The World Summit on the Environment and Development 2002

Green Party press office briefing

by Lindi Maqhubela

23 August 2002

Background

The aim of the World summit on the Environment and Development (also called Rio +10) is to build on the 1992 Rio de Janeiro Earth summit in Brazil. A series of principles defining the responsibilities and rights of states were drawn, and 27 principles in support of sustainable development were set out. Agenda 21 - a plan of action for attaining worldwide sustainable development and split into 40 different "chapters" was detailed. Recommendations included caring for natural resources and promoting sustainable management as well as new paths for education. Another initiative, the Statement of Forest Principles set out principles to manage the worlds’ forests. In Britain, local authorities have adopted Agenda 21 with varying degrees of success.

Conventions held in 1992 included The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNCFCC) - a bid to stop global climate change, resulting in the Kyoto Protocol. The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) a measure to prevent the eradication of biodiversity set out three goals. Firstly the conservation of biological diversity, secondly the sustainable use of its components and thirdly the sharing of the benefits from the use of genetic resources.

Ten years later, the international community is set to monitor the extent to which the objectives set in 1992 were met and to discuss and resolve social, environmental and development issues termed ‘sustainable development’.

Sustainable development as defined by the World Commission on Environment and Development 1987 is "development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs." A concept designed to satisfy both those concerned with environmental conservation and the supporters of economic development.

The Johannesburg summit will focus on resolving critical issues facing mankind. The Rio summit identified the eradication of poverty as a crucial requirement for sustainable development "in order to decrease the disparities in standards of living." The summit also outlined further issues requiring world attention. Namely the provision of sanitation and clean water, enabling the two billion people without electricity to acquire it, feeding the worlds growing numbers of starving and malnourished people and agricultural and fisheries production. The declaration stated, "in order to achieve sustainable development, environmental protection shall constitute an integral part of the development process and cannot be considered in isolation from it."

Dr Caroline Lucas Green MEP for the South East region who wrote the European Parliaments trade committee opinion on the EU negotiating strategy for Johannesburg stated, "It is hard to overstate the importance of urgent action in Johannesburg. It has been estimated if we continue with our current production and consumption patterns, we will soon need an extra three planets, simply to provide the resources and absorb the wastes. We don’t have three planets - we just have one, and it’s already showing signs of major degradation Johannesburg has got to deliver results." Speaking during the Parliamentary Plenary, 30 May 2002

1. Organisation of the summit

The World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, South Africa will run from the August 26 to September 4 2002, the venue is the Sandton Convention Centre. The central organising body and preparatory Committee is the Commission on Sustainable development, four preparatory meetings called ‘PrepComs’ occurred during 2001 and 2002.

Cited as the most important and largest UN international conference ever held. An estimated 174 countries are expected to attend, with106 heads of government including the British Prime Minister, Tony Blair. President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa will chair the summit, a further 20 UN bodies each with their own delegation are also anticipated.

Governments and various major groups identified in Agenda 21 are expected at the summit, these include representatives from business and industry, non-governmental organisations, children and youth, women and workers and trade unions, scientific and technological communities, indigenous people and farmers. 6,000 Journalists will also attend. Heads of state have been allocated ten minutes each for a speech.

A second parallel conference at the Gallagher Estate will run concurrently. Numerous lobby groups, environment groups, the landless poor and big business, are expected to attend. It is estimated that around 15,000 people have expressed an interest. The plan is that each will send separate delegations in an attempt to lobby the main conference.

A notable exception is President Bush of the United States of America. On 17th August 2002, the White House confirmed that he would not be attending the conference. Bush displayed contempt for the event and green issues, deciding not to even appear for a couple of hours as his father, a former US President, reluctantly did in 1992, instead he will holiday at his ranch. This is despite the dates of the World Summit being changed to suit him and show respect for the anniversary of the twin tower bombing on September 11th 2001.

In Britain, complaints from environmental campaigners that multinationals with dubious reputations on green trading have hijacked the conference, forced Ministers to account for the inclusion of business leaders such as Thames Water and Rio Tinto Zinc (RTZ). Although they are paying their own way, they are set to benefit from contact with high profile Ministers.

Clare Short the international development secretary stated that although "RTZ has a very bad history. Getting these big operations to change the way they perform across the world is absolutely key to a sustainable planet…so calling for business not to be there is very foolish…"

Another dispute dissolved when at the last minute Michael Meacher the only minister well versed in green issues was included in the delegation. Calling himself "a lone voice in the wilderness" he stated that the government is "not yet ready" to make crucial decisions.

Senior colleagues including Clare Short dismissed his claims.

John Prescott will attend the conference for three days playing his usual ‘fixers’ function rather than having a formal role.

2. Objectives of the summit

In a speech delivered by his wife, Nana Annan at the American Museum of Natural History the United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan, identified biodiversity, water and sanitation, health, energy and agriculture as the five key areas to be tackled and where results must be attained. The summit aims to set achievable and practical steps to uplift the daily lives of the world’s people at the same time protecting the global environment. He said "these 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."

The previous Earth summit in 1992 showed problems concerning social justice and economic conditions are linked to environmental problems plaguing the Earth. Consequently, economic, social and environmental needs must balance each other for sustainable long-term outcomes. The implication being that these goals cannot be compartmentalised, local decisions and actions, whatever their outcome, potentially have worldwide repercussions.

Internationally agreement states that the present model of development has to change. The model only offers 20 percent of humanity the opportunity to a decent standard of living and taxes the Earth’s natural life-support systems by depleting and degrading the planets resources. This has opened the debate questioning whether the richer nations of the North are prepared to pull their weight in discussions and implementation of agreements.

The declaration on the Environment and development 1992, states that, sustainable development requires that "developed countries acknowledge the responsibility they bear in the international pursuit of sustainable development in view of the pressures their societies place on the global environment and of the technologies and financial resources they command."

A question is whether the rich and poor nations of the world can share common objectives, for mutual benefit. Another is whether rich nations are willing to use their considerable wealth to underwrite with actual resources initiatives highlighted in the summit to protect the global environment to aid present and future generations.

Many say that the rich will never agree to such proposals. Some have forced their point, for example in demonstrations at Davos, Prague, Seattle and Genoa amongst other places.

The Secretary General states that "developed countries…have not gone far enough." to protect their own environment, adhere to the promises made in Rio or to attempt to eradicate world poverty. More immediate problems such as the war on terrorism, and conflicts have overshadowed the policy-making process. He states that the Johannesburg summit will offer humanity "a chance to restore the momentum had been felt so palpably after the Earth Summit."

International non-government groups are cynical of the outcomes of the summit. Gerd Leipold the head of Greenpeace International said the collapse of the conference would be preferable to "a pact of toothless promises."

Dr Caroline Lucas, Green MEP said, "If Johannesburg is to have more success it will have to recognise that the driving force behind the world's worsening social and environmental picture is the process of economic globalisation, particularly the free trade rules of the World Trade Organisation and the relentless pursuit of ever-increasing profits by multinational corporations."

3. Likely outcome of the summit

The difference between this summit and many previous conferences will be the emphasis on partnership and action to build a more secure future. Representatives from civil society will make decisions alongside government.

At the Bali, Indonesia conference in June 2002 governments tried but failed to reach an agreement on drafting a detailed plan of Implementation, many contentious issues were unresolved and only 73 percent of the text was agreed on. Contentious issues included the implementation of the WTO Doha agreements - action plans for the Monterrey Consensus consisting of a poverty fund and debt reduction initiatives, which commit rich countries to providing aid to developing countries. (In particular the US led Juscanz group - Japan, the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand refused to participate) Other unresolved issues were the phasing out of energy subsidies and targets and timeframes for renewable energy and good governance requirements for developing countries.

Big businesses via the Business Action for Sustainable development (BASD) impeded proposals to regulate their trading activities. The failure to control the growing power of corporations or to prioritise social justice and environmental issues was evident.

Nevertheless, negotiations at the preparatory committee meetings for the summit decided the format of the three main expected outcomes from the summit, namely:

A political declaration - for action by heads of state to make sustainable development a reality

A plan of implementation - governments will negotiate this to elucidate specific actions that need to be taken in areas.

Partnership activities - a commitment by stakeholders and government to a partnership at national, regional and international levels to implement sustainable development.

Specific time-bound reporting measures and criteria will hopefully be implemented to ensure that governments stick to their promises.

But already industrialised countries cannot agree on new targets and timeframes. It is hoped that the European Union (EU) will come to an agreement on extending the goal of halving the number of people unable to get access to water by 2015 to those currently lacking adequate sanitation.

Large oil producing countries, for example oil cartel OPEC members and the US are against an aggressive target for the use of renewable energy proposed by New Zealand, India, the EU and Brazil.

The numerous compromises expected from the summit could mean that the final agreement might not meet the United Nations ambitious plans. The success of the summit is seen as an indication to the possibility of multilateral diplomacy.

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