with coal fired stations with
a 40- to 50-year lifespan," he said. "You cannot come in with a wrecking
ball and turn that around and replace it with new technologies. We just do
not have the capital to do that. You do not want to throw everything over at
once and trash your economy." He denied that the oil, coal and steel
lobbies were alone in resisting action and said concern had also been
expressed by trade unions, farmers and consumer groups worried about food
and fuel prices. Dr Watson, a physicist by training, also made it clear
that the US administration was in favour of a new generation of nuclear
reactors, which he said was a marked change in energy policy. He defended
the US decision to support the ousting of the climate scientist Robert
Watson as chairman of the UN independent panel on climate change (IPCC) in
favour of the Indian engineer and economist Rajendra Pachauri, saying it was
time for a developing country to be at the forefront of the organisation.
He added: "We need ideas on how to mitigate the effects of greenhouse gas
emissions at little cost, we need workable solutions, hence the need for
engineering and economics rather than more climate science." The US is
talking to developing countries about the need for economic growth using
better technologies, Dr Watson said, and these countries did not want to go
"the Kyoto route" for targets for greenhouse gas reductions and timetables
to achieve them. He said that President George Bush had not yet decided
whether he would attend the world summit on sustainable development, known
as the Rio+10 review conference, in South Africa this August.
Daily Telegraph
14 May 2002
Internet:http://www.dailytelegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;$sessionid$0IIKURIAAEA13QFIQMFCFFOAVCBQYIV0?xml=/news/2002/
05/14/nbali14.xml&sSheet=/news/2002/05/14/ixhome.html
TWO Cabinet ministers and more
than 40 civil servants, led by the keen diver and Deputy Prime Minister John
Prescott, are expected to attend a preparatory meeting for this summer's
Earth Summit in a compound of five-star hotels in Bali. The cost to the
taxpayer could be nearly £300,000. The Government says it needs such a large
delegation at the meeting later this month because there are crucial issues
to be resolved. But in between negotiating the future of the planet, Mr
Prescott, the Environment Secretary Margaret Beckett and other members of
the delegation will not find things too arduous. The Bali international
convention centre is in the Nusa Dua area, "a quiet, extremely luxurious
oasis for those looking for an experience not soon forgotten", according to
the Indonesian government's website. Rooms in the two Sheraton hotels in the
conference centre compound, already fully booked by the official organisers,
start at £107 a night for a single with no pool view to £1,264 for an
Imperial suite - the sort that the Foreign Office tends to book for the
Deputy Prime Minister. A step down from that, the type of suite that Mrs
Beckett, as a Cabinet minister, might expect is the Sultan at £478 a night.
The Nusa Dua development was planned some 25 years ago as a resort where
tourists could remain isolated and leave Bali and its unique culture to the
Balinese. The compound has its own 18-hole championship golf course and
large Western-style shopping area. The organisers helpfully remind delegates
that the facilities include beautiful beaches and - Mr Prescott's two
passions - diving and snorkelling. The meeting is the last before Tony Blair
and other world heads of government meet to discuss environmental issues at
the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg in September, a
decade after the Earth Summit in Rio. Civil servants - three from Mr
Prescott's ministry, 10 from Defra and seven from the Department for
International Development - plus numerous Foreign Office minders, will be
staying for the duration of the meeting, from May 27 to June 7. Ministers
will attend the high-level ministerial segment from June 5 to 7. A spokesman
for Mrs Beckett said she would be taking the 14-hour flight out on June 3
and returning on June 8. However, a spokesman for Mr Prescott said he was
waiting until a meeting in South Africa this weekend before deciding whether
he was definitely going. "Normally departments do everything through the
Foreign Office. In this case they have been instructed not to book until the
Deputy Prime Minister has decided whether to attend." But the taxpayer will
be paying, even if not everyone decides to turn up. The Indonesian
government's website explains that ministers will have to pay for a minimum
of four nights and civil servants and others for at least seven. The
Government reacted with extreme caution to inquiries about the likely
accommodation ministers were booked into, perhaps fearing a repetition of
the controversy that surrounded Mr Prescott's fact-finding trip to the
Maldives when he was Environment Secretary. A spokesman for Defra said:
"There are serious issues to be hammered out in Bali, not least the
agreement over the plan of action for Johannesburg and the political
declaration. There were two choices of venue on offer from Indonesia -
Jakarta and Bali. Indonesia chose Bali because it had better facilities."
Derek Osborn from UNED UK, one of the bodies that have helped set the agenda
for the conference, said: "Some very important things are being attempted.
It is a very good thing that John Prescott is taking a keen interest and
lending his weight to make sure something comes out of this meeting." Harlan
Watson, senior climate change negotiator at the US Department of State, said
it was "unclear right now" whether President Bush would attend the South
Africa talks.
World Health Organisation Press
Release
13 May 2002
Internet:
http://www.who.int/inf/en/pr-2002WHA-01.html
Geneva -- Dr Gro Harlem
Brundtland today credited delegates from World Health Organization (WHO)
Member States for their efforts in moving health to the forefront of the
world agenda, and welcomed the real increase in funding earmarked for public
health worldwide. "We have triggered a change. Now we are taking it
forward," declared the WHO Director-General as she addressed representatives
of WHO's 191 Member States, including numerous Ministers of Health.
Delegates have converged in Geneva for the annual week-long WHO supreme
governing body meeting, the World Health Assembly. They will discuss and
debate a range of major international public health issues, and define
future policy for the Organization. The realization that health is a
prerequisite for economic growth, stability and peace has moved those
outside traditional circles of professional health workers to demand and
work towards improved health for the world's people. "Prime Ministers and
Presidents, rock singers and sports stars, business leaders, share our
position," said Dr Brundtland. Achievements include: the 99% reduction in
poliomyelitis cases; agreed targets and strategies to fight AIDS,
tuberculosis and malaria which are responsible for over 5 million deaths
annually; more widespread immunization against childhood illnesses with 8%
increases in some countries; unity of nations as they negotiate a
forthcoming framework convention on tobacco control and a greater emphasis
on mental illness as a major cause of suffering and disability.
THE WORLD LIVES DANGEROUSLY
Despite the encouraging new
attention of the international community toward health, daunting challenges
remain. There are worrying indications that changes in human behavior around
the world are leading to negative health impacts. This autumn, the World
Health Report, one of WHO's largest undertakings, will quantify some of the
most important risks to health and will assess the cost-effectiveness of
measures to reduce them. "The world is living dangerously: either because
it has little choice, or because it is making wrong choices about
consumption or activity," said Dr Brundtland. At one end of the risk factor
scale lie poverty, under nutrition, unsafe sex, unsafe water, poor
sanitation and hygiene, iron deficiency and indoor smoke from solid fuels.
These are among the ten leading causes of disease and are much more common
in the poorest countries and communities. At the other end of the risk
spectrum, high blood pressure and high cholesterol, strongly linked to
cardiovascular and cerebrovascular disease, are also closely related to
excessive consumption of fatty, sugary and salty foods. Obesity is a serious
health risk. The consequences of tobacco use and excessive alcohol
consumption are deadly. These factors dominate the wealthier countries, but
their prevalence in developing communities is increasing, leaving poorer
countries to cope with the double burden of infectious and noncommunicable
diseases. Concerted and evidence-based action is urgently needed to reduce
these risks particularly -- among children and teenagers -- in order to
prevent disease. Dr Brundtland said she would be launching a new initiative
to promote healthy environments for children at the World Summit for
Sustainable Development in Johannesburg in September. Moreover, WHO will
reinvigorate its work on diet, food safety and nutrition. Chaired by
Ministers of Health, four parallel roundtables will take place within the
Assembly tomorrow to discuss risks to health. They will focus on monitoring,
communicating and reducing these risks.
INTENSIFIED ACTION REQUIRED ON
DISEASES OF THE POOR
The new global commitment to
health has been translated into concrete progress: additional resources and
mechanisms to move new funds quickly; effective strategies to achieve
precise goals in defined time limits; and mobilization and coordination of a
variety of partners. Particular emphasis has been on three diseases
associated with poverty -- HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. New HIV/AIDS
programs, applicable even in resource-poor settings, use an integral
approach, combining prevention, diagnostics, treatment and care. Great
strides have been made in making medicines accessible to a much larger
number of patients than previously. These encouraging developments, however,
are just a start. "We need continued reduction in prices of medicines and
other commodities, and expansion of quality services to the millions in
need. We must scale up our effort even if the struggle seems beset with
political and institutional minefields," urged Dr Brundtland. She said that
fully planned projects are ready to start within weeks if more money starts
to flow, and that the absorption capacity of countries far outstrips the
available funds.
HEALTH SYSTEMS NEED TO BE
IMPROVED
Another great challenge is the
creation of better health systems that are fairly and sufficiently financed
and respond to needs and expectations. Dr Brundtland announced the
establishment of two new initiatives: one provides guidance on health care
financing in different settings; the other will improve human resources in
national health systems, particularly in the poorly financed ones, which
suffer as a result of relentless recruitment of health workers to places
where the pay is better. WHO is focusing increasingly on individual
countries, both in terms of assisting the development of national capacity,
as well as improving WHO country teams. In the coming years WHO will give
added emphasis to taking exceptional action for health in emergency and
crisis situations throughout the world. This involves assembling information
on health situations and responses, working in synergy with all concerned
partners and improving access to essential health commodities, equipment and
personnel. WHO continues to assist national authorities in reconstruction of
the health sector in Afghanistan, and is currently working to get more
medical supplies into the Palestinian territories where the health systems
urgently need to begin functioning again. "Let me add the voice of public
health in support of all who are urging all parties in the current [Middle
East] conflict to move towards peace and away from confrontation," declared
Dr Brundtland.
The full text of the Address by
Dr Gro Harlem Brundtland, Director-General, to the Fifty-fifth World Health
Assembly, Geneva, 13 May 2002 is available at:
http://www.who.int/director-general/
The full agenda and documentation
for the current Assembly can be found at:
http://www.who.int/gb/
BBC via Financial Times
13 May 2002
Internet:
http://globalarchive.ft.com/globalarchive/article.html?id=020513005822&query=World+Summit+on+Sustainable+Development
Berlin: According to Federal
Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, Social Democratic Party of Germany [SPD],
Germany is set to fight for more "global justice". This includes stepping up
assistance for developing countries and opening the markets of the
industrialized nations to Third World products. Global justice would become
a "question of survival" in the 21st century, Schroeder said at a conference
of the Council of Sustained Development in Berlin. Without justice there
will be no global security, the chancellor added. The Council of Sustained
Development was set up a year ago to advise the federal government on its
programme for sustainability. Germany plans to present its national
sustainability strategy at the environment summit in Johannesburg, South
Africa, due to be held in August, 10 years after the international
environment protection conference of Rio de Janeiro. Schroeder demanded that
the Johannesburg conference adopt "an action programme that can be
implemented" and give a "starting signal for a sustained energy supply". The
chancellor pointed out that some 2bn people lived without energy supply
today. Developing countries had a particular responsibility in this
connection since such programmes could also help create jobs in these
countries, he said. Schroeder noted that he could understand the fears of
the so-called opponents to globalization, since disproportionate economic
development could produce social conflicts. Therefore, it was important to
give globalization a "human direction" with an "ecological and social
structure". It is up to politics to prevent a division into winners and
losers of globalization - in Germany and on an international scale, he said.
That is why Germany supports the initiative to stock up the funds for global
environmental protection, which will involve an additional 2.7bn dollars for
the developing countries in the coming years. Based on the resolutions of
the recent EU summit in Barcelona, the EU will stock up funds for
development cooperation by 11bn euro by the year 2006, Schroeder concluded.
Reuters
13 May 2002
Internet:
http://www.reuters.co.uk/news_article.jhtml;jsessionid=EMHCNNEPV0F3SCRBAEZSFFAKEEATIIWD?type=topnews&StoryID=953826
LONDON (Reuters) - The
general-secretary of the Commonwealth has called for immediate international
action to help the millions of people facing starvation in southern Africa
because of drought and failing crops. "I appeal to all Commonwealth
countries and to the international community as a whole to show solidarity
and increase food aid and other humanitarian relief to the Southern African
region," Don McKinnon said on Monday. The Commonwealth groups 54 mainly
former British colonies. It said there were already severe food shortages in
Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The
U.N. World Food Programme has calculated that close to four million people
face starvation in the region due to causes ranging from erratic rainfall to
failing harvests. In Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe in particular, the harvests
last year were around one-third down on the previous year. In Zimbabwe the
problem has been exacerbated by a state-sponsored land grab that has stopped
many white-owned commercial farms from working and divided up fields into
small uneconomic parcels. The looming famine comes as leaders of the G8
countries -- Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the
United States -- prepare to gather for a summit in Canada next month to
discuss the New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD). The initiative
is a plan for Africa drawn up by Africans, rather than imposed by
international institutions, aimed at lifting the whole continent out of the
cycle of poverty and debt. Earlier on Monday, international charity
Christian Aid appealed for the developed world to give Africa a new deal by
tilting the terms of trade in favour of the poverty-stricken and
strife-ridden continent. "Africa needs unfair trade. It needs trade policies
that explicitly and deliberately discriminate in its favour," Christian Aid
director Daleep Mukarji wrote in an open letter to Prime Minister Tony
Blair. Striking a chord that is likely to become the refrain of the World
Summit on Sustainable Development due to take place in Johannesburg at the
end of August, Christian Aid said it was the responsibility of the rich
north to help the poor south.
Washington File
13 May 2002
Internet:
http://pdq.state.gov/scripts/cqcgi.exe/@pdqtest1.env?CQ_SESSION_KEY=RKUGNPZIRHZD&CQ_QUERY_HANDLE=124188&
CQ_CUR_DOCUMENT=3&CQ_PDQ_DOCUMENT_VIEW=1&CQSUBMIT=View&CQRETURN=&CQPAGE=1
Washington -- The world's small
island developing states are warning that urgent action is needed to reduce
the threats they face from a range of social, economic and environmental
vulnerabilities over which they have little or no control on account of
their compact size. At a meeting May 10 in Montego Bay, Jamaica, co-hosted
by the United Nations Development Fund (UNDP) and the government of Jamaica,
more than 50 representatives from small island states said their economic
activities are dominated by specialized agriculture, including sugar
production, but that they have negligible control over pricing. While the
other key industry -- tourism -- generates "precious foreign exchange and
jobs, it places additional strain on scarce natural resources," such as
fresh water, these states say. Organizers said decisions made at this
meeting will be "fed" into the August 26-September 4 World Summit on
Sustainable Development, to be held in Johannesburg, South Africa. At that
summit, Secretary of State Colin Powell said in an April 30 speech, the
United States plans to showcase a public-private initiative called the
Geographic Information for Sustainable Development Project, which has the
potential to help people living in small island states. The project makes
satellite imagery available via laptop computers to policy-makers and
scientists around the world -- imagery that can help them map watersheds,
plan agricultural crop strategies, and track urbanization trends. The member
nations of the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) said at the Jamaica
meeting that their small size makes their economies heavily dependent on
larger external markets. Prices of key imports, such as energy and food,
fluctuate greatly, they say. The AOSIS was established in 1990 during the
Second World Climate Conference in Geneva and plays an important role in
shaping international policy on climate change. The 42 AOSIS members include
many island states in the Caribbean, Asia-Pacific island nations, and small
states in the Indian Ocean. Many of these states have a land area of less
than 30,000 square kilometers. The UNDP said in a statement following the
meeting that fresh water resources are expected to come under greater strain
in the future, from rising seas linked to global climate change and from the
demands of growing populations. In the next two decades, an estimated 17
percent more water will be needed to grow food for populations in developing
countries and that total water use will increase by 40 percent worldwide,
the UNDP said. The agency added that the cost to protect the shorelines of
Caribbean small states will be exorbitant -- an estimated $11 billion
($11,000 million), far beyond the combined figure of all the economies of
that region. UNDP Associate Administrator Zephirin Diabre said in a speech
at the meeting that the time had come to put aside technical difficulties
"in order to promote the common objective of a better world through
sustainable development." More needs to be done, Diabre said, "because the
reality that small islands are faced with today is entirely different to
that of the early 1990s." Diabre said globalization and the information
technology revolution have "enormously changed our world and our communities
and we need to make sure that the most vulnerable of countries are well
prepared to mitigate" the adverse effects resulting from those changes. To
that end, President Bush has submitted for ratification to the U.S. Senate a
protocol to protect the marine environment of the wider Caribbean region,
said John Turner, the State Department's assistant secretary for oceans and
international environmental and scientific affairs. In May 7 congressional
testimony, Turner said the plan would protect the marine environment of the
Gulf of Mexico, the Caribbean Sea, and areas primarily within 340 kilometers
of the Atlantic coasts of 20 countries and island territories. Turner said
the Bush Administration feels "so strongly about the need to protect the
environment of the wider Caribbean Region that we have identified the
Caribbean as a focus" for the World Summit in South Africa. This protocol,
he said, "will allow us to better protect the marine resources of the Wider
Caribbean region -- our backyard, [which] President Bush has dubbed our
Third Border." Many non-governmental organizations, such as Monitor
International, the World Wildlife Fund, the Nature Conservancy, and the U.S.
Humane Society, support ratification of the protocol, Turner said.
Jamaican Observer
12 May 2002
Internet:http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/html/20020512T080000-0500_25461_OBS_SMALL_STATES_STRUGGLE_FOR_SPACE_IN_ENVIRO_DEBATE.asp
With preparation in high gear for
the World Summit on Sustainable Development to be held in Johannesburg,
South Africa from August 26 to September 4, Small Island Developing States
(SIDS) like Jamaica are trying to put more pressure on the international
community to take their concerns seriously. For many small islands, these
international conferences afford the opportunity for much more than
diplomatic posturing. They are arenas in which diplomats jostle for the very
environmental and economic survival of their small island developing states.
Potentially catastrophic and expensive problems like sea level rise and
coastal erosion, declining agricultural production because of climate
change, water shortages, the often devastating effects of globalisation on
their small economies, are just some of the problems which
disproportionately affect the economies of small island states. One study,
for example, estimates that it will cost US$11 million to protect the
shorelines of the small states of the Caribbean from coastal erosion and sea
level rise. Those issues were the focus of a global roundtable on the
vulnerabilities of small island states held at the Ritz Carlton in Montego
Bay from May 9-10. A team from the University of the West Indies' Centre for
Environment and Development put together working papers for the roundtable
detailing the social, economic and environmental vulnerabilities of the
small island developing states. High on the list was the issue of energy. A
significant contributor to the problems of the external indebtedness of SIDS
in the 1970s and 80s was due to petroleum volatility, while global warming,
climate change and sea level rise will increase the vulnerability of the
small island states, the report says. "Reducing dependence on petroleum
through the development of renewable energy and efficient use of energy
would reduce vulnerability in SIDS," the report says. The university team
made several recommendations to address this problem including training
additional energy specialists through distance education, and evaluating the
feasibility of an international SIDS investment fund to finance projects
dealing with energy efficiency or renewable energy. The team also evaluated
other problems affecting small island states like trade, limited natural
resources, environmental problems, natural disaster preparedness,
investment, human resources development, and made a raft of recommendations
to address them. It's an approach that SIDS hope will translate into some
practical help for their problems, help they have been highlighting for
years, notably at the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio. Optimism that those cries
were finally being heard heightened in 1994 when the Global Conference on
the Sustainable Development of Small Island States was held in Barbados.
That conference adopted the wide-ranging Barbados Programme of Action. "We
have not seen a fulfilment of those promises," Barbados' minister of
physical planning and environment, Elizabeth Thompson, told fellow delegates
at the roundtable. "We have to determine how to realise the commitments that
have been made." As with many other programmes, implementation has been a
major problem with the Barbados programme, and other promises made at
similar international conferences. "There has been progress made, but I
think the reports we've seen at this (roundtable) have made it clear that
much of the progress has been carried out by the Small Island Developing
States by themselves," says environmental consultant, Dr David Smith. "It
was hoped that there would be international assistance, technical and
financial, to help carry out the work, and with that kind of assistance
things would have moved a lot faster," said Smith. The cry for more
assistance from the international community has been growing louder
especially since the recently concluded international conference on
financing for development, held in Monterrey, Mexico did not achieve as much
as had been hoped. The Johannesburg Summit, or Rio + 10 as it is also being
called, will therefore, be a major opportunity for the global community to
evaluate just how much progress has been made over the past decade. "There
was a feeling in Rio that to carry out Agenda 21 ... would imply a doubling
almost of foreign aid. That definitely didn't happen," said Smith. "What it
meant was that the financial resources needed to carry out Agenda 21
activities that were working towards sustainable development, particularly
for small island states, that money was not there. There has been some money
and some assistance from UNDP and other organisations but not nearly as much
as people thought, so where people thought they would be 10 years down the
line is definitely not where they are now," Smith said. During an address to
delegates at the roundtable, UNDP Associate Administrator Zephirin Diabre
pointed to the organisation's programmes like Capacity 21, Technical
Cooperation Among Developing Countries and the Global Environmental Facility
as among those which have provided special assistance to SIDS. But he
admitted that more needs to be done. "More needs to be done because the
reality small islands are faced with today is entirely different to that of
the 1990s. Globalisation and the IT revolution have enormously changed our
world and our communities. As much as these offer new opportunities we also
need to make sure that the most vulnerable countries are well prepared to
mitigate the adverse impact of these new phenomena," Dibare said. The UNDP
will be launching another programme at the Johannesburg conference, Capacity
2015, which the organisation says is a direct response to the call for more
rapid implementation of the Barbados Programme of Action. It is aimed at
supporting actions that reduce vulnerability and focus on sustainable
development concerns like capacity building, institutional strengthening and
training, says UNDP Resident Representative in Jamaica Gillian Lindsay-Nanton.
Some experts have credited better and co-ordinated lobbying by SIDS with a
recently increased international presence and credibility, a view echoed by
Minister of State in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade Ben
Clare. "We have successfully combated efforts to remove the proposed chapter
on SIDS from the draft World Summit for Sustainable Development outcome
document, but we dare not rest on our laurels," Clare said. He believes part
of the answer has to lie in unity of the small island states, especially in
the form of a consistent lobbying strategy. And in the months leading up to
Johannesburg World Summit on Sustainable Development, and at the
high-profile conference itself, it is increasingly clear that the small
island developing states will no longer be content to see ambitious
programmes of action languish without being implemented. "We must always
insist on two things, availability to adequate financial input, and the
question of implementation. Implementation is key. Don't care how much money
you get, if you don't have implementation, you're going to get nowhere. We
must speak with one voice, and in everything we say we must stress and fight
for implementation," says Ben Clare.
The Jakarta Post via Financial
Times
11 May 2002
Internet:
http://globalarchive.ft.com/globalarchive/article.html?id=020511004974&query=World+Summit+on+Sustainable+Development
What does it take to stand up
against the world and not let up? There are different answers, but Erna
Witoelar has one. When she was the minister for settlement and regional
infrastructure under the administration of former president Abdurrahman
Wahid, she joined campaigns on several major issues. Erna fought for
consumers, for women, for poverty, for the environment and for the reform
movement. And she is still fighting. "Everything is interdependent; consumer
protection and environment are very much interrelated. My concern for gender
issues is because environmental and consumer problems have a more severe
affect on women," Erna told The Jakarta Post. Now she is into sustainable
development. Sustainable development is a global campaign, which focuses on
a combination of interdependent issues like poverty, environment and health.
The wife of politician and former Indonesian ambassador to Russia, Rachmat
Witoelar, she is in charge of organizing the preparatory meeting of
ministers in Bali from late May to early June ahead of the World Summit in
Johannesburg, South Africa. Supervising the preparation for the meeting, the
biggest in Indonesia in many years, takes up most of her time. But Erna is
in her element. "As long as I can remember, I have always been the head of
class since elementary school," she recalled. Later, she became a student
activist while studying chemical engineering at the Bandung Institute of
Technology (ITB). She graduated in 1974 and landed a job at a consultancy
firm which matched her interest in engineering but not her character. Erna
left the firm for a job with the Consumer Protection Foundation (YLKI). Well
versed in chemistry, she founded YLKI's research department and discovered
her education background fit well with the social cause she fought for. In
fact, she debated with fellow chemical engineers who once had been her
colleagues at ITB. "I am outside, they're inside." But Erna was always eager
to learn more, and so took a post-graduate degree in human ecology at the
University of Indonesia. It was there that she was taught to think in a
holistic manner. In 1980 she co-founded the Indonesian Environment
Foundation (Walhi) and became its first executive director. Six years later
she led YLKI, and from 1991 until 1997 was the president of Consumers
International, a global consumer watch dog. Erna continued her career even
after she went with her husband to Moscow, where he served four years as
Indonesia's ambassador to Russia. When she returned in late 1997, the reform
movement was gaining momentum and she joined it by aiding non-governmental
organizations with the help of donor countries. After president Soeharto
stepped down, she declined offers to become B.J. Habibie's environment or
social affairs minister. "I felt I was not ready, but people were saying
'you must accept, one day you will move inside and not just fight (from)
outside'." Eventually, she accepted a ministerial post under Abdurrahman's
administration which lasted for only 22 months. After a new Cabinet was
installed by President Megawati Soekarnoputri, it did not necessarily mean
she would get much time to relax. She quickly found new issues to campaign
on, among them, governance reforms and sustainable development. But looking
back, Erna never felt like she had done enough to ease the world's problems.
"It just feel so selfish if I don't do anything," she said. She owes that
gush of guilt to her father, a judge who she said had an untainted
reputation, and under whom she had developed her sense of integrity and
understanding of right and wrong. Those senses only became sharper when she
joined ITB's student movements. Back then though, she thought chemical
engineering was anything but fun. "I never wanted to be a chemical engineer,
that was my mother's wish," Erna said. "I wanted to be a ballerina." In
time, her study did prove to be a big advantage in her career, but she said
her most important decision had been to marry her fellow student activist
Rachmat before graduating. With him Erna raised a family where she said
debate and discussion has always been a way of life, and on which she looks
back upon with great pride. A seasoned politician at home, (Rachmat was
among the youngest to make it to the legislature) a sharp critic herself,
and three sons with an acute sense of politics, the Witoelar family thrives
on democracy. Amid her busy schedule, including during meetings with other
ministers, she always manages to have time for her three sons. "When they
need me I am always there, that way they don't interrupt too often," she
said. On the other hand, Erna dispels the notion that stress at her work
hinders quality time with her children. Her father taught her about the
world in black and white terms, and her sons now make sure she never becomes
tired of keeping that view. "My children are my source of strength," Erna
explained.
World Health Organisation Press
Release
9 May 2002
Internet:
http://www.who.int/inf/en/pr-2002-36.html
NEW YORK, 9 May 2002 -- Every day
5,500 children die from diseases caused by consuming water and food polluted
with bacteria, according to a new study released by three United Nations
agencies. This alarming figure, from Children in the New Millennium:
Environmental Impact on Health, shows that children the world over are the
greatest victims of environmental degradation, despite the great strides
made over the past ten years in improving both children's well-being and the
environment. The diseases largely influenced by this degradation, most
notably diarrhoea and acute respiratory infections, are two of the leading
causes of child mortality. "We have made great strides over the last decade.
Children are healthier today. There is more access to clean water. But these
disturbing figures show we have barely started to address some of the main
problems," said Carol Bellamy, the Executive Director of UNICEF. "Far too
many children are dying from diseases that can be prevented through access
to clean water and sanitation." The 140 page report, jointly produced by
UNICEF, the UN Environment Programme and the World Health Organization
(WHO), is being released as part of the May 8-10 UN General Assembly Special
Session on Children. This landmark conference, attended by more than 60
heads of state or government and 170 national delegations, aims to place
children back at the top of the world's agenda and foster more investment in
essential social services for them. One of its main goals is to increase
household access to hygienic sanitation facilities and affordable and safe
drinking water. 40 Per cent of Environmentally-Related Disease Burden in
Children Under 5. According to WHO, almost one-third of the global disease
burden can be attributed to environmental risk factors. Over 40 per cent of
this burden falls on children under five years of age, who account for only
10 per cent of the world's population. A major contributing factor to these
diseases is malnutrition, which affects around 150 million and undermines
their immune systems. Malnutrition and diarrhoea form a vicious cycle. The
organisms that cause diarrhoea harm the walls of a children's guts, which
prevents them digesting and absorbing their food adequately, causing even
greater malnutrition -- and vulnerability to disease. "People are most
vulnerable in their youngest years. This means that children must be at the
centre of our response to unhealthy environments." said WHO Director-General
Dr Gro Harlem Brundtland. The report also identifies other major
environmental problems directly affecting children, such as high levels of
toxic chemicals and the degradation and depletion of natural resources. Lead
in the environment -- much of it from leaded gasoline -- causes permanent
neurological and developmental disorders in children. Millions of children
work in agriculture, putting them at high risk of pesticide poisoning.
Children are also disproportionately vulnerable to global environmental
problems, such as the impact of climate change, the depletion of the ozone
layer and the loss of the planet's biological diversity. "I am convinced
that we need to elevate children's environmental health issues on the
international agenda, both through the General Assembly's Special Session on
Children and then the World Summit on Sustainable Development," said Mr
Klaus Töpfer, the Executive Director of the UN Environment Programme. "We
should recognize that realising children's rights and managing environmental
challenges are mutually reinforcing goals. We hope that the publication will
inspire everyone who cares about children to take decisive action that will
improve both their health and the environment."
IMMEDIATE ACTION NEEDED ACROSS
THE BOARD
The report warns of low public
awareness on children's special vulnerability to environmental health risks.
Among the recommended actions, the report calls for increased national
investment in early child care, including focusing on the immediate
environments of children, like homes, schools, and communities. One notable
success in many countries is the transition to unleaded fuel, which helps
eliminate lead from the environment. Through the report, the three UN
agencies hope to raise the awareness of governments and non-government
organizations on these problems during the UN Special Session itself, and at
August's World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, South
Africa.
BBC Monitoring Service via
Financial Times
9 May 2002
http://globalarchive.ft.com/globalarchive/article.html?id=020509011479&query=World+Summit+on+Sustainable+Development
Tokyo, 9 May: UN
Secretary-General Kofi Annan's envoy to this summer's Johannesburg
environment summit asked Japan on Thursday [9 May] to increase its Official
Development Assistance (ODA), Japanese officials said. In a meeting with
Japanese Environment Minister Hiroshi Oki, Jan Pronk, who is the Dutch
environment minister, expressed hope that Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi
will attend the World Summit on Sustainable Development scheduled for 26
August - 4 September. Pronk is visiting Tokyo in his capacity as Annan's
envoy for the summit. At a UN meeting in Mexico's Monterrey in March, the
European Union pledged to increase its ODA by 7bn dollars and the United
States by 5bn dollars, Pronk said. He said he is focusing on what Japan will
do by the time the summit is held, according to the officials. He said he
expects Tokyo to offer few documents and proposals but rather to carry out
concrete action, such as contributing funds, they said.
United Nations
9 May 2002
Internet:
http://www.johannesburgsummit.org/html/whats_new/otherstories_prepchair_090502.html
9 May, New York- A comprehensive
new proposal for an implementation plan that could be adopted at the World
Summit on Sustainable Development has been issued by the Chairman of the
Summit's Preparatory Committee. The new text, which contains
straight-forward recommendations on a range of issues from poverty reduction
to limiting unsustainable patterns of consumption and protection of natural
resources and ecosystems, will serve as the basis for negotiations at the
final preparatory committee meeting for the Summit, which will be held in
Bali, Indonesia, from 27 May - 7 June. According to Preparatory Committee
Chairman Dr. Emil Salim, the new text contains "action-oriented" language
that tells governments to "do it," rather than weaker language that merely
"encourages" or says something "is desirable." He said, "We can say
beautiful things, but now is the time to say "let's do it." Salim said the
39-page draft paper incorporated the recommendations and proposals of
countries during the previous PrepCom held in New York and hoped that the
use of consensus language would make the negotiations easier. The early
release of the draft negotiating text will allow delegates and other
participants in the Summit process an opportunity to prepare for the Bali
PrepCom ahead of time, in the hope of reaching a quick consensus. According
to Salim, full agreement on the implementation programme should be achieved
by 31 May, the end of the first week of the PrepCom. The new draft does
indicate areas of disagreement and where discussions must be held to bridge.
These include setting target dates, references to the implementation of the
Kyoto Protocol, and the means of implementation. But there are, already,
large areas of agreement, particularly concerning the need to launch
programmes aimed at poverty reduction and the need to meet the 2015
Millennium Development Goal of halving the proportion of people living in
poverty. The draft text also calls for halving the proportion of people who
lack access to proper sanitation by 2015. The recommendations contained in
the implementation, when approved, will serve as the basis for the voluntary
partnership initiatives that the Summit is hoping to encourage between all
parties in societies as a way of ensuring implementation and for obtaining
results.
United Nations
8 May 2002
Internet:
http://www.johannesburgsummit.org/html/whats_new/otherstories_energy0905.html
New York, 8 May 2002 - Beyond the
debates over energy use and efficiency that have featured during the
preparatory process for the World Summit on Sustainable Development is the
fact that more than a third of the world's population does not have clean
and affordable energy services. With more than two billion people still
burning firewood or biomass for cooking and heating, a lack of modern energy
has emerged as a major cause of continuing poverty, pollution and
environmental degradation. While there is no disagreement that efforts must
be made to bring modern energy services to those who presently lack them,
there is a major chasm of differences that have yet to be bridged regarding
which sources of energy production should be favoured. "Having two billion
people living outside the energy network is not sustainable," said
Johannesburg Summit Secretary-General, Nitin Desai. "What we have to do is
meet those needs as well as cope with the environmental and social
consequences." Access to energy has a major impact on development, Desai
said, recalling that when he was growing up in India, the arrival of
electricity was "the biggest change" in his village. The problem is that
most of the people who do not have access to electricity live in rural areas
where it is expensive to tap into national power grids. But Desai said, "No
power is more expensive than no power. There are needs out there that have
to be met and there are ways out there to meet those needs." Experts from
electric companies say the cost of bringing electricity to those without
would require a substantial, although not a prohibitively large, investment.
Christian Stoffaes, of Electricité de France, figured that the job of
bringing electricity to all would need a total investment of about $200
billion, or about $7 billion per year over a 30-year period. "This is a very
small amount," he said, but "the problem is that this will not be done by
itself." New mechanisms and incentives were needed, he added, and charity
and small programmes would not be sufficient. Gurneeta Vasudera, of the Tata
Environmental Research Institute in India, argued that, instead of a problem
that needs fixing, the large number of unserved people represents a market
opportunity-a market that amounts to as much as $20 billion a year. "There
is a willingness on the part of the poor to pay," she observed. Electric
utilities say that they are working on various projects to bring electricity
to rural areas. Shigeyuki Kuninobu, Vice President of Tokyo Electric,
explained that an organization of seven electric companies, known as the
"E-7," is presently participating in 30 programmes in 22 countries to build
capacity and share technology in a manner that promotes community
participation and environmental protection. And Dale Heydlauff of American
Electric Power, a consortium of US power companies, said that it was working
to promote best practices while expanding access to affordable energy.
"People who do not have electricity," he said, "are destined to remain
destitute." But extending power grids takes many years and in some
circumstances will never be economically viable. According to Gail Karlsson
of the NGO Energia, alternatives to the grid system need to be developed to
meet demand. This can be done through a mix of energy sources that includes
renewables, such as solar, wind, hydroelectric, and gas from biomass, as
well as liquefied petroleum gas and other fossil fuels. To increase the use
of renewable energy, many NGOs contend that government intervention is
necessary to help make solar or wind energy economically competitive.
Greenpeace, for example, estimates that governments currently subsidize
fossil fuels to the tune of $250-$350 billion a year, money that they
contend can easily go toward promoting renewable sources of energy. A
challenge for the Johannesburg Summit is to find ways of bringing clean,
affordable energy to those in need.
Washington File
9 May 2002
Internet:
http://pdq.state.gov/scripts/cqcgi.exe/@pdqtest1.env?CQ_SESSION_KEY=RKUGNPZIRHZD&CQ_QUERY_HANDLE=124188&
CQ_CUR_DOCUMENT=4&CQ_PDQ_DOCUMENT_VIEW=1&CQSUBMIT=View&CQRETURN=&CQPAGE=1
Washington -- Ministers from
industrialized and selected developing countries will hold two sessions in
Paris in mid-May to review progress so far in World Trade Organization (WTO)
negotiations, a State Department official says. The first session comes
early May 16 as part of the second day program of the 30-member Organization
for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) annual ministers' meeting,
the official said in a May 9 interview. He said the OECD has invited
ministers from more than a dozen non-member countries and markets to
participate in the session on trade and development. Invited were ministers
from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Kenya,
Russia, Senegal, Singapore, South Africa and Uganda. U.S. Trade
Representative Robert Zoellick is expected to focus in part on the
importance of moving forward successfully in the negotiation to remove
barriers to agricultural trade, he said. The official indicated he expected
discussion of the farm bill that passed the U.S. Congress just May 8, a bill
embraced by President Bush that will substantially increase government
subsidies to U.S. farmers. He emphasized that the farm bill subsidies will
not exceed the cap set for the United States under the existing WTO
agreement and will still represent much less subsidization than that spent
in the European Union (EU) and Japan, for example. He said also the farm
bill demonstrates forcefully the importance of negotiating a WTO agreement
to bring subsidies down. Zoellick and Andrew Natsios, head of the U.S.
Agency for International Development, are expected to emphasize the
importance of developing country participation in WTO negotiations, he said.
The official said the U.S. delegation will also reiterate the message from
the March UN International Conference on Financing and Development in
Monterrey, Mexico -- that actions taken by developing countries to free up
and use their own resources are as important as grants and loans from
wealthy countries. He said he expected no new initiatives on development out
of the OECD meeting. Development issues are expected to get more attention
at the World Food Summit in Rome and G-8 annual summit meeting in Canada,
both in June, and at the Johannesburg World Summit on Sustainable
Development starting in August. When the OECD meeting ends, trade ministers
from some OECD and some non-OECD countries will participate in another
session, a briefing by WTO Director-General Mike Moore, an Office of the
U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) official said. Besides reviewing progress
in the negotiations, the USTR official said, Moore is expected to discuss
progress on technical assistance and capacity building for developing
countries and preparations for the WTO ministers' meeting in mid-2003.
Leading the U.S. delegation to the OECD meeting will be Glenn Hubbard,
chairman of the president's Council of Economic Advisers (CEA). The State
Department official said one of the issues scheduled for discussion May 15
relates in part to the Enron scandal in the United States -- the risks to
the international system from corporate misbehavior.
The Times of India via Financial
Times
8 May 2002
http://globalarchive.ft.com/globalarchive/article.html?id=020508000650&query=Johannesburg+Summit
NEW DELHI: With less than four
months to go, the outlook is not bright for the second Earth Summit. Good
intentions are not lacking. But the implementation agenda and the funding,
getting developed countries to put their money where it matters are the main
sore points. As countries head for the final of four preparatory committee
meetings in Indonesia later this month, the attempt is to begin three days
earlier than scheduled to iron out what hasn't been possible in a year. The
first such meeting was in New York last year. UN Environment Programme
executive director Klaus Topfer, in Delhi last week, admitted the problems.
We are not yet ready with a programme of action. We will be meeting in Bali
from the 24th, to give us more time to sit together. The commitments must
come, said Topfer, whose organisation has been somewhat sidelined in the
process. The 10-day World Summit on Sustainable Development, starting August
26, is described as an opportunity to identify quantifiable targets to
better implement Agenda 21, the global plan of action for sustainable
development adopted 10 years ago at the first summit in Rio de Janeiro.
Johannesburg, said Topfer, should have three products. One, a political
declaration, to be finalised in Bali. Two, a concrete plan of action,
timetables, targets, financing structures. Three, concrete commitments for
instance a target for reducing water stress in Africa by a specific
percentage. The first summit produced "wonderful paper" but, acknowledged
Topfer, " forgot there has to be more investment in implementation". This
Rio shortfall is still a sticking point. The commitment was to increase
overseas development assistance from 0.4 per cent of the GDP of developed
countries to 0.7 per cent. The figure has instead plunged to 0.22 per cent.
Recent meetings, indicated Topfer, have at least signalled a change in
trend; by all accounts, however, this may at best take aid flows back to
where they were 10 years ago. Union Environment ministry officials mince no
words, describing the preparatory meetings so far as a complete failure.
They seem most uneasy about the concept of partnership initiatives among
governments, the private sector and citizen groups. In effect, say
officials, this attempts to take aid and outcomes out of the negotiated
agenda, into a realm that may not be endorsed by national priorities.
The Jordan Times
8 May 2002
Internet:
http://www.jordantimes.com/Wed/homenews/homenews6.htm
AMMAN - The media can play a
crucial role in shaping the public's opinion on how to utilise natural
resources and maintain them for future generations, agreed participants at
the opening of a two-day seminar launched here on Tuesday. Attended by
around 20 journalists from the region, the seminar provided an opportunity
for the press to take part in discussing the future of the region, plagued
by challenges such as poverty, unemployment and the water crisis. In a
keynote address, HRH Princess Basma, UNDP's Goodwill Ambassador for Human
Development, called on journalists to prioritise sustainable development
issues and present them in a more appealing manner. "News coverage of
sustainable development issues lacks media glamour," said Princess Basma.
Making use of available natural resources and conserving them for future
generations should be on the agenda of media outlets to highlight issues
such as water scarcity, said Iyad Abumoghli, UNDP assistant resident
representative for environment and sustainable development affairs. The
seminar is being held ahead of the World Summit for Sustainable Development
(WSSD) in Johannesburg later this year. The South Africa summit is expected
to be the largest international meeting on the integration of economic,
environmental and social decision making. It will call upon states to
implement the comprehensive plan for sustainable development of Agenda 21, a
resolution adopted at the Earth Summit in Rio ten years ago. Each country
is expected to present in Johannesburg a national plan on its achievements
in sustainable development over the past 10 years, including the challenges
the implementation process faces and future goals. Jordan submitted its
national report to the secretariat general of the WSSD in December last
year. The General Corporation for Environment Protection prepared the report
in cooperation with several governmental and private institutions and NGOs.
Organised by the UNDP, the government and Capacity 21, a UNDP initiative to
work with developing countries on integrating Agenda 21 into their agenda,
the seminar was attended by Abdul Razzaq Tbeishat, minister of municipal,
rural affairs and the environment, and UNDP Resident Representative in
Jordan Ove Bjerregaard. "Making development sustainable is about changing
mindsets and informing decisions. Above all the media has the power to
engage and provoke action," Bjerregaard said.
Islamabad News
8 May 2002
Internet:
http://www.jang.com.pk/thenews/may2002-daily/08-05-2002/metro/i1.htm
ISLAMABAD: Minister for
Environment, Local Government and Rural Development, Barrister Shahida Jamil
on Tuesday said district governments were to play a major role in
environment preservation. She was addressing an executive briefing on
Pakistan's progress towards implementation of the Rio Convention. The
briefing was organised by Ministry of Environment, Local Government and
Rural Development in collaboration with IUCN Pakistan. "District governments
have definitely a role to play for environment conservation by initiating
projects at the grassroots," the minister said. The federal government and
the provincial governments are to supplement their efforts, she said,
adding, "Only collective efforts at all level may help in providing clean
environment for our future generation." Expressing dissatisfaction over the
measures taken for environment conservation in the past, she said, President
Musharraf attached great importance to clean environment and much is needed
to be done. She said nature conservation is deeply related to poverty
alleviation and the government is keen to address both the issues. "Poverty
alleviation is an important portion of Agenda-21 and the government is
paying special heed to root out poverty as well," she added. Shahida
regretted that during the past, successive governments misused funds
allocated for the purpose and the situation kept deteriorating day by day.
She said the present government took various measures for conservation of
nature and referred to preservation of wild life at Macchiara, Chitral Gore
and Hingol national parks. The minister said the Global Environment Facility
(GEF) is also assisting in carrying out various projects. She laid stress on
community involvement and said people living in respective areas also have a
role to play and they should join hands with the government to achieve the
goal of clean environment. Eco-Tourism is another priority area of the
government while concerted efforts are being made to put in place a waste
disposal system, Shahida said. Earlier, Gul Najam Jami of IUCN Pakistan
highlighted the importance of clean environment and emphasised that
collective efforts should be made to conserve nature. In his welcome
address, he also called for effective role of the government, organisations
working for conservation of nature and the local people. Pakistan being a
signatory to these conventions is obliged to take measures in support of
these conventions. The discussion of the executive briefing would hopefully
help the government prepare for the World Summit on Sustainable Development
(WSSD) scheduled to take place from August 24 to September 4, 2002 in
Johannesburg, South Africa. The executive briefing is also part of a series
of nine public consultation workshops. The purpose of these workshops was to
facilitate the preparation of the Pakistan Country Assessment Report (CAR)
that would be presented at the World Summit on Sustainable Development
(WSSD).
Business Day via All Africa
8 May 2002
Internet:
http://allafrica.com/stories/200205080025.html
Johannesburg - GOVERNMENT, backed
by organised agriculture, has embarked on an ambitious plan to get a charter
on resource management and sustainable farming practices signed by
"significant numbers" of farmers before the global summit on sustainable
development in August. SA would be the first country to come up with such a
charter, even beating Australia a world leader in natural resource
management to it. There are laws to safeguard natural agricultural resources
such as water and soil against abusive farming practices, but the charter
would ensure that the agricultural sector became a "formal participant" in
the United Nations summit. The charter would draw "active commitment" from
farmers to adopt their farming practices in ways as to increase
productivity, improve food security and grazing capacity, limit soil erosion
and protect water resources. The charter would be drawn up at a four-day
conference on land care practices that started in Benoni yesterday. About
55000 commercial farmers were members of Agri SA, while the National African
Farmers Union said there were about 500 000 black subsistence farmers in the
country. SA's poorest provinces, Eastern Cape and Limpopo, absorb half of
government's investment in land-care projects. A total of 16,9-million
people live in rural areas, of which 72% have an income of less than R353 a
month. "If there is not a greater awareness among farmers of the importance
of sustainable development and protecting the environment, the degradation
of SA's natural resources would severely aggravate poverty over time,"
agriculture department director general Bongi Njobe told delegates at the
conference yesterday. Australian Land Care Council chairman Bruce Lloyd told
the conference a charter on land care was an "advanced concept". Australia
managed to put together an audit of its natural resources of soil and water
over a number of years, but has no special charter to commit farmers to
practice sound environmental practices, he said.
Globe and Mail
7 May 2002
Internet:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/GIS.Servlets.HTMLTemplate?tf=tgam/search/tgam/SearchFullStory.html&cf=tgam/
search/tgam/SearchFullStory.cfg&configFileLoc=tgam/config&encoded_keywords=Sustainable+Development&option=&start_
row=1¤t_row=1&start_row_offset1=&num_rows=1&search_results_start=1
TORONTO -- The mining industry
has released results of a two-year study that it hopes will set the agenda
for dealing with the litany of social, political and environmental problems
it now faces around the world. The massive report of the Mining, Minerals
and Sustainable Development Project tackles some of the thorniest issues the
industry must deal with including peasant mining, armed conflict,
corruption, human rights and the environment. "From the industry
perspective, taking part in this project was a risky business," Sir Robert
Wilson, chairman of London-based Rio Tinto PLC said in a statement. "It was
nevertheless an essential step, not least for business reasons." In time,
the industry's bad reputation and negative attitudes could mean it would
have difficulty gaining access to resources in the ground and markets for
its products, he said. The first public forum to begin discussion of the
report is scheduled to take place in Toronto from May 12 to 15. The Global
Mining Initiative Conference is expected to have almost 500 people in
attendance said David Rodier, senior vice-president of environment, safety
and health for Noranda Inc. of Toronto. The attendees will represent
industry and governments along with indigenous communities and social and
environmental activists, he said. After the close of that conference, the
chief executive officers or their representatives of 22 mining companies
will determine the future agenda, Mr. Rodier said. The industry's goal was
to have the MMSD's report completed in order to begin developments that can
be presented in August in Johannesburg at the World Summit for Sustainable
Development. Among the recommendations is support by the mining industry for
legislation dealing with artisanal and small-scale miners, who are sometimes
referred to as peasant or illegal miners. "The vast majority are very poor,
exploiting marginal deposits in harsh and often dangerous conditions -- and
with considerable impact on the environment," the report said. Recent
research indicates that up to 13 million people are involved in artisanal
mining of gold, emeralds, diamonds, coal, tungsten, tantalum and base
metals. Those workers affect the livelihoods of another 80 to 100 million
people, the report said. These people often come into conflict with both
governments and major mining companies as a result of forced resettlement
and land claims and a lack of local economic benefits from mining projects.
The report says governments "have a principal role to play" by putting in
place transparent policies and regulatory frameworks to control those mining
activities. The MMSD recommends mining companies help peasant miners, who
operate near major mines, to work in an environmentally safe way, or
alternatively, to help them find other employment. When resettlements are
needed, the mining industry must provide fair compensation for loss of
assets and to take steps to ensure that living standards are not diminished
and that community ties are preserved, the report said. It also strongly
stresses the importance of access to information and community consultation
on proposed mining projects.
Associated Press via Boston Globe
3 May 2002
Internet:
http://www.boston.com/dailynews/123/economy/Energy_ministers_discuss_need_:.shtml
DETROIT (AP) Top officials from
eight of the world's richest countries closed a two-day energy summit Friday
saying that new energy sources must be tapped to meet world demand. Huge
amounts of money must be invested to finance efforts to develop the sources
and new energy technology, delegates of the Group of Eight Nations said.
''Everyone who participated here recognizes there are vast reserves around
the world that could potentially be developed, but it needs private
investments,'' U.S. Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham said. During the
two-day forum, representatives from the G-8 nations talked about the future
of the world's energy needs, touching on themes of energy security,
development and protection of the environment. The summit was the first G-8
gathering to focus on energy since a Moscow meeting in 1998. The event was
billed as a major goal of President Bush's national energy policy proposal
unveiled a year ago. Participating in the summit were representatives from
the United States, Canada, Russia, Great Britain, Germany, Japan, Italy and
France. Abraham and Herb Dhaliwal, Canada's minister of natural resources,
said that increasing energy efficiency and using a mix of sources including
nuclear power improves energy security, economic growth and environmental
protection. Research and development of new energy technology is crucial to
''diversifying the energy mix and reducing the environmental impacts of
energy production and use,'' they said in a statement after Friday's
session. The discussions were held behind closed doors, but Abraham and
Dhaliwal said delegates agreed significant investment in energy production
are needed to meet the world's energy needs. Loyola de Palacio, vice
president of the European Commission, said there was a general agreement on
the importance of renewable energy for sustainable development, supply
diversification, environmental preservation and energy security. Abraham
said delegates also stressed that oil-consuming countries must maintain
emergency stocks especially during volatile times. Palacio said the world's
increasing dependence on road transportation and the need to develop
alternative fuels and technologies have become major concerns. ''In the
majority of industrialized countries, we cannot simply drill our way out of
oil dependency,'' Palacio said. Two panel sessions on fuel cell vehicles
were held Thursday, and Abraham announced that his department will host an
International Conference on the Future of Energy Transportation Technologies
in Detroit this fall. The development of hydrogen as a primary fuel for
vehicles will be one of the topics.
See Also:
http://www.boston.com/dailynews/122/economy/Abraham_World_energy_challenge:.shtml
http://www.nandotimes.com/business/story/390061p-3099322c.html
The Namibian
3 May 2002
Internet:
http://www.namibian.com.na/2002/may/envirotalk/025B9AAE70.html
NAMIBIAN MPs are being lobbied to
attend a regional meeting on the environment ahead of a UN conference on
sustainable development in South Africa from August 26 to September 4. Globe
Southern Africa (GSA) will hold a Parliamentary Dialogue on Partnership for
Sustainable Development for regional legislators in Windhoek on May 13-14.
Speaking to The Namibian, GSA's Head Regional Co-ordinator Unit, Lance
Greyling said: "We expect around 30-40 parliamentarians from the region to
attend the dialogue." He said the meeting will seek commitments from
politicians on the protection of the environment in their countries.
Greyling has met with National Assembly Speaker Dr Moses Tjitendero to brief
him on the May meeting, and also with Namibian organisations involved in
environmental issues. About 50 000 delegates from organisations involved in
sustainable development issues are expected to attend the World Summit on
Sustainable Development (WSSD) in Johannesburg. The WSSD will assess
developments since the UN Conference on Environment and Development was held
in Rio de Janeiro in 1992 and will provide an agenda for future action.
Based in Cape Town, South Africa, Globe Southern Africa is a regional arm of
the Global Legislators Organisation for a Balanced Environment, an
international organisation providing information and tools for legislators
to use in their bid to achieve the goal of sustainable development.
European Union
3 May 2002
Internet:
http://www.eurunion.org/news/press/2002/2002030.htm
At the G-8 Ministerial meeting on
Energy in Detroit today, European Commission Vice President Loyola de
Palacio underlined the importance of curbing the growth in energy demand and
enhancing the security and stability of energy supplies. "Risks to energy
supply can be quickly and relatively cheaply addressed by curbing the growth
in energy demand. Curbing energy consumption and improving energy
efficiencies will preserve finite energy resources, mitigate supply
difficulties and improve the environmental impact of energy us," she
declared. Vice President de Palacio also welcomed the timely initiative
from the US and Canada in organizing the G-8 Ministerial meeting. Recent
events such as the horrific terrorist attacks of September 11th, the current
political uncertainties in various regions of the world and the significant
fluctuations in the price of oil have highlighted the globalization of risk
and the vulnerability of our existing energy systems. Risks to energy supply
can be managed through a combination of actions in both the supply and
demand side of energy policy, she said. On the supply side, the emphasis
should be put on nuclear and renewable energies, which reconcile the
diversification of energy supply, the preservation of the environment and
energy security. "Clearly we need to ensure that renewable energy sources
are fully considered in our energy strategies and that we promote the
development of cost-effective methods of using them. We cannot see a way of
meeting our Kyoto commitments unless we re-examine nuclear very seriously,"
she stated. As far as the oil market is concerned, there is obviously an
urgent need for greater price stability and for increased market
transparency. In this context, the producer/consumer dialogue is an
important supply side activity, which the upcoming meeting of the
International Energy Forum in Osaka will develop further. In addition, de
Palacio stressed that G-8 Members need "to re-evaluate, on a continual
basis, policies with respect to emergency preparedness in the light of the
evolution in the functioning of the oil market and political
developments." Demand side policy can also play a role in curbing our
increasing dependency on imported oil, particularly in the road transport
sector, which depends almost entirely on this one source of energy.
Technology can assist over the medium term in providing alternative fuels
and the optimal use of other transportation modes needs to be encouraged.
To curb the growth in energy demand, public authorities should not shy away
from using the regulatory framework and fiscal instruments, such as targeted
taxes or tax credits, to influence energy operators to change their behavior.
Finally, in the context of the fight against climate change, addressing the
environmental consequences of energy production, transportation and use is a
pressing issue that requires a global solution. De Palacio took the
opportunity to reiterate the commitment of the 15 Member states of the
European Union to ratifying the Kyoto Protocol. She called for the other G-8
members to ratify the Protocol as soon as possible so that the Protocol can
come into force before the World Summit on Sustainable Development later
this year.
BuaNews via All Africa
3 May 2002
Internet:
http://allafrica.com/stories/200205030578.html
Preparations for the forthcoming
World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) have been taken a step
further. In a statement, the WSSD Civil Society Secretariat said it had
secured funding from the Ford Foundation, a donor agency in Johannesburg, to
the tune of R6-million. It said the money would fund three processes. The
first one is the South African Process that will see the convening of
national and provincial consultative meetings, security and the development
of the South African civil society's position on the New Partnership for
Africa's Development (Nepad). The second process will see the convening of
the WSSD preparatory meetings by the Southern African Development community
(SADC) countries. The third, which is the Africa Process, will work on the
convening of Africa-wide meetings and consultative conferences. The aim will
be to ensure the development and preparation of a common African position on
crucial issues. The WSSD, to be held in Johannesburg from 26 August - 4
September, is billed as the largest international conference ever to be held
on South African soil. About 65 000 delegates from around the world,
including more than a hundred heads-of-state and over 2 000 international
media organisations, are expected to attend. The summit will take a critical
look at the resolutions of the historic United Nations (UN) conference on
Environment and Development held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 1992. It will
focus the world's attention and direct action toward meeting difficult
challenges. These include improving people's lives and conserving natural
resources in a world that is growing in population, with ever-increasing
demands for food, water, shelter, sanitation, energy, health services and
economic security.
Donor Round-Table Meeting
organised by the UNDP and the EU
South Africa Civil Society
Secretariat
03 May 2002
The United Nations Development
Programme (UNDP), together with the European Union, today hosted a donor
round-table discussion to raise funds for the Civil Society Secretariat to
prepare for the Global Forum. The unequivocal and solid support the UNDP and
EU have demonstrated for the Process - especially their involvement in our
fund-raising efforts - is a ground-breaking development that further
bolsters our confidence that the Global Forum will be run successfully. The
round-table will be attended by twelve Foreign Missions (embassies) and the
following six donor agencies:
1. European Union (EU)
2. Ford Foundation
3. The Friedrich Naumann
Foundation
4. National Development Agency (NDA)
5. Swiss Development Corporation
6. Irish Aid.
The Secretariat has a projected
overall budget of R200 million to run the Global Forum - which takes place
from 19 August to 4 September 2002 as part of the World Summit for
Sustainable Development (WSSD). Of this amount, we expect R120 million to
come from local and international donor agencies. The joint UNDP-EU
round-table is expected to secure commitments to provide at least 60% of our
projected budget.
Report on Progress
1. The CS Secretariat has secured
funding from the Ford Foundation for an amount of R6 million. The donation
will come in two trenches. The money will fund the following process: a. The
South Africa Process: convening of national and provincial consultative
meetings, security and the development of SA civil society's position on the
New Economic Plan for Africa's Development (NEPAD); b. The SADC Process:
the convening of preparatory meetings; and c. The Africa Process: the
convening of Africa-wide meetings and consultative conferences. The aim will
be to ensure the development and preparation of a common African Position on
crucial issues.
2. In March 2002, the CS
Secretariat secured funding from the National Development Agency (NDA). The
NDA funds have been critical in ensuring the smooth running of the
Secretariat and the preparations so far.
3. The CS Secretariat is
currently involved in negotiations with Diakonia (a funding organisation) to
secure more funding for the whole preparatory process. The negotiations are
at an advanced stage and we hope to announce positive results in this regard
before the end of May 2002.
4. We are engaged in negotiations
with the South African government to secure a commitment from them to fund
certain crucial areas. We have already written a letter to the government
specifying the areas we would like them to finance, which include the
following: a. The venue (Nasrec) b Policing and related security areas c.
Medical facilities.
5. The rest part of our funding
will come from corporate sponsors. In line with our strategy, we are
currently engaging several corporate sponsors with the view to securing more
funding. Corporate sponsorship funds will come in the form of advertising
rights as well as direct cash injections into the Process. We are expecting
this type of funding to constitute a large percentage of the final figure we
have budgeted for.
6. Our relationship with the
Johannesburg World Summit Company (JOWSCO) has been formalized. We are
currently implementing aspects of the provisional agreement we have
negotiated with them. As part of the agreement, JOWSCO will assume certain
logistical functions of the hosting of the Global forum. We expect them to
be involved in, inter alia, transport and accommodation areas.
7. The Secretariat has launched a
website to facilitate the dissemination of information as well as expedite
the registration process. The site provides for easy on-line registration of
delegates. (To view the site, please visit:
www.worldsummit.org.za)
8. We are currently consolidating
South Africa's civil society. In the next few weeks activity will be
feverish as we host consultative forums at national and provincial levels
throughout the country. We will soon be hosting a National Women's
Consultative Workshop as part of making sure that the agenda for women is
consolidated and its place ensure in the final agenda for the Global Forum.
The Japan Times
3 May 2002
Internet:
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?np20020503b6.htm
In an apparent bid to deflect
mounting international pressure for more international development
assistance, Japan may pledge to maintain at least the current amount of aid
it allocates to Africa, despite its shrinking overall aid budget. Government
sources said Thursday that Japan may make a pledge of this kind at an annual
summit of leaders from the Group of Eight industrial powers in Canada in
late June, ahead of a key United Nations-sponsored conference on development
and the environment. The sources said, however, that although some within
the government are insisting on pledging that there will be "no reduction in
Africa-bound aid," others are still reluctant to do so. In this regard, they
cite difficulties Japan may encounter in securing necessary funds for the
impoverished continent without sacrificing aid for other regions, such as
Asia, Latin America and the Middle East. The U.N. conference, or the World
Summit on Sustainable Development as it is formally known, will be held in
South Africa from the end of August through early September. A host of world
leaders, including Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, are expected to attend
the conference. Assistance for developing nations is also expected to be
high on the agenda for the upcoming G-8 summit. The G-8 comprises the United
States, Canada, Britain, Germany, France, Italy, Japan and Russia. Official
development assistance extended directly by Tokyo to developing countries
consists of yen loans, grants-in-aid and technical cooperation. With the
exception of a few relatively rich countries, including South Africa, the
huge bulk of Africa-bound ODA is provided in the form of grants-in-aid, due
to the difficulties many regional countries experience in repaying yen
loans. Africa receives about one-tenth of ODA provided directly by Tokyo to
developing countries. Japan may also set a numerical target for the amount
of ODA funds it will allocate toward the promotion of education and health
preservation in developing countries, particularly those in Africa, over a
certain period of time, probably between three and five years, the sources
said. If the period of time to be covered by the proposed educational and
health aid initiative is set at five years, the numerical target could
exceed $10 billion. Due to discord within the government, however, it
appears far from certain that Japan will be able to actually pledge that
there will be "no reduction in Africa-bound aid" and unveil a numerical aid
target for the education and health areas at the upcoming G-8 summit. Both
measures underscore how the country is struggling to save face in the arena
of international aid diplomacy. Japan has retained its status as the world's
largest ODA donor over the past decade, providing about $13 billion
annually. But this position could be threatened over the coming years.
Koizumi's government has chopped Japan's ODA budget for fiscal 2002 by 10
percent, due to the tight fiscal conditions provoked by the continuing
domestic economic slump. The ODA budget could be cut again in fiscal 2003
and beyond. In stark contrast, the U.S. and the 15-nation European Union
announced sharp increases in their ODA spending programs earlier this year.
The U.S., which currently dishes out $10 billion in ODA annually, will
extend an additional $5 billion in ODA to developing countries over the next
three years. The EU member nations, which extend a combined $24 billion to
$25 billion in ODA annually, will raise the average ratio of their ODA
against their gross domestic products to 0.39 percent by 2006 from the
current 0.33 percent. During an international development conference in
Mexico at the end of March, U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan called for the
doubling of aid by industrialized countries to help developing countries
fight poverty, underdevelopment and other acute problems. Meanwhile, Japan
plans to announce aid programs at the World Summit on Sustainable
Development under which it will cooperate with Thailand to help African
countries foster human resources necessary for environmental protection and
protection against infectious diseases, the sources said.
UN HABITAT
3 May 2002
Internet:
http://www.unhabitat.org/uf/closing.html
Nairobi, With twice as many
participants registering than expected, the first ever World Urban Forum
concluded today after a week of successful deliberations. From Mayors to
slum dwellers the participants, about 1,200 people from over 80 countries,
attended the meeting at UN-HABITAT headquarters in Nairobi. There were at
least 400 people from governments, over 350 people from non-governmental
organizations including at least 200 slum dwellers. There were also
representatives of local authorities, UN agencies, and Members of
Parliaments from different countries. Research professionals and members of
the private sector were also in attendance. "The World Urban Forum has been
a success. The high turn out shows how concerned the world is about the
state of their cities," said Mrs. Anna Tibaijuka, the Executive Director of
UN-HABITAT. In her concluding speech, Mrs. Tibaijuka went on to state that
the participants at the first World Urban Forum had tabled that empowerment
was the key to sustainable development. But this was not limited to
empowering local communities but extended to the empowerment of local
authorities with respect to the state. She continued that in the dialogues
and debates, the participants had expressed the need for national urban
policies that included strategies for ensuring secure tenure, overcoming
gender inequalities and encouraging integrated urban to rural linkages. In
her concluding address, the Chair, Hon. Ms. Sankie D. Mthembi-Mahanyele,
Minister of Housing of South Africa, highlighted two of the several
principles that were tabled during the dialogues. First, there was the
demand that ordinary citizens everywhere be allowed to exercise their Right
to the City. This was a call to good urban governance so that cities
everywhere could belong to everybody. Second, all the participants agreed
that forced evictions are detrimental to the goals of cities without slums
as they create obstacles to the progress of achieving democratic
partnership. Designated by the United Nations General Assembly as an
advisory body, the World Urban Forum is an open-ended think tank designed to
encourage debate and discussion about the challenges of urbanization in this
century. At this first session, held in Nairobi, the headquarters of
UN-HABITAT, the Dialogues and parallel events provided a rich mix of
different viewpoints about the state of our cities and the way forward.
Though the overall theme was sustainable urbanization, there was a range of
options, ideas and innovations. There were discussion groups on everything
from the effect of HIV/AIDs on human settlements to violence against women;
from the urgent need to improve basic services and infrastructure, including
the provision of water and sanitation through to the need for secure tenure.
What made the discussions particularly interesting was that, unlike at most
UN events, everybody was able to table their ideas as equal partners. During
the event, there were numerous launches of initiatives and new programmes.
This included the local launch of the 'Water and Sanitation for Health'
programme. Slum dwellers participated in a groundbreaking ceremony for
public toilets in a local squatter settlement, which is being built with
help from slum dwellers from India. UN-HABITAT has also joined forces with
other UN Agencies, such as UNICEF and UNDP, to establish community based
initiatives for children in distress from HIV/AIDS. In keeping with the UN
General Assembly resolution, the report of the World Forum will be tabled at
the next Governing Council of UN-HABITAT. In addition, as a pre-conference
event for the World Summit on Sustainable Development, the recommendations
of the World Urban Forum will be tabled at the PrepCom 4 in Bali, Indonesia.
In conclusion, the Chair, Hon. Ms. Sankie D. Mthembi-Mahanyele called upon
all country delegations and UN Agencies to work together at PrepCom 4 to
raise the profile of human settlements by placing sustainable urbanization
firmly on the agenda of the World Summit for Sustainable Development.
See also:
Website:
www.unhabitat.org
Closing Statements:
http://www.unhabitat.org/uf/statements.html
Background documents on WSSD:
Preparations for the world summit
on sustainable development: the sustainability of cities
http://www.unhabitat.org/uf/documents/dlg2paper1.pdf
The role of cities in national
and international development
http://www.unhabitat.org/uf/documents/dlg2paper2.pdf
The Japan Times:
3 May 2002
Internet:
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?ek20020503a1.htm
You don't have to wait until
you're grown up to be counted. In fact, if you're between 10 and 12 years
old, you're the perfect age to take part in the International Children's
Conference on the Environment. And to start thinking of how to preserve and
improve the world that you are living in. Eleven-year-old Mika Abe is keen
on recycling, for starters. Her enthusiasm was kindled by her social studies
class at Ikko Primary School. Her teacher encouraged the children to collect
discarded milk cartons and to make postcards from them. At the fourth ICC
this month, Mika's class project will inspire other children to think of
ways to put everyday products to different uses, instead of just throwing
them away. Mika, from Fukagawa City, Hokkaido, is one of 15 children
representing Japan at the conference, which is being held from May 21-25, at
the University of Victoria, on Canada's Vancouver Island. Each conference is
organized by the Kenya-based United Nations Environment Programme, in
collaboration with local environmental groups, government officials and
corporations from different countries. The first one was held in Eastbourne,
England, in 1995. In Japan, UNEP's local liaison is the Tokyo-based
Foundation for Global Peace and Environment. The FGPE registers the children
for the conference, plans their itinerary and keeps them informed about
planned events. The conference will give about 800 children from more than
115 countries a chance to voice their concerns about the environment. And
that is exactly what 12-year-old Daisuke Aoyama of Aichi Prefecture, will be
doing. "I went on a dolphin-watching trip and was so moved by a dolphin
mother swimming in the ocean with her child," he says. "But I saw that the
ocean water was very dirty. I want people to understand how hard it is for
dolphins to live in such conditions." So Daisuke wrote an essay on how to
protect the dolphins and the oceans from pollution. Miki Kamiya, 12, also
from Aichi Prefecture, worked on the same project. For her, the turning
point was a holiday in the mountains with her family. "When I saw the clear
water of the lake and breathed the clean air, I understood what an
unpolluted environment can be," Miki says. "I wondered why it can't always
be this way." Nine of this year's delegates were selected from essay-writing
competitions, sponsored either by their local governments or by
environmentally conscious companies. Their suggestions for protecting the
environment won them not only a place at the conference but also free air
travel and accommodation. The other children registered for the conference
online. For all of them, the conference is the chance of a lifetime. After
those four days, they will be able to speak more confidently about
environmental issues than most other children their age. On May 22, the
first day of the conference, the kids will talk about how to use water --
essential to all life -- more sensibly. On Day Two, they'll discover how
they can play a part in reducing greenhouse-gas emissions. Day Three's
discussions will cover the lifestyles of healthy communities. And on Day
Four, they'll be challenged to think about how human beings can conserve
Earth's resources. Yuka Matsumoto, a 10-year-old from Chiba City, looks
forward to the fourth day because her project on resource conservation ties
up with the theme. "I'm going to listen carefully and take lots of notes and
bring them back with me," she says. All the children attending will spend
their mornings learning from the other participants and presenting their own
projects. Smaller "friendship groups" will meet after these sessions to come
up with "challenges," or concrete proposals to save the environment. In the
late afternoon, the children will set out on field trips, to explore the
natural beauty of British Columbia and to learn about eco-friendly
technologies from local environmental groups. "This is what I look forward
to the most," says Miki. "I want to experience the beautiful mountains and
plants of Canada." Registration is closed for this year's conference, but
that's no reason to feel left out. There's another conference next year, in
New London, Conn., in the United States. And in 2005, the sixth ICC will be
held right here in Japan, in Aichi Prefecture. When Yuka, Miki and the rest
of the Japanese delegation return from Canada, they'll have exciting stories
to tell of all the things they've seen and learned -- how international
agreements are the result of an intricate process of expressing your
opinions, considering the opinions of others and arriving at a consensus;
how children have a stake in the health of the planet and need to be
involved from an early age; how changing the world begins with changing
yourself. On the final day, the children will formulate a joint declaration
of challenges, and two of them will be selected to present the declaration
at the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, South
Africa, this September. They will stand before world leaders and make a
strong case for treating the Earth with more respect. Even if you're not
attending the conference, you can play your part by becoming more
environmentally aware. Small actions can inspire great movements. Children,
and not just governments, can be powerful agents of environmental reform.
People often forget this and don't take children seriously enough. But by
speaking up, you can help change that.
Gulf News via Financial Times
3 May 2002
Internet:
http://globalarchive.ft.com/globalarchive/article.html?id=020503002229&query=Johannesburg+Summit
Environmental issues have always
been given the topmost priority in government policies since the
establishment of the UAE federation in 1971, said Sheikh Hamdan bin Zayed Al
Nahyan, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs. Sheikh Hamdan made the
remarks in a message read out at a one-day conference discussing an
international initiative by Abu Dhabi on environmental data collection. The
conference was organised by the Environmental Research and Wildlife
Development Agency (ERWDA) at Abu Dhabi Hilton Hotel. The message was read
out by Hamad Abdul Rahman Al Madfa, Minister of Health and Chairman of the
Federal Environmental Agency (FEA), who opened the conference. Sheikh Hamdan,
who is Deputy Chairman of ERWDA, reiterated that the report raised by the
Environmental Sustainability Index (ESI) for year 2002 had opened a new
horizon to develop environmental work at local, national and regional
levels. He said the debate on collective global environmental data
collection has been triggered by ESI, which has opened a healthy chapter in
global ecological protection efforts. Sheikh Hamdan stressed the importance
of promoting sustainable development indicators and the availability of data
on environmental issues. Describing this international dialogue as a
pioneering initiative by ERWDA, he said: "The UAE since its foundation in
1971 has given priority to environment in its development march. "The ESI
report opened the door for the development of environmental work and for the
review of policies and development strategies at local, national and
regional levels." Sheikh Hamdan further said the report has served as the
main incentive for the UAE to find out a way that would help in reflecting
the reality of the environment situation through the collection and
distribution of related data and information. Professor Daniel C. Esty,
Director of U.S.-based Yale Centre for Environmental Law and Policy, told
Gulf News the most serious environmental issues in the UAE are water and air
pollution. He said: "There are three ways that UAE can overcome these
challenges. One is to define a methodology for environmental protection,
second, collect better data and improve performance." Prof Esty added the
country also needs the involvement of more environmental groups and
organisations to achieve these goals. However, he added, the country has
made some achievements in tackling environmental problems by controlling
desertification and greening the desert. "The greening efforts are a big
support in fighting air pollution," he added. The objectives of the dialogue
at the Abu Dhabi conference are to explore the issues raised by the
environmental sustainability index and to discuss the Abu Dhabi global
initiative on environmental data collection, including the formulation of an
Environmental Achievement Index (EAI). The Abu Dhabi Global Initiative on
Environmental Data Collection is intended to be launched at the 'World
Summit for Sustainable Environment' in Johannesburg, South Africa. The
summit will begin on August 26 and continue till September 4 this year. It
is a collective global effort that has evolved as a result of the widening
gap between developed and developing countries. This initiative is intended
to present an innovative approach to the promotion of quality environmental
data collection for further use by the developing world. The approach is
essentially non-expert oriented, based on partnerships, precautionary and
participatory, and decentralised. Its priorities are to mobilise resources,
raise appropriate funds, assess regional environmental data needs, and
collect and establish regional environmental information inventories and
indicators. Since the Rio Earth Summit in 1992 and the adoption of agenda 21
and the global blueprint for sustainable development, the issue of quality
information infrastructure is a matter of immense importance to the
formulation and implementation of policies and strategies. As a result a
number of initiatives have been undertaken, both internationally, regionally
and nationally to improve methods for the collection and assessment of data.
In this connection the United Nations, World Bank, Organisation for Economic
Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the European Union are among the
leaders in the endeavour to improve the quality of information for
decision-making, including the promotion of sustainable development
indicators, globally. Meanwhile, in order to give the participants in the
event a broad background on UAE environmental efforts and achievements, they
will be taking a two-day technical tour covering major achievements in the
sectors contributing to sustainable development. This will include field
visits and a number of presentations about main environmental agencies,
including ERWDA, water and electricity and other establishments in the
country.
See Also:
http://www.gulf-news.com/Articles/news.asp?ArticleID=49649
http://www.gulf-news.com/Articles/news.asp?ArticleID=49768
BBC Monitoring Service via
Financial Times
1 May 2002
Internet:
http://globalarchive.ft.com/globalarchive/article.html?id=020501010485&query=Johannesburg+Summit
Canberra, 1 May: Joint Press
Statement
Recognizing the great benefits
and merits of the long-standing close ties and cooperation between Australia
and Japan, based on their shared values of democracy, freedom, the rule of
law and market-based economies, Prime Minister John Howard and Prime
Minister Junichiro Koizumi committed themselves to a dynamic and
forward-looking relationship, in order to take maximum advantage of the
tremendous opportunities and challenges of the new international environment
in the early 21st century.
On the global front:
- Both prime ministers recognized
the importance of international solidarity in the fight against terrorism
and acknowledged the value of each other's contribution to this effort. In
this context, the prime ministers also reaffirmed their commitment to
support Afghanistan.
- Prime Minister Howard
reaffirmed Australia's continued strong support for Japan's permanent
membership of the UN Security Council.
- The prime ministers expressed
their determination to promote further liberalization of global trade and
investment, and recognized the crucial importance of the successful
conclusion of a new round of trade negotiations in the WTO (World Trade
Organization).
- The prime ministers reaffirmed
their determination to address the major environmental issue of climate
change, taking into account both economic and environmental effects. Japan
was in the process of ratifying the Kyoto Protocol. Australia would continue
to work to meet its Kyoto target. The prime ministers emphasized their
desire to work together to build a global climate change regime that
included all countries.
- Sharing the objective of
sustainable development, the prime ministers stated their intention that the
two countries continue to work together for the success of the Johannesburg
Summit.
On the regional front:
- Both prime ministers welcomed
the peaceful conclusion of the recent presidential election in East Timor.
In particular, the Australian prime minister welcomed Japan's valuable
contribution to the UN peacekeeping forces. The prime ministers reaffirmed
their commitment to work together to help East Timor in its transition to
independence and beyond, including by ensuring the continued success of the
UN peacekeeping operation there.
- Drawing on their strong record
of cooperation in the APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) forum, the
East Asian financial crisis, ASEAN (the Association of Southeast Asian
Nations) Regional Forum, peacekeeping in Cambodia and now in East Timor,
both leaders affirmed their renewed commitment to work together to meet
regional challenges.
- Prime Minister Howard welcomed
Prime Minister Koizumi's vision of a "community that acts together and
advances together," as expressed by him in Singapore on Jan. 14, 2002. Prime
Minister Koizumi reiterated his expectation that Australia would be a core
member of this community, and emphasized the contribution that Australia
could make in this regard. The prime ministers stated that consideration
should be given to regional diversity and the specific needs of other
countries in the region. Furthermore, the two prime ministers highly valued
the contribution made to regional cooperation by the existing frameworks.
- The prime ministers emphasized
the importance of working together to combat effectively transnational
problems such as people smuggling and money laundering. In this regard,
Prime Minister Koizumi congratulated Australia on successfully co-hosting
with Indonesia the Regional Ministerial Conference on People Smuggling
convened in Bali in February this year.
- Noting both nations' respective
core alliances with the United States, they gave their strong support to
United States' engagement and presence in the Asia-Pacific region, which
underpinned regional stability. They reaffirmed their intention to work
together to preserve the security environment in the region.
On the bilateral front:
- Prime Minister Howard
reaffirmed his strong support for Prime Minister Koizumi's structural reform
efforts, and noted the benefits for Australia and the world of a strong
Japanese economy. Prime Minister Koizumi said that Australia's strong
economic growth highlighted the benefits of structural reform.
- The prime ministers noted the
exciting prospects for increased cooperation across the entire relationship,
as evidenced by the range of recommendations which emerged from the
"Australia-Japan Conference for the 21st Century," held in Sydney in April
2001.
- The prime ministers reaffirmed
their commitment to work to strengthen further the bilateral economic
relationship to reflect the dynamic structural changes now occurring in the
two economies, including in response to regional economic developments and
globalization.
The prime ministers welcomed the
recent submission of proposals and suggestions from the two private sectors
on ways to strengthen trade and economic linkages between the two countries.
The prime ministers agreed that
the two governments would launch high-level consultations to explore all
options for deeper economic linkages between Australia and Japan.
- The prime ministers welcomed
the expanding dialogue and cooperation between the two nations on security
and defence issues, underpinned by their close strategic interests.
United Nations
14 May 2002
Internet:
http://www.johannesburgsummit.org/html/documents/summit_docs/sg_speech_amnh.doc
Ladies and Gentlemen, Thirty
years ago, the world community gathered in Stockholm for the first United
Nations Conference on the Human Environment. That event was a watershed.
It inspired legions of green activists at the grass-roots level. It led to
the establishment of environment ministries and agencies in countries that
did not already have them. It put the environment on the international
agenda. Ten years ago, the international community gathered again for the
Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. With the conceptual breakthrough of
sustainable development, the Summit generated both heat and light. No
longer, it was hoped, would environmental protection be regarded as a luxury
or afterthought. Rather, environmental factors would be integrated with
economic and social issues and become a central part of the policy-making
process. Developed countries, which had benefited immensely from a wasteful
and hazardous path of modernization, would help developing countries combat
poverty and avoid that same polluting path. In adopting Agenda 21, a
blueprint for sustainable development, rich and poor seemed to have agreed
on common vision for growth, equity and conservation over the long-term. But
progress since then has been slower than anticipated. The state of the
world's environment is still fragile. Conservation measures are far from
satisfactory. At discussions on global finance and the economy, the
environment is still treated as an unwelcome guest. High-consumption
life-styles continue to tax the earth's natural life-support systems.
Research and development remains woefully under-funded, and neglects the
problems of the poor. Developed countries in particular have not gone far
enough in fulfilling the promises they made in Rio - either to protect their
own environments or to help the developing world defeat poverty. Less than
four months from now, at the World Summit on Sustainable Development in
Johannesburg, we have a chance to restore the momentum that had been felt so
palpably after the Earth Summit. Already, the process leading up to that
event has brought renewed attention to issues that have been largely
overshadowed by conflicts, globalization and, most recently, terrorism.
Still, I sense a need for greater clarity on what Johannesburg is about and
what it can achieve. Negotiators who meet later this month in Bali need
clarity if they are to draft a strong programme of action. The public at
large needs clarity if they are to support the changes that must occur. At
its core, Johannesburg is about the relationship between human society and
the natural environment. We here in this room are among the 20 percent of
humanity that enjoys privilege and prosperity undreamt of by former
generations. Yet the model of development that has brought us so much has
also exacted a heavy toll on the planet and its resources. It may not be
sustainable even for those who have already benefited, let alone for the
vast majority of our fellow human beings, many of whom live in conditions of
unbearable deprivation and squalor and naturally aspire to share the
benefits that we enjoy. This fact was recognized by the world leaders who
gathered at the United Nations almost two years ago for the Millennium
Summit. They decided that the first 15 years of this century should be used
for a major onslaught on global poverty, and set a number of targets - the
Millennium Development Goals - for doing so. But they also resolved to free
future generations "from the threat of living on a planet irredeemably
spoilt by human activities". The Johannesburg Summit aims to find practical
ways for humanity to respond to both these challenges - to better the lives
of all human beings, while protecting the environment. The Summit also aims
to move from commitments - of which we have had plenty, 30 years ago and 10
years ago - to action. I see five specific areas where concrete results are
both essential and achievable.
First is water and sanitation.
More than 1 billion people are without safe drinking water. Twice that
number lack adequate sanitation. And more than 3 million people die every
year from diseases caused by unsafe water. Unless we take swift and
decisive action, by 2025 as much as two thirds of the world's population may
be living in countries that face serious water shortage. We need to improve
access. We need to improve the efficiency of water use, for example by
getting more "crop per drop" in agriculture, which is the largest consumer
of water. And we need better watershed management, and to reduce leakage,
especially in the many cities where water losses are an astonishing 40
percent or more of total water supply.
The second area is energy.
Energy is essential for development. Yet two billion people currently go
without, condemning them to remain in the poverty trap. We need to make
clean energy supplies accessible and affordable. We need to increase the
use of renewable energy sources and improve energy efficiency. And we must
not flinch from addressing the issue of overconsumption - the fact that
people in the developed countries use far more energy per capita than those
in the developing world. States must ratify the Kyoto Protocol, which
addresses not only climate change but also a host of unsustainable
practices. States must also do away with the perverse energy subsidies and
tax incentives that perpetuate the status quo and stifle the development of
new and promising alternatives.
Third is agricultural
productivity. Land degradation affects perhaps as much as two thirds of the
world's agricultural land. As a result, agricultural productivity is
declining sharply, while the number of mouths to feed continues to grow. In
Africa, especially, millions of people are threatened with starvation. We
must increase agricultural productivity, and reverse human encroachment on
forests, grasslands and wetlands. Research and development will be crucial,
as will implementation of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification.
The fourth area is biodiversity
and ecosystem management. Biodiversity is declining at an unprecedented
rate - as much as a thousand times what it would be without the impact of
human activity. Half of the tropical rainforests and mangroves have already
been lost. About 75 percent of marine fisheries have been fished to
capacity. 70 percent of coral reefs are endangered. We must reverse this
process -- preserving as many species as possible, and clamping down on
illegal and unsustainable fishing and logging practices -- while helping
people who currently depend on such activities to make a transition to more
sustainable ways of earning their living.
Finally, the area of health. The
links between the environment and human health are powerful. Toxic
chemicals and other hazardous materials are basic elements of development.
Yet more than one billion people breathe unhealthy air, and three million
people die each year from air pollution - two thirds of them poor people,
mostly women and children, who die from indoor pollution caused by burning
wood and dung. Tropical diseases such as malaria and African guinea worm
are closely linked with polluted water sources and poor sanitation.
Conventions and other steps aimed at reducing waste and eliminating the use
of certain chemicals and substances can go a long way to creating a
healthier environment. But we also need to know better how and where to act
- meaning that research and development are especially important,
particularly studies that focus more on the diseases of the poor than has
historically been the case.
Water. Energy. Health.
Agriculture. And biodiversity. Five areas that makeup an ambitious but
achievable agenda. Five areas in which progress is possible with the
resources and technologies at our disposal today. Five areas in which
progress would offer all human beings a chance of achieving prosperity that
will not only last their own lifetime, but can be enjoyed by their children
and grandchildren too. Five areas that can be remembered by a simply
acronym: WEHAB. You might think of it like this: we inhabit the earth. And
we must rehabilitate our one and only planet. I'm sure you can come up with
your own interpretations. I hope this will become something of a mantra
between now and the opening of the Summit in Johannesburg. Ladies and
Gentlemen, Archaeological discoveries of recent decades suggest that even
great civilizations, such as the Sumerians and the Mayans, met devastation
at least in part by failing to live in harmony with the natural
environment. We, too, have tempted fate for most of the past two hundred
years, fuelled by breakthroughs in science and technology and the belief
that natural limits to human well being had been conquered. Climate change
is a prime example of this. Today we know better, and have begun to
transform our societies, albeit haltingly. So far, our scientific
understanding continues to run ahead of our social and political response.
With some honourable exceptions, our efforts to change course are too few
and too little. The question now is whether they are also too late. In
Johannesburg, we have a chance to catch up. The issue is not environment
versus development, or ecology versus economy. Contrary to popular belief,
we can integrate the two. Nor is the issue one of rich versus poor. Both
have a clear interest in protecting the environment and promoting
sustainable development. At Johannesburg, Governments will agree on a common
plan of action. But the most creative agents of change may well be
partnerships -- among Governments, private businesses, non-profit
organizations, scholars and concerned citizens such as you. Together, we
will need to find our way towards to a greater sense of mutual
responsibility. Together, we will need to build a new ethic of global
stewardship. Together, we can and must write a new and more hopeful chapter
in natural - and human - history. Thank you very much.
Issued by the South African
Ministry of Environmental Affairs and Tourism
9 May 2002
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Two principles -- sustainability
and partnerships -- have become imperatives in almost all-human activity.
Just as the system of apartheid was unsustainable -- it imploded on its own
immorality -- so, too, will a world, which feeds on the earth at a rate
faster than it is able to replenish itself. Today, the world harvests fish
faster than the fish reproduce -- will future generations have fish to eat?
We pump carbon dioxide into the air faster than the production of oxygen by
forests. We destroy the earth as we develop. Sustainable development is
principally about human welfare rather than merely a "green" question.
It is no accident that the
programme for the African renaissance is entitled the New Partnership for
Africa's Development (NEPAD). For the poor of this world, for the
marginalised, for the African, the words of poet John Donne ring truer than
ever. "No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the
Continent, a part of the main."
Working in partnership -- acting
together with others -- makes it possible to tackle local and international
needs with the urgency needed. In his novel, The Heart of Redness, Zakes Mda
takes us to Qolorha-by-Sea on the Wild Coast:
"The developers, two bald white
men and a young black man, come early on a Saturday morning and insist that
the meeting be held at the lagoon. ... The young black man is introduced as
Lefo Leballo, the new chief executive officer of the black empowerment
company that is going to develop the village into a tourist heaven. ... The
two elderly white men -- both in black suits -- are Mr. Smith and Mr. Jones.
...
"Mr. Smith talks of the wonders
that will happen to Qolorha-by-Sea. There will be boats and water-skiing and
jet-skiing. ...
"'Right here,' says Mr. Smith,
'we shall see the biggest and most daring rides of all roller coasters in
the world ... over the rough sea.'
"'That is not all my dear
friends,' says Mr. Smith excitedly. 'We are going to have cable cars too.
Cable cars shall move across the water from one end of the lagoon to the
other.'
But Camagu is not impressed.
"'You talk of all these rides and
all these wonderful things,' he says, 'but for whose benefit are they? What
will these villagers who are sitting here get from all these things? ...
These things will be enjoyed only by the rich people who will come here and
pollute our rivers and our ocean.' ...
"[Zim, an elder, says] '...This
son of Cesane is right. They will destroy our trees and the plants of our
forefathers for nothing. We, the people of Qolorha, will not gain anything
from this.'
''You have nothing to offer these
people,' says Mr. Jones to Camagu. 'If you fight against these wonderful
developments, what do you have to offer in their place?'
"[Camagu replies] 'The promotion
of the kind of tourism that will benefit the people, that will not destroy
indigenous forests, that will not bring hordes of people who will pollute
the rivers and drive away the birds.'
"'That is just a dream,' shouts
Lefa Leballo. 'There is no such tourism.'"
This is the universal challenge
of sustainable development faced by humanity today! This is the challenge
before the World Summit on Sustainable Development. The Johannesburg Summit
is about the construction of a global partnership for the environmentally
sustainable social and economic development of the poor.
The decade since the Rio Earth
Summit held in 1992 has seen the process of globalisation create
unprecedented wealth, productivity and trade, while many developing
countries, and Africa in particular, have been pushed to the fringes of the
global system. Each year in the past decade an additional 10 million people
have joined the ranks of the very poor in Africa, Asia and Latin America.
For these people, the fine words of Agenda 21 has meant little. The last
decade was marked by unprecedented level of global concern for the
protection of the Earth's fragile environment. South Africa is of the view
that the Johannesburg Summit must negotiate a new global deal or partnership
that brings the economic and social pillars of sustainable development back
into the equation. Our watchwords are "People, Planet, Prosperity".
A new global deal on sustainable
development is possible because of certain key international developments:
* the decision of the UN
Millennium Summit in 2000 to halve world poverty by the year 2015;
* the World Trade Organisation's
Doha decision to embark on a development round of negotiations; and
* the adoption of the Monterrey
Consensus by the UN Finance for Development's conference, providing a
framework for development financing.
The main task of the Johannesburg
World Summit on Sustainable Development is to focus on implementation plans.
It must result in a programme of action whose elements will include access
to fresh water and sanitation, access to energy, food security, health care,
primary education and technology transfer. For us on the African continent,
this programme of action will be informed by NEPAD.
The formal intergovernmental
negotiations will be paralleled by a wide range of side events, cultural
activities, the Civil Society Forum, and many interest groups expressing
their views and contributions on a sustainable future for the planet. These
activities are where some of the real dynamism and creativity of the Summit
will be expressed, and where most of the large number of people visiting the
Summit will be engaged. Parliamentarians from around the world will also be
gathering in a special stakeholder event. Members of this House are playing
a key role in facilitating this event. I would like to commend the role
played by the Portfolio Committee and its chairperson, together with Globe
South Africa, in promoting dialogue on the key issues to be addressed at the
Summit. Logistical preparations for the Summit are at an advanced stage.
Government has established a dedicated non-profit organisation, the
Johannesburg World Summit Company (Jowsco) to manage these preparations.
Jowsco is managed jointly by national government, the Gauteng Province and
the Johannesburg Metro. In preparing the logistics we have paid careful
attention to issues such as black economic empowerment, community
participation and environmental best practice. We aim to make the Summit
"carbon neutral' by reducing greenhouse-gas emissions and investing in
forestry projects that will absorb the equivalent carbon dioxide emissions
generated by Summit activities. Gauteng is leading the project to "green"
the Summit, and I would like to commend MEC Mary Metcalfe for her visionary
role in this regard. The three spheres of government are also jointly making
key financial contributions to running the Summit, with a total government
contribution of R200m. These funds are being leveraged with donor and
corporate sponsorships to make up the total Summit budget of R551m. I would
like to give special thanks to those sponsors who have generously assisted
South Africa to pull off a major event of this scale. In all, we aim to
leverage the national government's budget of R140m four times over. We
estimate that this will bring at least R1,5 billion into the South African
economy, in addition to the benefits associated with branding, imaging and
tourism, which are less easy to quantify. Madam Speaker, the preparation
time South Africa has had for this Summit has been extremely tight. I am
nevertheless confident that all our arrangements are on track, and that we
have both the capacity and commitment in our management team to do this
country proud in hosting this Summit. We look forward to hosting you, Madam
Speaker, together with other members of this House, in Johannesburg, and
hope that we can continue to rely on your support in the complex
preparations for the Summit over the next few months.
Full text of the Minister Speech:
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Accra Mail
6 May 2002
Internet:
http://allafrica.com/stories/200205050016.html
Baroness Amos, the UK Foreign and
Commonwealth Office Minister of Africa, delivered a speech at the Department
of International Development (DFID) Development Policy Forum 2002, in
Cardiff, Wales on 24 April. Below, are excerpts of her speech.
TAKING A TARGETED APPROACH
We know that if we are to achieve
the Millennium Development Goals and halve the proportion of people living
in abject poverty by 2015 then we need to do more than just increase the
level of development assistance - we need average economic growth in
sub-Saharan Africa of 7% and that is only achievable if African countries
can contain capital flight, attract foreign direct investment, increase
their proportion of international trade, put increased resources into social
sectors like health and education and demonstrate transparency in key areas
of political and economic governance. Internationally DFID have led
discussion of this agenda. The 2000 White Paper on International Development
which focussed on globalisation stressed the need to promote policies and
measures to enhance the pro poor impact of globalisation. The work we did
then remains important and I am pleased that the focus of this round of
Development Policy Forums is on globalisation.
THE IMPACT OF GLOBALISATION
Globalisation has become a key
word covering a large number of areas, yet is a word that few of us may have
grown up with, or fully understand. But we all increasingly see the impact
of global events on all our lives, whether through work, travel, culture or
the many other ways in which events or actions across the globe affect us.
In a post-11 September world, we are all much more conscious of the
interrelationship between countries, between developed and developing
countries and the complexity of those relationships. At the same time there
are concerns about globalisation. When people express concern about
globalisation it usually revolves around concerns regarding the pace of
economic and social change, effects on culture and effects on the poor.
People feel it is a political process they are unable to influence. But
globalisation is a human made process, which gives people the opportunity to
interact with and influence the process. [This] is a key opportunity to
explore how we can manage globalisation to work better for poor people. We
are specifically here to explore issues surrounding trade, the environment
and the private sector - key areas on which we need to focus to ensure poor
countries can lift their poorest citizens out of poverty. We are here to
discuss issues of environment and development as preparations gather pace
for the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg this August,
10 years after the UN Conference on the Environment and Development, in Rio
in 1992.
POVERTY, THE ENVIRONMENT AND
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
The Summit in Johannesburg offers
an important opportunity to carry forward the debate on the links between
environment and development. The Summit's title alone - 'World Summit on
Sustainable Development (WSSD)' - reflects a growing realisation that the
environment and development are inextricably linked. WSSD will focus on the
relationship between poverty, globalisation and sustainable development:
issues fundamental to the Government's strategy as outlined in the 2000
White Paper 'Making Globalisation work for the Poor'. It is also timely to
be discussing today how to make trade work better for the poor, following
the 4th World Trade Organisation's Ministerial which took place in Doha last
November.
LIBERALISING THE MARKETS
The poorest countries need
improved trading opportunities in order to help them sell their goods and
therefore help the one in five of the world's population that still lives in
extreme poverty to participate in the growing wealth of the planet. Africa
has less than 1% of world trade. Doubling that would provide a flow of
resources equal to total aid in Africa which would create the conditions to
enable us to overcome deep-seated historical inequalities. According to the
latest World Bank figures, the continued opening of markets to trade could
lift an additional 300 million people out of poverty, helping us make the
Millennium Development Goals on poverty reduction a reality. That is why at
Doha, the UK Government pushed for the next round of World Trade
Organisation negotiations to be a 'development round' - to address
specifically the ways in which the liberalisation of trade can benefit the
world's poor. The outcome of Doha was in many ways positive for developing
countries, though much work remains to be done. That is why it is vital we
all work to ensure that commitments made at Doha become a reality.
PROMOTING DEVELOPMENT THROUGH THE
PRIVATE SECTOR
And many of the issues
surrounding today's third theme: 'Promoting International Development
Through the Private Sector', are directly linked to both environment and
trade. Private sector economic activities often directly impact on the
environment and in turn on the poor's livelihoods, health and vulnerability.
Consequently, there has been growing pressure for socially responsible
behaviour by businesses, both in the UK and abroad. Many of these changes in
the private sector's behaviour, have resulted from pressure from consumers
causing businesses to realise that socially responsible business is not only
a moral imperative, but also in their hard-headed business self interest.
The private sector is also at the heart of debates on trade and development.
Through development of the export private sector in developing countries,
more poor people will be able to capture the gains from international trade.
In turn, progress can be made on reducing world poverty. Already, foreign
direct investment in developing countries is more than three times the
current volume of development aid. Yet receipt of this investment is highly
skewed - with little flowing into sub-Saharan Africa. We need to explore
ways that all developing countries can attract investment to enable the
private sector to contribute to their development.
NEPAD AND THE G8
NEPAD is a continental strategy
directed to the achievement of sustainable development in Africa. It gives
firmer expression to the idea of African Renaissance. It recognises African
responsibility to create the conditions for development by ending conflict,
improving economic and political governance and strengthening regional
integration. It seeks international support to achieve these goals and to
end Africa's acute economic marginalisation through such measures as
increased resource flows, improved trade access and debt relief. It
identifies infrastructure, agricultural diversification and human
development (health and education) as priority sectors. NEPAD's long term
objectives are: to develop African machinery for achieving peace and
security; to agree codes and standards for economic and political governance
and a peer review mechanism for ensuring compliance with them; to develop
regional infrastructure to enhance regional integration; to achieve better
terms of trade for African products; to develop strategies in priority areas
including human development (health and education) and agriculture.
CONCLUSION
Africa is getting poorer and
falling further behind. It represents our greatest challenge as a world
community and that is why at last year's G8 Summit in Genoa G8 leaders
committed to the development of a G8 Africa Action Plan to support the work
of NEPAD. The G8 working with African leaders have a historic opportunity to
develop a partnership to deliver tangible improvements to the lives of poor
people. That is why the G8 is looking at the following areas: Peace and
Security; Economic Growth, Trade and Investment; Education and Health;
Agriculture and Water, Aid Effectiveness
UN HABITAT
3 May 2002
Internet:
http://www.unhabitat.org/uf/closingSankie.html
Mr. Vice-Chair, My colleagues,
Members of the Advisory Group for the First Session of the World Urban
Forum, Executive Director of UN-Habitat, Hounorable Ministers, Excellencies,
Mayors of cities from across the world, Partners of the Habitat Agenda,
Ladies and Gentlemen, It is now my honour and privilege to present to you my
concluding statement at this final session of the first meeting of the World
Urban Forum. I do this with a deep sense of satisfaction and with a great
sigh of relief. Being the first World Urban Forum, and the first global
gathering of this nature with the main purpose of strengthening the
coordination of international support to the implementation of the Habitat
Agenda, I feel that our meeting has been fully successful. The last five
days were packed with intensive debates in the form of global dialogues and
an impressive series of parallel events among the growing family of Habitat
Agenda partners, fully in the spirit of global partnership which was created
at the Istanbul Conference nearly 6 years ago. Let me state clearly at the
outset, that this open-ended gathering of Governments at all levels and
organizations of civil society has already, at its first session,
demonstrated its capacity to be a global marketplace of collecting and
exchanging views on the future of cities and other human settlements, and on
their role in sustainable development. I am confident, therefore, that the
results of this impressive gathering of government representatives, public
authority officials and partners in the professional, non governmental
sector and civil society are truly reflective of the partnership concept
which has to be given life and direction for achieving the twin Habitat
Agenda goals of adequate shelter for all and sustainable urbanization.
Ladies and Gentlemen, The first session of the World Urban Forum is taking
place at an opportune moment in the life of international cooperation,
specifically in relation to the debate on sustainable development, and the
Millennium Declaration on Cities without Slums. As we are aware, the Forum
is expected to make a major contribution on advising on the best ways to
meet the targets set by World Leaders at the Millennium Summit of improving
the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers by the year 2020. At this
first session, the Urban Forum has pronounced itself very clearly on several
principles in this respect, of which I want to mention only two: (1) First,
the dialogues contributed towards the emerging concept of the "right to the
city" and its essential element of citizenship, which is fundamental in
establishing democratic partnerships at local levels so that cities become
inclusive and belong to all of its citizens, and in so doing ensure good
governance. (2) Second, the dialogues underlined that forced evictions are
detrimental to the goals of cities without slums and must stop, as they
create obstacles to the progress of achieving democratic partnerships. They
have the tendency to reinforce exclusion and instigate instability. With
regard to the international debate on sustainable development, the dialogues
at this first World Urban Forum fully endorsed the vision of inclusive
cities and habitable human settlements making important contributions
towards sustainable development at the local level as we move in to the
declared "Millennium of The City". We are conscious of the critical
implications of a world in which the majority of the population will live in
urban settlements by the year 2020. We are equally clear about implications
of the phenomenal momentum of the urbanization that will take place in the
developing world particularly in Africa, and that it will manifest itself in
a growth of informal settlements. Thus the adoption of the programme for
"Cities without Slums". Linked to this is the need to define and provide a
support programme for the provision of water and sanitation to such growing
settlements. Another issue of major concern in this regard is the impact of
the Aids phenomena. Hence Local Agendas 21, a stronger role for local
authorities, as well as new forms of city-to-city cooperation and the
creation of institutional synergy. They become key instruments in allowing
urban localities to assert their significant role towards socially inclusive
and environmentally sustainable development. I look forward to a continuing
debate on the important matter of decentralization, which is fundamental to
strengthening the capacity of local authorities to deal with the phenomena
outlined. The conclusions from the dialogue on sustainable urbanization and
the role of cities in sustainable development are expected to be significant
inputs to the debates on sustainable development at the forthcoming World
Summit for Sustainable Development. Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to
underline in this context, that the challenges to the role of human
settlements in sustainable development are quite poignant in the African
context. Traditional rural settlements with an agrarian character and
subsistence production may at times be considered more sustainable than
urban settlements with their massive requirements for infrastructure and
energy in poorly performing economies. We recognize that Africa is being
propelled into the urban age, posing challenges, which are both similar and
different from those faced by urbanization in other regions. It will be
important for African countries; therefore, to develop models of
urbanization which acknowledge the peculiar African context and the close
linkages between urban and rural development in our countries. I am pleased
to note that this Urban Forum has taken up the topic of rural-urban
relationships in national development, as rural development remains a major
concern not only of African countries. Ladies and Gentlemen, As you are
aware, South Africa is honoured to host the World Summit for Sustainable
Development (WSSD) which will take place in Johannesburg later this year,
from 26 August to 4 September. The theme of the WSSD is "People, the Planet
and Prosperity", and its overall aim is to strengthen, at the highest
political level, the global commitment by governments and their civil
society partners towards the goals of sustainable development, as they have
been pronounced in the Agenda 21. The summit is expected to review the
progress made by countries in implementing the Agenda 21, examine obstacles
which have been encountered, exchange lessons of the recent past and assess
emerging factors which determine the complexities and multiple facets of
sustainable development. You will recall that in Rio de Janeiro five years
ago, the three pillars of sustainability (economic, social and
environmental) were first acknowledged, with an emphasis on achieving a
balance between them. In Johannesburg, there will be a new focus on
redressing the inequalities between these three pillars. Some of the themes
underpinning the preparations of WSSD, therefore, have included the need to
address poverty, environment and development, financing mechanisms,
technology transfer, trade and the environment, energy, environmental health
and land degradation. The brief mentioning of these WSSD themes to the
participants of the World Urban Forum immediately brings to mind the direct
relevance which the process of urbanization and urban development have for
the goals of sustainable development. In fact, the quality of managing our
cities and other human settlements determines, to a large extent, the
chances of achieving the key sustainability goals of social equity and
inclusiveness, economic progress and environmental protection at the local
level.
I want to ensure, in my capacity
of having chaired the first World Urban Forum and representative of the host
government of the WSSD, that the close interdependencies between rapid
processes urbanization, urban governance and sustainable development are
projected in the debates in Johannesburg. The work of UN Habitat and of the
Habitat Agenda partners, as well as the results of this first session of the
World Urban Forum, are essential in creating a common understanding on the
pivotal role of the management of human settlements in addressing the issues
of sustainable development. To quote from para 101 of the Habitat Agenda:
"The sustainability of the global environment and human life will not be
achieved unless ... human settlements in both rural and urban areas are made
economically buoyant, socially vibrant and environmentally sound, with full
respect for cultural, religious and natural heritage and diversity". I am
very pleased to note that the first session of the Urban Forum, in debating
sustainable urbanization in the context of WSSD, benefited from preparatory
work carried out here in Nairobi under the auspices of the Committee of
Permanent Representatives. In particular, I wish to quote specifically the
language which has already been proposed by UN-Habitat for the "Programme of
Action" under the common title of "Reducing Urban Poverty and Promoting
Sustainable Settlements Development". It has been suggested that Heads of
State and Governments:
1. Resolve to support initiatives
that help cities and other human settlements make their important
contribution to socially, economically and environmentally sustainable
development at the local, national, and global levels.
2. Resolve to improve, by 2020,
the lives of 100 million slum dwellers in accordance with the commitments of
the Habitat Agenda, the UN Millennium Declaration, and the Declaration on
Cities and other Human Settlements in the New Millennium. This should
include promotion of secure tenure and affordable shelter for the urban
poor, access to save drinking water for all and provision of basic
infrastructure and urban services, including adequate sanitation, waste
management and sustainable transport.
3. Resolve to support initiatives
that help local actors, especially local authorities and their partners to
improve their planning, implementation and management capacities. This
should include support for assuring effective and efficient governance of
cities and other human settlements through strong and accountable public
institutions, decentralization, and the promotion of participatory
environmental planning and management practices.
4. Reconfirm the role of
UN-Habitat in advocating and promoting the goals of adequate shelter for all
and sustainable human settlements development and commit ourselves to
strengthen partnership mechanisms for the promotion of cohesion and
collective efficiency in the international response to local capacity
building needs". (end of quote)
You will note that this proposed
language corresponds directly to the "Declaration on Cities and other Human
Settlements in the New Millennium" which was adopted at the Istanbul+5
session in New York last years, and to the Millennium Declaration of the
United Nations, approved by the world leaders in September 2000. It is,
therefore, critical that issues with regards to sustainable human
settlements should form part of the Agenda of the World Summit on
Sustainable Development. I urge all government representatives to ensure
that the substantive issues of this forum are incorporated in the WSSD
agenda. As partners who acknowledge the importance of sustainable human
settlements, it is essential, however, that we recognise the competing
interests of vying for a place on the agenda of the WSSD. We should commit
ourselves to endeavour to place issues of sustainable human settlements
firmly on the development agenda at the WSSD PrepCom 4 which is scheduled to
take place in Bali by the end of May. To this end, I urge all Governments,
Habitat Partners, and especially country delegations and UN agencies to work
together at PrepCom 4 in raising the profile of issues of human settlements
and supporting the call to have it placed firmly on the agenda of the WSSD.
In this regard, it gives me great pleasure to announce that South Africa and
UN Habitat will jointly organise a Round Table on Sustainable Human
Settlements in Africa as a parallel event at the WSSD. In conclusion, I
would like to reiterate that we were here in Nairobi to share our
experience, thoughts and ideas on the issues which determine the future of
human settlements in the Millennium of the City. We did so in order that we,
as Habitat Partners, can provide coordinated and concerted direction to
partnership action in implementing the Habitat Agenda. I think that the
format for this first session of the World Urban Forum, in terms of dialogue
sessions and parallel events, has demonstrated its potential to make the
partnership approach between Governments at the national and local levels,
and their partners in civil society, a reality. Jointly, with the Co-chair,
Hon. Minister Sören Häggroth, I will submit the report of this first session
of the World Urban Forum to you, Mrs. Tibaijuka, in our capacity as advisory
body to UN-HABITAT. I very much look forward to the next session of the
World Urban Forum which will take place in Barcelona, in September 2004.
Lastly, It is my pleasant duty to thank the Executive Director of UN Habitat
Mrs. Anna Tibaijuka and her dedicated staff, as well as the Government of
Kenya for the excellent arrangements and warm hospitality which made this
meeting possible. My thanks go equally to the local authorities and their
associations, to the parliamentarians and to our partners, the
non-governmental organizations, the slum dwellers associations, the
professional organizations, the youth groups and the women groups who, by
having contributed immensely to the dialogues and debates, have all
exhibited the Habitat spirit of partnership. Through your active
participation, the World Urban Forum has demonstrated its potential to
become an effective venue of global civic engagement towards meeting our
common goals of sustainable urbanization and shelter for all. I thank you.
BBC Monitoring Service via
Financial Times
1 May 2002
Internet:
http://globalarchive.ft.com/globalarchive/article.html?id=020501010631&query=Johannesburg+Summit
Sydney, May 1 Kyodo - Mr Hugh
Morgan, chairman of the Asia Society Australia Asia Centre,
The Honourable Minister for Trade
Mr Mark Vaile, The Honourable Minister for Foreign Affairs Mr Alexander
Downer, Ladies and Gentlemen, I would like to extend my sincere appreciation
to Mr Morgan for giving me an opportunity to speak here today. In this
capacity of president of the Australia-Japan Business Cooperation Committee
Mr Morgan, together with Mr Imai, president of the Japan Federation of
Economic Organizations and Mr Murofushi, chairman of Itochu Corp., has long
worked for the promotion of bilateral economic relations, and has given me
significant proposals on the future course of our relationship. I would like
to thank him once again for his efforts. I last visited Australia in 1998
when I was minister of health and welfare. I vividly remember Dr Wooldridge,
then minister for health and family services, showing me his wonderful wine
collection. Mr Smith, then minister for family services, took me to his
farmhouse in a beautiful area of Tasmania. Mr Smith recently came to see me
in Tokyo, and we talked about the memories at the time of my visit.
Australia is a valuable mate to Japan as well as to myself. The Japanese
people think highly of Australia. A recent public opinion poll indicated
that Australia is the most popular country among Japanese. My son homestayed
in Australia two years in a row during his summer vacation. I suggested to
him that he visit another country in the second year, but he chose
Australia. He clearly feels Australia's hospitality. Australia and Japan
have a long history of cooperation. Let me give you a symbolic example.
Around 90 years ago, Japan dispatched for the first time an Antarctic
expedition party led by Lt Shirase. The party failed to reach the Antarctic
and arrived in Sydney to prepare another attempt. Australians offered moral
and financial support to the Shirase party, which was suffering from various
difficulties. Eighty-seven years later, the icebreaker "Shirase", named
after the lieutenant, rescued an Australian research and transportation
vessel, the "Aurora Australis," which was trapped in the ice. I do not know
of a better basis for friendship than the people of one country helping the
people of another country in times of difficulty. Japan and Australia have
different landscapes and histories, but we share values and interests that
provide the basis for our cooperation. We are friends, and I believe we
should be even better friends. I came to Australia to let you know that
Japan seeks to deepen the spirit of cooperation between us. In today's
meeting, Prime Minister Howard and I agreed that our two governments should
construct a "Creative Partnership" - a partnership that would enhance
exchanges on political and security issues, strengthen economic ties and
intensify cooperation and share experiences on educational, social,
scientific, technological and other matters. Very notably, Prime Minister
Howard and I agreed that we should explore all options for deeper economic
linkages. We must consider what type of economic partnership we should
create to respond to the new international economic realities, particularly
in East Asia, while maintaining the basic structure of our complementary
economic relationship. I realize that the recovery of the Japanese economy,
which alone accounts for 60 per cent of Asian GDP, has a big impact on the
economic dynamism of East Asia, including Australia. Looking over history,
one can see that nations decline without new visions and without the reforms
to bring them about. I do not intend to let that happen to Japan.
Australia's current good economic performance can be attributed to the tough
economic and regulatory reforms that you undertook. I congratulate you.
Japan must do the same. Japan must sacrifice what it is for what it can
become. A decade ago when Japan was in the economic bubble, we were
overconfident and neglected reform. Now, we have lost our confidence. I keep
telling the Japanese people that we should avoid both of them. Since my
appointment as prime minister last April, I have accelerated my country's
reform as a matter of the highest priority. I have also launched measures to
tackle deflation. It is an economic certainty that Japan will have "no
growth without reform." I have total confidence in the potential of the
Japanese economy in such fields as technology, human resources and IT. While
dislocation and resistance always accompany true reform, I believe reform
will be achieved. It must be achieved, because it is indispensable to the
future of Japan, East Asia and the global economy. I often hear the
questions, "Why isn't structural reform occurring faster? Why don't we see
more results?" I would point out that Great Britain experienced negative
growth for the first two years after Prime Minister Thatcher's reforms were
inaugurated. Likewise, the United States under President Reagan suffered
negative growth before enjoying the fruits of his reforms several years
later. Our structural reform includes the disposal of nonperforming loans
over the course of the next two or three years, the reform of
government-affiliated corporations, the participation of private capital in
postal businesses, the abolition of regulations preventing free economic
activities in the private sector and changes in rigid fiscal and social
systems. Reforms are already underway, and I believe we can see indications
that the economy is moving towards bottoming out. The structural reform is
expected to encourage foreign investment in Japan, which would further
accelerate the recovery of the Japanese economy. Our cooperation in the Asia
Pacific region is also an important agenda for our Creative Partnership.
Today, I would like to focus upon one aspect of that, our cooperation in
East Asia. East Asia is the region with the greatest potential for growth in
the world. In the speech I made in Singapore, I made a proposal of a
"community that acts together and advances together". Australia should
become a core member of such a community. I do not believe it is always the
best policy to set up new organizations or institutions to build a
community. In a region like East Asia where there is great deal of
diversity, I believe functional cooperation itself can be more effective. We
will do by doing. Acts of cooperation in themselves will create a sense of
community. Let me give you some examples of the kind of functional
cooperation that I mean. The first example would be joint efforts for
regional stability. Japan respects the leadership shown by Australia in the
stabilization of East Timor. I sincerely hope that Australia, in cooperation
with the United Nations and countries in the region, will continue to play
an active role in the nation-building process, which will significantly
contribute to the stability of the entire region. Japan has already
dispatched engineering units of our Self-Defence Forces to East Timor as a
part of UN peacekeeping operations. We would like to cooperate with
Australia in this context. Second, we need intensive cooperation to solve
transnational issues such as smuggling of people. I greatly appreciate the
work of Australia and Indonesia in co-chairing the Regional Minister
Conference last February in Bali. This type of joint initiative is extremely
useful. Third, further strengthening of regional economic partnership by
focusing on trade and investment is very important. I know that the
Australian government has been pursuing ways to bring about closer economic
relations with Korea, China, Singapore and Thailand. Such endeavours will
add significantly to the creation of a community. Japan, too, has been
exploring comprehensive economic partnership with ASEAN and Korea. I believe
this is a policy agenda that we can work on respectively. In East Asia, we
should give consideration to the diversity in the region and uniqueness of
other countries. Furthermore, in promoting cooperation and joint regional
initiatives, we should respect the existing regional cooperation frameworks.
We should avoid foisting our values on our neighbours. Australia embraces a
considerable diversity in its own territory and, having overcome
difficulties arising from such diversity, is building a multicultural
nation. Australia's understanding of diversity can help strengthen
cooperation throughout our region. Japan and Australia have been core
members of APEC since its creation and we need to continue our cooperation
in the framework of APEC. We can work together globally on the basis of our
shared values. Terrorism poses the most serious threat to democracy and the
rule of law. We share the common objective of fighting the madness of
terrorism. Japan has dispatched Maritime Self-Defence ships to the Indian
Ocean. Australia has deployed vessels and special forces to Afghanistan. I
have been told of Sgt. Andrew Robert Russell who lost his life in
Afghanistan. We wish to express our deepest condolences to Sgt. Russell's
family. I would also like to pay my most heartfelt tribute to the numerous
contributions Australia has made for international peace and security.
International solidarity is of vital importance in fighting terrorism. In
light of this importance, Prime Minister Howard and I agreed that our two
nations need to consult on counterterrorism measures. Since the end of the
Cold War, regional conflicts arising from religious and ethnic causes have
been rampant the world over. The international society has been engaged in
peacekeeping operations designed to consolidate peace and build basic
foundations in countries suffering from such conflicts. The government of
Japan will consider how to increase our international role by providing an
added pillar for the consolidation of peace and nation-building. We hope to
cooperate with Australia, which has expertise and experience in this area.
In trying to achieve the goal of a free market economy, we must expand and
improve the multilateral free trade system. Trade is the benefactor of
nations. For this purpose, Japan would like to closely cooperate with
Australia for the success of the new round of WTO negotiations. I believe
that our two countries can find common positions on trade liberalization as
well as improvement, strengthening and extension of WTO rules.
ENVIRONMENT
Global environmental protection
is becoming increasingly urgent. In the run-up to the Johannesburg Summit,
Japan is proposing an idea of "Global Sharing", in which, each country
shares strategy, responsibility and experience. I hope that Japan and
Australia can work together and make positive contributions to the success
of the summit. The early ratification of the Kyoto Protocol would be an
important step forward to strengthen international efforts. Implementing the
commitment in the protocol is not easy for Japan, which has already achieved
the highest level of energy efficiency. Nevertheless, I am determined to
ratify the protocol with the approval of the Diet in the current session. I
strongly hope that Australia will move forward to ratify the protocol with
us.
In conclusion, I would like to
mention an element that I respect in the character of the Australian people.
During World War II, the Australian Navy held a navy-style funeral for
Japanese soldiers who infiltrated Sydney Harbour in midget submarines. Rear
Admiral Muirhead-Gould, who was in charge of the funeral, said, "However
horrible war and its results may be, it is a courage which is recognized and
universally admired. These men were patriots of the highest order." The
coffins of the soldiers were wrapped in the Japanese flag and their ashes
were sent back to their home country. From the bottom of my heart, let me
say that I sincerely respect the Australian people's generosity and fair
spirit - even towards enemies in time of war. There is an epilogue to this.
Twenty-two years later, the mother of the late commander Matsuo, one of the
soldiers who died, visited Australia to express her appreciation and to
console the spirit of her son here in Sydney Bay. The people of Australia,
including then Prime Minister Gorton, warmly and generously welcomed her,
saying, "The mother of the brave has come." I also admire the enthusiasm and
forward-looking outlook with which they face the future. It is said that the
kangaroo and the emu, two animals depicted in Australia's national emblem
known for always moving forward and never retreating, symbolize the
character of the Australian people. With such characteristics, the people in
Australia have succeeded in a series of reforms that have built the
Australia that stands today. With that same forward-looking spirit, Prime
Minister Howard and I agreed to construct a "Creative Partnership." As we
begin this new century, I sincerely believe that we can increase our
cooperation in a spirit that strengthens our friendship and embraces the
future. Thank you very much.
45) MONTERREY: WHAT ABOUT PYGMIES WHO ARE YET TO SEE THE DOLLAR?
The East African (Nairobi)
6 May 2002
Internet:
http://allafrica.com/stories/200205070093.html
Dr Claude
Martin is the director-general, WWF International
Has the UN Conference on
Financing for Development in Monterrey, Mexico, really been a turning point
in development aid, as some commentators have maintained, or was it just a
spin to camouflage the disappointing commitments made by the rich nations?
President George W Bush's announcement of a $5 billion increase in aid from
2004 will raise the American contribution by about 50 per cent, but this
must be set against the fact that the US currently spends a paltry 0.1 per
cent of its GNP on development aid. Similarly, the European Union has
committed an additional $7 billion by 2006, and announced a gradual increase
in its aid budget to 0.39 per cent - yet that is still well short of the UN
target of 0.7 per cent of the industrialised countries' gross domestic
product. However it is presented, Monterrey did not come up with the
additional $50 billion a year the World Bank has said would be necessary to
reach the UN millennium declaration target of halving world poverty by 2015.
There are two immediate conclusions to be drawn. The first is that the
thoughtful declarations after September 11, which recognised that we are
living in one world, not two, have now been proved to be nothing more than
lip service. Second, the Monterrey outcome is a bad omen for the forthcoming
World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) in Johannesburg, South
Africa, particularly in view of the projected increase over the coming three
years in global military spending to more than $900 billion, a level about
15 times higher than the aid budget. However sad this may be though, we need
to realise that poverty reduction is not solely a matter of aid funding,
often not even a question of financial investment. In fact, the history of
development aid is littered with examples of projects that have been badly
adapted to local circumstances, and the money has, in consequence, deepened
poverty - not to mention programmes that were more of an export promotion by
donor countries than actual development aid. One of the reasons for this
failure is the inability to fully understand the root causes of poverty and
a simplistic way of measuring it. This is evident in the current poverty
reduction debate because, a dollar value is used to measure poverty.
According to the UN and a number of intergovernmental institutions, there
are 1.2 billion poor people who live on less than a dollar a day. So what
about the Amazon Indians, the Penan tribe, or the Baka pygmies who have
never seen a greenback, and maybe not even the local currency? Their
incomes, livelihoods, and social and cultural integrity depend entirely on
the goods from forests. In fact, the moment currency appears in their forest
settlements, it may result in the demise of their cultures and the start of
real poverty. There are at least 1,400 distinct indigenous and traditional
peoples living in the world's forest areas alone. Are they poor because they
do not have a monetised system? Perhaps one may point to the comparatively
low numbers of indigenous peoples who may have been included among those
living in absolute poverty by default. But what about the vast majority of
the 1.2 billion poor people who, according to a World Bank study, depend at
least partly on forest resources? Twice as many people rely on traditional
medicines for their primary health care. Are some of them poor because our
current system of national accounts, which measures everything in GNP terms,
cannot assess the value of natural goods and services? I am in no way
downplaying the crucial importance of poverty eradication, and I understand
the need to put numbers to it, but unless we have more sophisticated ways of
classifying poverty - which must include social and cultural criteria and
account for natural resource use - aid programmes may lead to the same
failures as past development programmes. Understanding the root causes of
poverty also means analysing the impact of Northern consumer markets and
trade on the livelihoods of poor countries. Trade barriers imposed by
industrialised nations on goods from developing countries seriously limit
the development options of some of the poorest. Tariff barriers on the
import of textiles from developing countries are a classic example of
protectionist measures by rich nations that fly in the face of poverty
reduction goals. In addition, billions of dollars and Euros go to
agricultural and fisheries subsidies which damage the livelihood of many
rural poor in developing countries. The EU, for example, subsidises its
vastly oversized fishing fleet to fish the coastal waters of Africa under
fisheries access agreements, thus directly competing with poor traditional
fishing communities for an increasingly scarce resource. This is in direct
contradiction to the EU's own development policies. Then, there is the
increasing impact of climate change. According to statistics from the
reinsurance company Munich Re, the damage caused by weather-related events
has increased dramatically over the past decade and affects the poorest
countries of the world far more significantly than richer nations. This
damage now amounts to 13.5 per cent of the GDP of the poorest countries.
Some conservation organisations have learned through many years' experience
that even modest investments in poor countries can make a huge difference if
funds are strategically applied, based on proper analysis of the local
situation, and used to promote local capacity, particularly when combined
with policy change. Thus, whether Monterrey was a turning point in financing
development or not cannot simply be judged in terms of billions of dollars,
regrettable as it is that industrialised nations do not "walk the talk."
What will determine the prospects for development aid is whether donor
nations are serious enough in applying aid for pro-poor strategies, based on
valuation of natural resource contributions; whether they resist misusing
aid funds to promote exports of industrial goods; and whether they are
prepared to abolish trade barriers and perverse subsidies that are in
flagrant contradiction to their own development policies. An important step
in that direction could be made by the governments of industrialised
countries at the upcoming World Summit for Sustainable Development (WSSD) in
Johannesburg.
The Jakarta Post
6 May 2002
Internet:
http://www.thejakartapost.com/yesterdaydetail.asp?fileid=20020506.F03
Harry Surjadi, Journalist,
Jakarta
The Earth cannot go on like this.
Unsustainable development threatens its health and the health of the
billions of people who call it home. And despite a litany of reports,
gatherings and special bodies, such as Rachel Carlson's Silent Spring 1965,
the Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment in 1972, the establishment
of the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) and the World Commission on
Environment and Development in 1983, Brundtland Report's Our Common Future
1987 and the Earth Summit in 1992, the threat remains. The world's forested
area has declined from 11.4 square kilometers per person in 1970 to only 7.3
km2 per person at present. Forest Watch Indonesia reported in 2002 that the
deforestation rate in the country had been about two million hectare per
year since 1996. In 1980, the rate of deforestation was estimated at about
one million hectares per year, and in the 1990s the figure was 1.7 million
hectares per year. The World Bank estimates that by 2005 all lowland forests
in Sumatra will be gone, while in Kalimantan the lowland forest will
disappear by 2010. In addition, nearly 70 percent of the world's major fish
stocks are overfished or are being fished at their biological limit, to meet
the growing demand for fish and fish products. It is estimated that
worldwide, soil degradation affects over two billion hectares of land.
Almost 60 percent of the world's large rivers have been diverted to meet the
growing demand for water, especially for agriculture. According to the 2000
International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural
Resources-World Conservation Union (IUCN)'s Red List of Threatened Species,
a third wave of a major global species extinction is emerging. In the 1997,
the IUCN Red List of Threatened Plants listed an extraordinary number
(34,000) of plant species. About 11,046 species were threatened with
extinction and 816 species had already become extinct. Indonesia has lost
some 20 percent to 70 percent of its original habitat types. Species
extinction is estimated at one per day. The 1998 Reefs at Risk Report
estimated that as much as 58 percent of the world's coral reefs are at high
to medium risk from human impact. In Indonesia, it is estimated that only
6.2 percent of all coral reefs are still in very good condition, 23.7
percent are in good condition, 28.3 percent are in relatively good condition
and 41.8 percent are in damaged condition. The Status of Coral Reefs of the
World 2000 report predicted that over half of the world's coral reef areas
may be lost in 30 years if efforts to conserve them are not enhanced.
Poverty has increased in some countries, and the gap between the richest and
poorest countries has increased. Based on an international poverty line of
US$1 per day, about 1.2 billion people live in poverty. A large majority of
these people are in Asia, with about 522 million in South Asia and 267
million in East Asia, including Southeast Asia. The Asian economic crisis
that began in 1997 has led to substantial short-term increases in poverty,
particularly in Indonesia, South Korea and Thailand. In Indonesia, the
poverty rate almost doubled from 1996 to 1999. Approximately 826 million
people worldwide were thought to be chronically undernourished from 1996 to
1998, of which some 792 million lived in developing countries. In some of
the poorest countries, one in five children still fails to reach his or her
fifth birthday, mainly owing to infectious diseases related to the
environment. More than 20 million women continue to experience ill health
each year as a result of pregnancy. The lives of eight million of these
women are threatened by serious health problems, and about 500,000 women,
almost 90 percent of them in Africa and Asia, die from pregnancy and
childbirth-related disorders. More than one billion people are without
access to adequate water supplies, and 2.4 billion lack access to adequate
sanitation. Diarrhea diseases, largely preventable through access to safe
drinking water, sanitation and clean food, claim 1.5 million lives a year
among children under five years of age. The Earth's climate is now changing.
According to Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate (IPCC), the Earth's
atmosphere near the surface warmed overall by between 0.4 degrees and 0.8
degrees Celsius over the past 100 years. Given all these developments, the
United Nations, during its 55th General Assembly, decided to organize a
summit to review any progress achieved on the environmental front over the
last 10 years ahead of the UN Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED)
in Johannesburg, South Africa, in September 2002. And the summit will be
called the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD). The Commission on
Sustainable Development (CSD) will act as the preparatory committee for the
WSSD. And during the 10th session of the CSD, professor Emil Salim of
Indonesia was elected committee chairman. The UN General Assembly has also
decided to organize a third and final substantive preparatory session at the
ministerial level in Nusa Dua, Bali, Indonesia. This session will be held
from May 27 to June 7. The 10-year review of progress achieved since the UN
Conference on the Environment and Development should focus on the
implementation of Agenda 21 and other outcomes of the Conference, which were
adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1997. Of the utmost importance is that
the summit, including the preparatory process leading up to it, ensures a
balance between economic development, social development and environmental
protection, as these three things are interdependent and mutually
reinforcing components of sustainable development UN Resolution 55/199
encourages effective contributions from and the active participation of nine
major groups at all stages of the summit's preparatory process. The nine
major groups, as identified in Agenda 21, are children and youth, indigenous
people, non-governmental organizations, women, workers and trade unions,
scientific and technology communities, local authorities, farmers, business
and industry. Will the summit result in the sustainable development of
Earth? Yes, if the Earth is no longer dominated by a small group of people,
made up of world leaders, the heads of multinational corporation and the
heads of international financial institutions such as the International
Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the World Trade Organization. The Earth
belongs to the people, not international institutions.
4 May 2002
Internet:
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/020505/79/1hrld.html
Richard
Reeves
LOS ANGELES -- "We are headed for
disaster," said Paul Boyer, whose knowledge of the chemistry of nutrition
was good enough to share a Nobel Prize in 1997. Dr. Boyer, whose academic
home is UCLA, was speaking to an impressive audience of do-gooders at a
conference here last week. Hundreds of people nodded. They had come here to
prepare for the World Summit on Sustainable Development, which will be held
in Johannesburg, South Africa, this summer. The summit, to its credit, is
trying to deal with old ecological concerns in the context of a new kind of
world economy. The call to Johannesburg announces a brave mission:
"development that meets the needs of people now and for future generations.
... Poverty, overconsumption and unsustainable lifestyles are major
concerns. Sustainable development therefore seeks to address these concerns
through actions that promote economic growth, social development and
environmental protection." Dr. Boyer's work, as well as I can describe it,
involves the distribution inside the bodies of both animals and plants of
the chemical energy released by combustion of nutrients. He wants the summit
to deliver a better life -- that's why he spoke here in a presummit meeting
at the Getty Center, high above the San Diego Freeway -- but he suspects it
is already doomed and added these words: "There is no way we can bring the
developing world up to our standards and have a sustainable system." In
other words: Don't count on the rich to end overconsumption. The developed
nations, particularly the United States, which is essentially hostile to the
Johannesburg idea, are not against a better life in poorer countries, but
they are reluctant, to say the least, to give up anything they already have.
So the rich get richer and poor get poorer -- at least relatively. In
calling the conference, the United Nations cited what progress it could in
trying to frame the dialogue as something more than, "Let's protect the
environment and help poor folks, too": "Actually, there has been some
progress," stated U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan. Yes, there has been, if
you interpret statistics on the distribution of the Earth's bounty in an
optimistic way. During the 1990s the average annual increase in the GDP
(Gross Domestic Product) of all developing countries was 4.3 percent,
compared with 2.7 percent in the 1980s. The GDPs of developed countries grew
by 2.3 percent in the '90s, a decrease from 3 percent in the 1980s. But, of
course, those numbers actually mean that the gaps between rich and poor
increased rather than decreased because the base prosperity of the developed
countries was so much higher to begin with -- and the population of
developing countries continued to grow at a higher rate, even as AIDs deaths
were reducing life expectancy by more than six years in those countries. In
most of the Southern Hemisphere, GDP per capita is still decreasing. The
Americans at the conference, who do not share Bush administration positions
emphasizing markets as the solution to all problems, seemed at a loss about
what they could do in opposition to their own government. Matt Petersen,
president of Global Green USA, said: "We are not here to promote shareholder
value; we are here in the public interest. The Bush administration is not on
our agenda. We're going to be laughed out of there." That was the tone of
the session. The earnest folk in the audience, an impressive but depressed
group, has signed on to a new code word: "stakeholders." That means,
according to the meeting's summaries: "corporate leaders, trade unionists,
farmers, local authorities, community organizations, nongovernmental
organizations (NGOs) and activists." The Bush agenda, of course, pretty much
ends after two words: "corporate leaders." Questions from the audience
seemed to assume defeat at the summit. The first woman to rise asked: "The
U.S. is resisting all this. What can we do?" U.N. Under-Secretary-General
Nitin Desai, an Indian, who was presiding here as he will in South Africa,
seemed surprised at the question, and his voice rose as he answered: "You
live in a free country. Speak up! Shout! Make yourself heard." I was amazed
that we had to hear that message from a foreigner. If this is your thing, if
you care, you had better make some noise -- enough to reach the White House,
which has not the slightest intention of doing anything that does not
increase economic growth or shareholder value.
Jakarta Post
3 May 2002
Internet:
http://www.thejakartapost.com/yesterdaydetail.asp?fileid=20020503.F03
Yanuar
Nugroho, Researcher & General Secretary at Uni Sosial Demokrat, Jakarta
Next month Indonesia will host an
international conference in Bali. "The Government of the Republic of
Indonesia has the honor and great privilege to host the Preparatory
Committee meeting at the ministerial level leading to the World Summit on
Sustainable Development (WSSD) to be held in Bali from May 27 to June 7,
2002." That is the message we can find at WSSD's website, welcoming the
Fourth Preparatory Committee (PrepComIV) meeting which is aimed at
concluding discussions on far-reaching actions to propel the sustainable
development agenda forward. Around 6.000 people will join and gather in the
meeting, draw upon the agreed result from the previous PrepCom to prepare a
concise and focused document that will aim to emphasize the need for a
global partnership to achieve the objectives of sustainable development. It
is also there to reconfirm the need for an integrated and strategically
focused approach to the implementation of the-so-called "Agenda 21" and to
address the main challenges and opportunities faced by the international
community in this regard. The outcome of PrepCom IV will then be submitted
for further consideration and adoption at the 2002 Summit meeting at
Johannesburg, evaluating the progress achieved since the first World Summit
at Rio de Janeiro, 1992. How far have we been stepping ahead? Or,
oppositely, stepping back? Globalization has been the major issue during the
past decades. Ceaseless repetition of jargons and slogans "inevitable
change" and "necessary restructuring" have everywhere accompanied this rapid
prying-open of national economies and cultures for foreign exploitation
"free of trade and investment barriers". It seems however, that faith in
economic growth to signify the change and development as the key to progress
comes into question as the Earth's life-support systems fray and indicators
of ecological collapse multiply. Another side of global economic systems has
shown the inescapable fact that development geared to spur rapid growth
through greater resource consumption is straining the environment and
widening the gaps between the rich and poor. And opposite from the
proponents of neo-liberal economics standard prescription to cure,
privatization, tax cuts and foreign investment, have proved ineffective. We
do not have to look far for the proof that growth-centered economics is
pushing the regenerative capacities of the planet's ecosystems to the brink.
The worry is not the only one raised in the Limits To Growth more than 20
years ago. Obviously, there is no immediate shortage of non-renewable
resources. Even at current consumption rates, there will not be enough
copper, iron and nickel to our grand-grandsons and daughters in the next
centuries. More pressing will soon cause the disintegration of the basic
life-support systems that we take for granted. This will include the
composition of atmosphere, the water cycle, the pollination of crops, the
assimilation of waste and recycling of nutrients, the delicate interplay of
species -- all of these are in serious danger. "Agenda 21", the most
important outcome of the Rio Word Summit -- a blue-print and the basis of
the strategy for sustainable development -- has been challenged badly by the
profit-driven logic of business power which drives the global economic
significantly and wipes out everything on its way to accumulate gains,
including the environment. The power of business looks immense in this neo
liberal economic order where "growth" becomes the highest value of social
life. And this is the starting point of the problem. It involves the
following line of logic: If we start from the premise that the highest value
of social life is "growth", and then malpractice or non-malpractice is
irrelevant. If growth can only be achieved by letting the mal-exercise of
power happen, so be it. In this case, such values as "sustainable" or
"democracy" are irrelevant, for any type of power exercise that (even if
unintentionally) seems to bring about growth will then be justifiable
(self-legitimating). Of course the proponents of this perspective will shout
endlessly about the need for law enforcement and legal certainty to protect
the environment as well as to guarantee the democratization. Yet, in fact
these are immaterial to their point: deserts are spreading, forests being
hacked down, fertile soils ruined by erosion and desalinization, fisheries
exhausted and ground water reserves pumped dry. Carbon dioxide levels in the
atmosphere continue to ruse due to our extravagant burning of fossil fuels.
In September 1995 the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change concluded
that climate change is unstoppable and will lead to widespread economic,
social and environmental dislocation over the next century. The core issue
seems clear to be how to socialize the notion that the way global economics
control and shape our shared life is not always at the benefit of "shared
life" itself. It is very central to the concern to be addressed at the
PrepComIV. The descriptions on environment distraction, as well as many
societal problems, are undeniable facts. In a deeper theoretical reflection
this involves, actually, a psychological issue than an economic one. The
cunning exploits of neo-liberalism are that it penetrates the way people
evaluate things by implanting first the criteria of the
"pleasure-prestige-status-luxury" principle in society. It is not that this
principle is wrong, but that the pursuit of it is most often being done to
the detriment of others as we can see quite often. Here comes the importance
of taking the environmental problems, forced layoffs, urban poor etc. into
account in the WSSD meeting. How can this concern be "organized"? As for
Indonesia, more than 42 non-governmental organizations established the
Indonesian People's Forum (IPF) for the WSSD. This forum consists of nine
major groups: Women, youth, children, indigenous people, farmers, peasants,
labor, urban poor, fishermen, and NGOs. IPF will ensure that "civil society
reports" are to be submitted to the WSSD, in complement to the "state
report" prepared by the Indonesian Government. The "civil society reports"
are prepared based on inputs from broad consultations at both national and
regional levels to gather civil society's inputs on how far principles of
sustainable development have been applied by many different stakeholders. It
is also to evaluate how far the Rio commitments have been implemented in
Indonesia and to gather inputs/recommendations to improve sustainable
development in the future. Our world is certainly not for sale. When the
global economic order silently violates our shared life for the sake of
profit accumulation, it is the act of victimizing the whole globe's
inhabitants' capacity to sustain. It is the time to break the silence, to
voice out the restlessness.
Financial Times
2 May 2002
Internet:
http://globalarchive.ft.com/globalarchive/article.html?id=020502000974&query=Johannesburg+Summit
Sir Robert Wilson is the
chairman of Rio Tinto and of the Global Mining Initiative
The resources industry is an
essential pillar of economic activity, but it can also be a source of social
and environmental problems. Mining companies have sometimes been too slow in
reacting to society's calls for improvements in corporate social
responsibility. But compliance with the law is not enough. We must respond
to demands for higher environmental and social standards, and greater
transparency in accounting for performance. That is why Rio Tinto joined
others in the industry in setting up the Global Mining Initiative (GMI).
Formed in 1999, the GMI has three components: an independent study, Mining
Minerals and Sustainable Development (MMSD); a policy dialogue; and a
restructuring of external representation. The initiative has involved
extensive consultation with those outside the industry in seeking ways to
balance the economic, social and environmental costs and benefits of mine
projects, and the production and use of minerals and metals. By the time the
World Summit on Sustainable Development is held in Johannesburg later this
year, the mining sector should be in position to begin to define its
response to the challenges we all face. The MMSD, conducted over two years,
explored the issues facing the industry by widespread consultation. MMSD
regional partners developed insights into how issues affect their particular
regions and ensured that this was not a purely Organisation for Economic
Co-operation and Development-focused exercise. The final report resulting
from this work, with pointers to ways forward, was launched yesterday. Later
this month in Toronto, the GMI will host a three-day policy dialogue that
will include delegates from governments, inter-government agencies, civil
society groups and academics, who will engage directly with the leaders of
the industry and its suppliers. To ensure balanced attendance, the GMI, with
the help of invited sponsors, is providing financial support to delegates
from developing countries. Not all of the MMSD's proposals will be
acceptable to parts of the industry. The study has also recommended we
continue discussions with our critics and others. Nevertheless, it is a
starting point. Whatever comes out of the Toronto conference, the GMI gives
us a robust foundation for moving forward to a future more in tune with
today's values. Future action on sustainable development will be led by the
International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM), an industry association
that will continue the work started by the GMI. Dr Jay Hair, an eminent US
conservationist, has been appointed the first secretary-general of the
council. To make mining work well for sustainable development, we need a
shared effort. The industry on its own cannot find all the solutions. Many
will need complex trade-offs, which it is not for the industry to make on
its own. Others, such as governments and community representatives, need to
be committed to the process. The mining industry has come a long way in the
past decade, in terms not only of environmental and social performance, but
also in its reporting and transparency. Many companies are making a much
greater effort than the industry's critics have yet recognised. And more of
the new projects under evaluation will incorporate the integrated economic,
environmental and social principles inherent in the sustainable development
philosophy. The GMI has given me considerable hope that the mining and
metals industry will emerge as one of the leading sectors in addressing
sustainable development.
