WSSD.INFO NEWS
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ISSUE 5 22 June 2002
Compiled by
Richard Sherman
Edited by
Kimo Goree
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Editor's note: Welcome to the fifth issue of WSSD.Info News, compiled by Richard Sherman. We hope to provide this service on at least a fortnightly basis from now through the Summit. If you should come across a news article or have a submission for the next issue, please send it directly to Richard. WSSD.Info News is an exclusive publication of IISD for the 2002SUMMIT-L list and should not be reposted or republished to other lists/websites without the permission of IISD (you can write Kimo for permission.) If you have been forwarded this issue and would like to subscribe to 2002SUMMIT-L, please visit http://iisd.ca/scripts/lyris.pl?join=2002summit-l.
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ContentsGENERAL NEWS
1. UNESCO FINALIZES PREPARATION FOR THE WORLD SUMMIT ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT (UNESCO21 June 2002)2. EXPECT TIGHT SECURITY AT WORLD SUMMIT (SABC News 20 June 2002)3. PRINCESS BASMA LAUDS DEVELOPMENT ROLE OF UN AGENCIES (The Jordan Times 20 June 2002)4. EU TRADE COMMISSIONER PASCAL LAMY TO HOST ROUND TABLE ON TRADE, GOVERNANCE AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT (European Commission 20 June 2002)5. SWEDEN URGED TO TAKE 'VIKING SPIRIT' TO JOHANNESBURG MEET (BusinessWorld Online 20 June 2002)6. WORLD SUMMIT MUST FIND WAYS OF HELPING POOR NATIONS (The Herald (Harare) via All Africa 19 June 2002)7. TOUGH TALKS AHEAD OVER POVERTY DEAL (The Mercury 18 June 2002)8. MBEKI PUSHES EARTH SUMMIT SUCCESS (CNN 18 June 2002)9. AFRICANS URGED TO TACKLE PROBLEMS FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT (Xinhua News Agency 18 June 2002)10. AHEAD OF G-8 MEETING, ANNAN URGES SUPPORT FOR AFRICA, ACTION ON MILLENNIUM GOALS (United Nations 18 June 2002)11. CONCERN HEADS OF STATE MAY SHUN SUMMIT (SABC News 18 June 2002)12. MBEKI VOWS TO RESCUE WORLD SUMMIT (SABC News 18 June 2002)13. KEEP YOUR SUMMIT PROMISES: TOEPFER (SABC News 18 June 2002)14. MORE THAN 420 MILLION COULD LIVE IN EXTREME POVERTY BY 2015, UN WARNS (United Nations 18 June 2002)15. GLOBAL WARMING NOW A REALITY (The Yomiuri Shimbun 18 June 2002)16. AFRICAN MINISTERS TO COORDINATE ENVIRONMENT POLICIES (The Namibian 18 June 2002)17. UNTREATED WATER, A HEALTH HAZARD (This Day (Lagos) via All Africa 18 June 2002)18. UN CALLS FOR BACKING OF MULTIBILLION-DOLLAR ENVIRONMENTAL FUND (United Nations 17 June 2002)19. SUBSTANTIAL BACKING FOR GEF RECIPE FOR SUCCESS AT WORLD SUMMIT ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT (United Nations Environment Programme 17 June 2002)20. ANNAN URGES FOUNDATIONS TO SUPPORT UN MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS (United Nations 17 June 2002)21. GLOBAL CLIMATE SHIFT FEEDS SPREADING DESERTS (Environment News Service 17 June 2002)22. ENVIRONMENTAL EXPERTS HOPE FOR CONCRETE ACTION AND A CLEAR MESSAGE FROM SUMMIT IN JOHANNESBURG (Associated Press 17 June 2002)23. WORLD EARTH SUMMIT ALL SET FOR MAJOR FLOP (Times of Malta 17 June 2002)24. CONFERENCE ON MARINE ENVIRONMENT OPENS IN ABUJA (UN Integrated Regional Information Networks 17 June 2002)25. WATER, WATER EVERYWHERE, BUT... (Independent 17 June 2002)26. PRIME MINISTER CONSULTS YOUNG PEOPLE AHEAD OF 2002 UN EARTH SUMMIT (United Kingdom 17 June 2002)27. MESSAGE ON WORLD DAY TO COMBAT DESERTIFICATION AND DROUGHT (United Nations 17 June 2002)28. ANNAN URGES COUNTRIES TO BACK TREATY AIMED AT STEMMING DESERTIFICATION) United Nations 17 June 2002)29. MOUNTAIN PEOPLE SUFFER MORE MALNUTRITION AND DISEASE (Food and Agriculture Organisation 16 June 2002)30. BROWN TRIES TO HELP 67 MILLION CHILDREN (Independent 16 June 2002)31. AFRICAN NATIONS FACE TOUGH WAR AGAINST DESERTIFICATION (Xinhua News Agency 16 June 2002)32. BALI PREPCOM HIGHLIGHTS NEED FOR STRONGER POLITICAL LEADERSHIP TO PUT SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT INTO ACTION (United Nations 15 June 2002)33. ENVIRON ASSESSMENT REPORT NEXT WEEK (The Frontier Post 15 June 2002)34. EXECUTIVE SECRETARY CALLS FOR FINANCIAL COMMITMENT FOR THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE UNITED NATIONS CONVENTION TO COMBAT DESERTIFICATION (United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification and Drought 14 June 2002)35. NEW BOOK DOCUMENTS GROWING COOPERATION BETWEEN UN AND BUSINESSES (United Nations 14 June 2002)36. PREPARATION CONFERENCE FOR JOHANNESBURG FAILS ON NEW RENEWABLE ENERGY AND SANITATION TARGETS (Edie weekly summaries 14 June 2002)37. SKEPTICS TAG UPCOMING WORLD SUMMIT AS ANOTHER TALKSHOP (SABC News 14 June 2002)38. THE WORLD SUSTAINABILITY SUMMIT TO PRACTICE WHAT IT PREACHES (Edie weekly summaries 14 June 2002)39. "FURTHER COMMITMENTS IN THE WTO NEED TO ADDRESS NON-TRADE CONCERNS" (European Union 14 June 2002)40. ZAYED GREENERY DRIVE PRAISED (Gulf News 13 June 2002)41. MCCONNELL ATTACKED OVER SOLO VISIT (The Scotsman 12 June 2002)42. UN HUNGER SUMMIT A WASTE OF TIME, BRITAIN SAYS (The Scotsman 12 June 2002)43. FINAL WSSD PREP MEETING BREAKS DOWN OVER TRADE AND FINANCE (Bridges Weekly Trade Digest Volume 6 Number 22 12 June 2002)44. STILL HOPE OF SALVAGING SUMMIT, SAYS MOOSA (Independent Online (South Africa) 12 June 2002)45. NO EXTENSION TO WORLD SUMMIT: MOOSA (SABC News 12 June 2002)46. ASEAN EAGER TO MAKE SUCCESS OF ANTI-HAZE TREATY (The Straits Times 12 June 2002)47. PACT ON AGRICULTURAL BIODIVERSITY GAINS 19 NEW ADHERENTS, UN REPORTS (United Nations 12 June 2002)48. UNANIMOUS APPROVAL OF FINAL DECLARATION FOR WORLD FOOD SUMMIT: FIVE YEARS LATER 182 COUNTRIES CALL FOR INTERNATIONAL ALLIANCE AGAINST HUNGER (Food and Agriculture Organisation 11 June 2002)49. CIVIL SOCIETY GROUPS UPSET BY SPLIT IN BALI ON TRADE AND FINANCE (Business Day via All Africa 11 June 2002)50. WORLD ENVIRONMENT SUMMIT PREPARATIONS IN DISARRAY (New Scientist 10 June 2002)51. US ACCUSED OF SINKING DEAL ON DEVELOPMENT (The Guardian 10 June 2002)52. CONSERVATION ESSENTIAL FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT (The East African Standard (Nairobi) via All Africa 10 June 2002)53. TIME TO COME CLEAN ON THE DIRTY SECRET OF STARVATION (The Guardian 10 June 2002)54. MBEKI ENCOURAGES COMMITTED NORTH-SOUTH PARTNERSHIP (BuaNews via All Africa 10 June 2002)55. UNDP RESIDENT REP. CALLS FOR ENVIRONMENTAL CONSCIOUSNESS (The Independent (Banjul) via All Africa 10 June 2002)56. DONOR-RECIPIENT MODEL DOES NOTHING FOR THE POOR: MOOSA (BuaNews via All Africa 10 June 2002)57. NEPAD MUST SUCCEED IN OVERCOMING POVERTY: PAHAD (BuaNews via All Africa 10 June 2002)58. UN DEVELOPMENT CHIEF WARNS DISCORD THREATENS JOHANNESBURG SUMMIT (Associated Press 10 June 2002)59. 'FAILURE' OF POVERTY TALKS ANGERS ACTIVISTS (The Observer 9 June 2002)60. SUMMIT PREPCOM CLOSES IN FRUSTRATION (Environmental News Service 8 June 2002)EDITORIALS61. THE BATTLES OF BALI (SciDev.Net)62. REVISITING SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT CONCEPT (David Lascelles Business Day via All Africa 12 June 2002)63. THE BALI PARADOXES (Rémi Parmentier, Political Director, Greenpeace International Greenpeace International 11 June 2002)64. "DEFEATING HUNGER IS POSSIBLE, AFFORDABLE AND IN THE WEST'S BEST INTERESTS" (Food and Agriculture Organisation 11 June 2002)SPEECHES
65. 'WE STAND WITH AFRICA' – BUSH (The White House via All Africa 20 June 2002)66. FINAL COMMUNIQUÉ - NINTH REGULAR SESSION OF THE CEC COUNCIL (Commission for Environmental Cooperation 19 June 2002)67. LETTER FROM PRESIDENT PRODI TO MR. AZNAR (European Commission 18 June 2002)68. THE SECRETARY-GENERAL LETTER TO HEADS OF STATE AND GOVERNMENT OF THE GROUP OF EIGHT (United Nations 17 June 2002)69. DEPUTY SECRETARY-GENERAL STRESSES PIVOTAL ROLE OF GOVERNMENT IN ERA OF GLOBALIZATION (United Nations 15 June 2002)SPEECHES FROM THE WORLD FOOD SUMMIT (Food and Agriculture Organisation 10-13 June 2002)
70. ADDRESS BY UNITED NATIONS SECRETARY-GENERAL MR KOFI ANNAN71. MS GRO HARLEM BRUNDTLAND (DIRECTOR-GENERAL, WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION - WHO)72. MS ANNA KAJUMULO TIBAIJUKA (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, UNITED NATIONS CENTRE FOR HUMAN SETTLEMENTS - HABITAT)73. HIS EXCELLENCY THABO M. MBEKI (PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA)74. MR. MARK MALLOCH BROWN (ADMINISTRATOR, UNITED NATIONS DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME - UNDP)ON THE WEB75. SOUTH AFRICA TO GET TOUGH ON EARTH SUMMIT PROTESTS -(Reuters Via Planet Ark 21 June 2002)http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/16510/story.htm76. EARTH SUMMIT MUST SET REAL TARGETS, SAY EXPERTS (Reuters Via Planet Ark)http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/16473/story.htm77. SOUTH AFRICA'S MBEKI VOWS TO RESCUE EARTH SUMMIT (Reuters Via Planet Ark)http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/16478/story.htm78. INTERVIEW - UN ENVIRONMENT CHIEF WANTS ACTION, NOT PROMISES (REUTERS VIA PLANET ARK)http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/16463/story.htm79. UN MARKS 30TH ANNIVERSARY OF LANDMARK GREEN SUMMIT (REUTERS VIA PLANET ARK)http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/16466/story.htm80. ANALYSIS - WORLD EARTH SUMMIT ALL SET FOR MAJOR FLOP (Reuters via Planet Ark 17 June 2002)http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/16442/story.htm81. SOUTH AFRICA SAYS FARM SUBSIDIES OBSTACLE TO UN SUMMIT (REUTERS VIA PLANET ARK 11 JUNE 2002)http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/16373/story.htm82. MINISTERS FAIL TO AGREE EARTH SUMMIT PLAN (Reuters via Planet Ark 10 June 2002)http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/16346/story.htm83. UPDATE - CURTAIN FALLS ON CONTROVERSIAL UN FOOD SUMMIT (Reuters via Planet Ark 14 June 2002)http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/16429/story.htm84. ANALYSIS - EARTH SUMMIT RISKS FAILURE WITH VAPID PLEDGES (Reuters via Planet Ark 12 June 2002)http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/16382/story.htm
GENERAL NEWS
1. UNESCO FINALIZES PREPARATION FOR THE WORLD SUMMIT ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENTUNESCO21 June 2002 Internet: http://www.addistribune.com/Archives/2002/06/21-06-02/UNESCO.htm Attended by around sixty participants from Eastern Africa countries including Ethiopia, a three-day workshop organized by the UNESCO Addis Ababa office in cooperation with Ethio-Education Consultants (ETEC) is taking place at the Africa Hall, UNECA. Aimed at forwarding UNESCO's recommendations as an input to its position paper for the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD), which is to be held in Johannesburg, South Africa, in August. The workshop is being conducted with the theme “peace, governance and education for sustainable development.” The theme emphasizes the role of education as indispensable means of combating poverty. In preparing for the Summit, according to Armoongum Parsuramen, UNESCO Director, Regional Office for Education in Africa, UNESCO would build on its considerable work to develop the holistic concept of “Education for Sustainable Development.” “It is through education that we can develop new values, behaviors and lifestyles,” Mr. Parsuramen said. He also noted that the absolute sine qua non is education for all and the overriding priority that must be given to helping eradicate poverty by empowering people through education. The workshop would also address how Africa or at least the Eastern Africa sub-region should strive to have a better understanding of economic development in order to be able to contribute efficiently to the WSSD, according to Mamody Lamine Conde, UNESCO Cluster Office Director and Representative. He said the workshop will adopt concrete recommendations that will occupy a place of high priority in the deliberation of WSSD and in the activities of the government of Eastern African sub-regions. “The importance of the workshop is reflected on sustainable development that naturally covers actions on the burning issue of our time, combating poverty,” Mr. Mamody said. During the workshop, participants would discuss issues, among others, promoting and applying science for development and scientific basis for decision making, the role of globalization, trade and access to markets in African countries. Consensus and recommendations reached at the workshop, according to organizers, would be forwarded to the UNESCO head office as a possible input to UNESCO’s contribution to the WSSD.
2. EXPECT TIGHT SECURITY AT WORLD SUMMITSABC News 20 June 2002 Internet: http://www.sabcnews.com/world/summit/0,1009,36842,00.html South Africa's police service (SAPS) has compiled a comprehensive plan to protect VIPs during the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) starting from August, the SA Police Service said today. This strategy will also ensure that demonstrators comply with the country's laws during protests, said Sean Tshabalala, the SAPS VIP Protection Unit director. Tshabalala said barricades, metal and powder detectors, and police officers would be in place at venues where the summit will take place, including at summit delegates' residences. Maude Street in Sandton will be closed between 5th Avenue and West Street. Anyone wanting to use that road should have accreditation, he said, adding that these were some of the inconveniences people will have to endure."If we're talking impact, that's the impact. We are pretty confident that the summit will come, and go without any major incident," he said. Thousands of security personnel officers, most of them from the SA National Defence Force, will be deployed around the summit venues to ensure that the United Nations hosts a successful event. Tshabalala went further urging South Africans to co-operate with authorities during the summit from August 26 to September 4. -Sapa
3. PRINCESS BASMA LAUDS DEVELOPMENT ROLE OF UN AGENCIESThe Jordan Times 20 June 2002 Internet: http://www.jordantimes.com/Thu/homenews/homenews7.htm AMMAN (JT) - HRH Princess Basma on Tuesday praised the work of several UN agencies charged with instituting development programmes, saying their efforts have had a major positive impact on the advancement of sustainable development, improved quality of life, and the promotion of women as full contributors to societies. The Princess was speaking in New York where she is participating in a two-day meeting entitled, "Celebrity Advocacy for the New Millennium" at United Nations headquarters. Secretary General Kofi Annan, brought together for the second time Messengers of Peace and Goodwill Ambassadors to draw attention to their roles in supporting the UN's work around the globe and to focus on the priorities member states have set up in the Millennium Development Goals, which will guide the work of the organisation for the coming years. "Your presence here today shows vividly that when it comes to working together for a better world, there is no divide between civilisations," said Kofi Annan at the opening session. Celebrity advocates spoke out for the United Nations and nine of its offices, funds and programmes on key issues ranging from fighting poverty to improving the status of women and protecting children and refugees. Princess Basma, on behalf of the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), said no single platform could take on today's challenges like the United Nations could. One of the most challenging and inspiring aspects of her role as a Goodwill Ambassador was to create a deeper understanding of the linkages which exist between global policies and local realities. As an Arab Muslim woman living in Jordan, she said she has seen firsthand the positive impact of sustainable human development approaches promoted by the UNDP. UNIFEM has assisted countless women in the region to become better decision makers and to take control of their own lives, Princess Basma said. In addition, she said, it was UNFPA which had made remarkable progress in affecting the quality of family life in the Arab region. In the desperately troubled Middle East, it was such efforts, said the Princess, that created opportunities, choices and hope. The Millennium Development Goals were agreed upon two years ago as a blueprint to improve people's lives in the 21st century, and calls for reducing the proportion of people living on less than $1 a day to half the 1990 level by 2015. It was up to national leaders to put it in practice, but governments could not do it alone, Princess Basma said. They needed to hear the voices of people who insisted that their leaders would translate those pledges into action, she said. Forty-four prominent United Nations Messengers of Peace and Goodwill Ambassadors from the worlds of art, music, film, sports, literature and public affairs, who help raise awareness of key United Nations issues and activities, as well as diplomats, journalists, students, representatives of NGOs, heads of United Nations agencies and the general public visiting headquarters attended this meeting.
4. EU TRADE COMMISSIONER PASCAL LAMY TO HOST ROUND TABLE ON TRADE, GOVERNANCE AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT20 June 2002 Internet: http://europa.eu.int/rapid/start/cgi/guesten.ksh?p_action.gettxt=gt&doc=IP/02/904|0|RAPID&lg=EN; EU Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy has invited experts on governance from around the world to a seminar on Trade, Governance and Sustainable Development. The event will take place in Brussels at DG Trade's headquarters on 24-25 June, and is accompanied by an online forum open to the public. 'I want to make sure that the countries that will gather in Johannesburg for the World Summit on Sustainable Development in August decide on action that dovetails with what they will do under the Doha Development Agenda to reduce poverty through trade liberalisation. Our Brussels event should help us to make a difference to the quality of world governance,' Commissioner Lamy said. Together with a small group of European Commission officials, participants will examine the linkages between trade, governance and sustainable development. The Commission sees policy coherence between these three areas as key to getting a good result from not only the trade liberalisation negotiations launched in Doha last year but from the World Summit in Johannesburg which starts end-August and will discuss core areas of sustainable development such as environment protection, social and economical development. The trigger for the seminar was the Commission's White Paper on European Governance (2001). The White Paper included a set of action points on global governance and charged DG Trade with looking for answers by: * Improving dialogue with countries outside the EU when developing policies with an international dimension * Promoting the use of new tools such as benchmarking or corporate social responsibility to complement 'hard' international law * Promoting discussion on how the EU can contribute to reforming multilateral institutions to make them work more effectively. The seminar will be divided into three Working Groups. Each will examine one of the White Paper action points with a particular emphasis on how to support sustainable development. The seminar will involve some 70 external participants from over 20 countries including ministers, ambassadors, parliamentarians and government officials, as well as representatives of business, trade unions, NGOs and academia. The diversity of participants is expected to lead to lively debate. In parallel, DG Trade has opened a virtual forum on its website to discuss the same questions as seminar participants. Anyone can take part in the virtual debate, which is open until the end of June. Conference programme: http://trade-info.cec.eu.int/civil_soc/meet.php?action=consult&critere=52 To join the online forum, go to: http://trade-info.cec.eu.int/civil_soc/forum/index.php
5. SWEDEN URGED TO TAKE 'VIKING SPIRIT' TO JOHANNESBURG MEETBusinessWorld Online20 June 2002 Internet: http://bworld.net/current/TheEnvironment/envistory1.html STOCKHOLM -- The Earth Summit starting in late August in Johannesburg must focus on clear timetables and concrete targets, said experts meeting in Stockholm ahead of the huge global summit on poverty reduction and the environment. On Monday and Tuesday, around 250 scientists, government officials and environmentalists from 66 states met in Stockholm to mark 30 years since 114 nations agreed on a common duty to protect the global environment. The participants gave a Viking helmet to Swedish Environment Minister Kjell Larsson -- who has repeatedly called for more action and fewer empty words on the environment -- and urged him to take along some "Viking spirit" to the Johannesburg summit. "When you meet in Johannesburg ... keep in mind it is your children and their children that will suffer if action is not taken now," Afifa Raihana, president of Bangladeshi environment youth organization STEP, told the conference. But since a final preparatory meeting in Bali ahead of Johannesburg ended without agreement on a draft action plan, conservationists have said the meeting's draft text is on the contrary all talk and no action and the meeting is shaping up to be a major flop. Mr. Larsson said he expected the main struggle in Johannesburg to take place around finance and trade issues. He said in Bali there was a logical demand from the developing countries' group, the G77, for the United States to open up its markets for their products. "The European Union is not a saint in this area," Mr. Larsson said, but he added that the odds of the EU and the G77 countries striking agreement on trade issues were much higher than the United States finding a common note with the poorest nations. But Dianne Dillonridgley, director of US renewable energy provider Green Mountain Energy, said the wording of the summit's final declaration was not as important as bringing sustainable development into the international limelight. "The real story of the Johannesburg Summit is not about the text at all. It is to draw the attention of people and sectors who haven't looked at sustainable development," she said. Sweden has for decades been a world leader in environmental issues, making the initiative for the world's first conference on the global environment which Stockholm hosted in 1972. It is also one of the few countries living up to a promise made in the 1992 Rio de Janeiro Earth Summit that states spend 0.7% of their gross domestic product as development aid. "During the last 30 years, 15 developing countries have halved the number of citizens living in extreme poverty," Sweden's Development Cooperation Minister Jan Karlsson said in the draft text of his speech . "Never ever have so many people left poverty behind as during these decades. But we can do more and we have to do it faster," he said. The United Nations aims to halve the number of people living in poverty by 2015. – Reuters
6. WORLD SUMMIT MUST FIND WAYS OF HELPING POOR NATIONSThe Herald (Harare) via All Africa 19 June 2002 Internet: http://allafrica.com/stories/200206190527.html The World Summit on Sustainable Development is to be held in South Africa in September this year. Its aim is to bring out strategies and ways to help less developed nations build their economies in order to sustain present and future generations, particularly with sustainable development of their natural resources. However, as has been written before by others in different media, there is a growing gap between commitments and implementation, and the Earth Summit, is expected to focus on delivery, this being a follow-up on the Rio environmental sustainability summit held in Brazil in 1992. The archaic question is: How does a summit of this magnitude deliver? Why has there been a growing gap between commitment and implementation? Despite the efforts brought about by the International Drinking Water Supply and Sanitation decade (1981-1990), regional water shortages and deterioration of water quality is serious in many parts of the world and are likely to worsen. Global studies show projections of per capita all purpose water availability dropping from 1 000-5 000 cubic metres per year today to less than 1 000 cubic metres of water per year by 2030 in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Afghanistan. Similar regression in per capita total use water availability is forecast in developed countries such as the US, the east European countries and European Russia, where the scale will slide down from over 10 000 cubic metres of water per capita per year to anywhere between 5 000 to 10 000 cubic metres of water per capita per year. In summary, it appears the per capita water availability will be lessened by 35 percent due to population expansion alone, as compared to today's total use water availability. The international drinking water supply and sanitation decade programme does not appear to have come to grips with the fact that in less developed countries of Africa, South Asia, and Latin America, though they would approach their maximum developable drinking water supply by the year 2000, it would be quite expensive to develop the remaining water. In an industrialised country which belongs to the IDC group, competition among different uses of water - for increasing food production for new energy systems such as production of synthetic fuels from coal and shale for increasing power generation, and for increasing of other industries - will aggravate drinking water shortages. How then should the Earth Summit tackle the problem of deliverance? While many project proponents do seek public input, it is often too little, too late. More and more, the successful project must meet not only technical financial and regulatory criteria but must also meet the criterion of public acceptability. Gaining public acceptance, also referred to as informed consent, has become a critical objective in most planning projects, thus initiating resource management planning process emphasis on early and continued public comment. Why develop resource management plans? As the values and interests of society change, many different and often competing demands are placed on the country's land and water resources. Resource management planning provides a process for making equitable and efficient decisions about the future use of the resources. By integrating public comments into the planning process, a plan that balances varied public needs can be produced. Each of the resources management plans will serve as a 10-year guide for making sound resource management decisions. A challenging future? On a global level, the third millennium offers a chaotic view when considering total use of natural resources available. Debates will continue on natural resources management. History, however, teaches us that deliberate listing of real and imaginary difficulties has rarely resulted in a future collapse of society. The World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg should bring out deliverance to sustain and develop the world economy for present and future generations. 7. TOUGH TALKS AHEAD OVER POVERTY DEALThe Mercury 18 June 2002
Internet:
http://www.itechnology.co.za/index.php?click_id=13&art_id=ct20020618202512615P630883&set_id=1
8. MBEKI PUSHES EARTH SUMMIT SUCCESSCNN 18 June 2002 Internet: http://www.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/africa/06/18/earth.mbeki.glb/index.html CAPE TOWN, South Africa -- President Thabo Mbeki said he would launch a personal initiative to avert the threatened failure of the Earth Summit in Johannesburg. Mbeki told parliament he would lead the search for international agreement on a draft declaration for the World Summit on Sustainable Development, often called the Earth Summit. Last month ministers from more than 100 countries failed at talks in Bali, Indonesia, to agree a draft plan for the world's most important environmental summit, with rich and poor nations divided about the best ways to promote sustainable growth and development. The August conference in Johannesburg is being billed as the biggest-ever United Nations gathering. More than 100 heads of state and 60,000 delegates are expected to attend the summit and a parallel meeting of non-governmental organisations. Mbeki, chairman of the Johannesburg summit, said the Bali meeting made some progress, but left key decisions unanswered. "The failure to find consensus in Bali on some of these issues places increased responsibility on the president, as chairperson of the WSSD, to ensure that a basis for agreement is developed between now and August. "We will be starting a process of consultation with the major groupings in the United Nations system to explore the possibilities of finding consensus," said Mbeki. Environmental groups and non-governmental organisations have warned governments that the summit is heading for failure. Environmental groups have largely blamed the U.S. for the failure of the Bali, accusing it of being reluctant to commit to some targets for action at home in the interests of business profits. The U.S. delegation has denied those charges. The Johannesburg summit opens on August 26 and falls a decade after the landmark Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, which put environmental issues on the global political agenda.
9. AFRICANS URGED TO TACKLE PROBLEMS FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENTXinhua News Agency 18 June 2002 Internet: http://library.northernlight.com/FE20020618030000012.html?cb=0&dx=1006&sc=0#doc LAGOS, Jun 18, 2002 (Xinhua via COMTEX) -- South African Deputy Environment Minister Rejoice Mabudafhasi Tuesday called on Africans to take advantage of the prevalent political will of their leaders to tackle the continent's problems for sustainable development. Mabudafhasi made the call in Nigeria's capital at the final meeting of the preparatory committee for the Partnership Conference of the African Process on Development and Protection of the Marine and Coastal Environment in sub-Sahara Africa. Our leaders have demonstrated the political will through new platforms like the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) , the African Ministerial Conference on Environment and the African Process," Mabudafhasi said. Identifying major African problems impacting on sustainable development as poverty, food and economic insecurity, violent crises and environmental degradation, the minister stressed that the challenge now is to translate these blueprints to concrete actions. Mabudafhasi, also the chairwoman of the preparatory committee for the African Process, said the Partnership Conference will regard Africans as partners to shape a common will aimed at sweeping out all impediments to sustainable growth. According to her, the African Process is another opportunity for Africans to influence the global agenda, especially on issues related to coastal and marine resources. Speaking at the opening session of the final meeting on Monday, Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo has challenged African leaders to make the preservation of the continent's resource and environment a priority for food security and a healthy populace. The president appealed to African nations to take advantage of the NEPAD drive to work toward a better continent both economically and environmentally. Because donor agencies and developed countries have been making effective environmental policies a condition for aiding developing nations, African countries should strive to meet such requirements, he added. The three-day talks will witness contributions from all African countries and international bodies such as the Economic Community of West African States, the Organization of African Unity and the United Nations. African leaders are expected to work out a final agreement on the African Process later this year in Johannesburg at the World Summit on Sustainable Development
10. AHEAD OF G-8 MEETING, ANNAN URGES SUPPORT FOR AFRICA, ACTION ON MILLENNIUM GOALSUnited Nations 18 June 2002 Internet: http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=3965&Cr=g-8&Cr1= 18 June - Welcoming the decision of the world's leading industrialized nations to focus on solutions to Africa's problems at their annual meeting later this month, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan has called on the Group of Eight countries also to act decisively on global concerns encapsulated in the Millennium Development Goals, especially the fight against poverty. These "are goals set by the world for the world, although it is in Africa that they present the toughest challenge, and in Africa that their achievement will depend most crucially on international solidarity," the Secretary-General says in an open letter to the G-8 leaders who are scheduled to meet on 26 and 27 June in Kananaskis, Canada. In his letter, which was released today at UN Headquarters in New York, Mr. Annan calls on the G-8 countries to stand by commitments made last November at the World Trade Organization meeting in Doha, Qatar, to conduct trade negotiations that would open markets to exports from poor and developing countries. He appeals for them to follow-up on commitments made in March in Monterrey, Mexico, for further increases in development assistance and support international efforts to stem the spread of killer diseases and to make primary education available to all children. The Secretary-General also urges them to commit to ensuring a productive outcome for the World Summit for Sustainable Development later this year in Johannesburg, South Africa. The "peoples of the developing world would...be bitterly disappointed if your meeting confined itself to offering them good advice and solemn exhortations, rather than firm pledges of action in areas where your own contributions can be decisive," the Secretary-General writes. Mr. Annan is scheduled to attend the G-8 meeting to participate in the working session on 27 June, which will feature presentations from five African Heads of State who have initiated a New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD).
11. CONCERN HEADS OF STATE MAY SHUN SUMMITSABC News 18 June 2002 Internet: http://www.sabcnews.com/world/summit/0,1009,36663,00.html With only 69 days to go before the start of the World Summit on Sustainable Development, concern is mounting among local politicians over whether heads of state from several key industrialised nations will actually attend the event. MPs have also expressed doubt as to whether without the attendance of leaders from the so-called JUSCANZ bloc, comprising Japan, the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand the summit will achieve its set goals. The Johannesburg Summit, the biggest-ever international meeting of its kind, and aimed at negotiating a global plan for the economic, social and environmental future of the planet, is set to take place in Johannesburg from August 26 to September 4. Gwen Mahlangu, the National Assembly environmental affairs and tourism committee chairperson, today said MPs were "really worried" over whether heads of government from the JUSCANZ bloc would actually attend the summit. At the final summit preparatory conference, held in Bali, Indonesia earlier this month, the bloc adopted a common stance on several contentious issues that prevented agreement, particularly regarding finance and trade related matters. Mahlangu, speaking after a briefing by Chippy Olver, the environmental affairs and tourism director-general, on the outcome of the Bali conference, said the overall feeling of her committee was that "we have very little time at our disposal to bring these important countries on board". "How we are going to do this is still a very big question mark because the summit is about heads of state, and especially those from developed countries" she added. She also said: "If we leave industrialised countries out I don't see the summit achieving most of the issue that they want it to achieve."We are really worried as to why, up to now, we still don't have a commitment to attend from them, let alone a commitment to finance the processes, or at least for them to say, yes we want to attend we want to participate." Earlier, Olver told a joint meeting of three parliamentary committees that many heads of state had held back on a final decision to attend the summit. Due to the outcome of the Bali conference, "many of them will be keeping that decision in abeyance a lot of them you will not know until the last minute". He also said those who confirmed their attendance are a far smaller list of heads of state. It is understood about 30 heads of state have, to date, said they will definitely attend the summit. "The EU group is clearly making strong commitment to attend while the JUSCANZ group has not done this. I suppose that was to be expected," he told members. Olver later stressed that by this he did not mean JUSCANZ would not attend the summit, but that they had not, to date, confirmed they would do so. According to a poll carried out by the US-based National Resources Defense Council earlier this month, only 45 heads of state or government have confirmed they will attend the summit. The NRDC said the survey also showed a further 40 were "likely" to attend. The organisation said the survey was "based on contacts with more than 150 country missions at the United Nations in New York, and delegations at the final meeting in Bali." –Sapa
12. MBEKI VOWS TO RESCUE WORLD SUMMITSABC News 18 June 2002 Internet: http://www.sabcnews.com/world/summit/0,1009,36687,00.html President Thabo Mbeki said he would launch a personal initiative to avert the threatened failure of the August World Summit in Johannesburg, which is set to be South Africa's biggest international event. Mbeki said in an address to Parliament he would lead the search for international agreement on a draft declaration for the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD). Ministers of more than 100 participating countries failed at preparatory talks in Bali, Indonesia, earlier this month to agree a draft action plan for the world's most important environmental summit, with rich and poor nations divided about the best ways to promote sustainable growth and development. The conference in Johannesburg is being billed as the biggest-ever UN gathering. More than 100 heads of state and 60 000 delegates are expected to attend the summit and a parallel meeting of non-governmental organisations. However, environmental groups and non-governmental organisations have warned governments that the summit is heading for failure. Mbeki, who will chair the Johannesburg summit, said the Bali meeting made progress on some issues, but left key decisions unanswered. "The failure to find consensus in Bali on some of these issues places increased responsibility on the president, as chairperson of the WSSD, to ensure that a basis for agreement is developed between now and August. "We will be starting a process of consultation with the major groupings in the United Nations system to explore the possibilities of finding consensus," said Mbeki, who usually refers to himself in speeches as "we". Officials in Bali said the meeting failed to reach agreement on "essential" areas in the action plan such as timebound commitments and ways of financing pledges in the draft. Mbeki said key issues still outstanding included ways to link the decisions of the Monetary Financing for Development Conference earlier this year with the goals of the World Summit and mechanisms to differentiate the responsibilities of different nations towards shared goals. Mbeki pushed that conference into extra time, intervening personally to hammer out a partial accord which led many international critics to call the summit a failure. Environmental groups have pinned much of the blame for the failure of the Bali conference on the US, accusing it of being reluctant to commit to some targets for action at home in the interests of business profits, charges members of the US delegation here have denied. The Johannesburg summit opens on August 26 and falls a decade after the landmark Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, which put environmental issues on the global political agenda. - Reuters
13. KEEP YOUR SUMMIT PROMISES: TOEPFERSABC News 18 June 2002 Internet: http://www.sabcnews.com/world/summit/0,1009,36686,00.html Klaus Toepfer, head of the United Nations Environment Programme, said yesterday governments should not make any new promises they cannot keep on sustainable development and must concentrate instead on existing commitments. Toepfer added that poverty reduction was the main tool in fighting environmental degradation, just as it was three decades ago. However, despite promises at the previous summit in 1992 that industrial states would provide development aid of 0,7% of their gross domestic product, aid flowing to poor countries has decreased in relative and absolute terms, he said. "We cannot dare again disappoint people, so we must be honest. We cannot give promises we really cannot deliver," said Toepfer. Toepfer was speaking during a two-day meeting in Stockholm of scientists, diplomats and environmentalists to mark 30 years since 114 nations, excluding the former Soviet bloc, agreed on a common duty to protect the global environment. "Johannesburg must not be a summit of new declarations and new programmes, it must really be a summit on implementation of concrete action," Toepfer said. Global accords on biodiversity and greenhouse gas emissions should now be put into force and actual results are needed more than new rounds of speeches, he said. Fighting poverty, with the aim of halving the number of people living in poverty by 2015, and reducing environmental damage will also be the main topics when world leaders and non-governmental organisations meet at the huge UN summit in Johannesburg at the end of August. Optimistic about US participation The final preparatory meeting in Bali ahead of the Johannesburg summit however ended without agreement, conservationists have said the meeting's draft text is all talk and no action and the meeting is shaping up to be a major flop. Environmental action group Greenpeace has accused the US and other countries of systematically removing anything smacking of action from the draft text. It is also still unclear whether George W. Bush, the US President, who last year rejected the Kyoto Protocol on global warming, would attend the 10-day summit with more than 100 heads of state. However, Toepfer said he was optimistic that Bush would participate. "I am still convinced that the United States too will be aware of the need for their leadership. I am also realistically optimistic that the United States will play their part and the decision (whether Bush will attend) will be very carefully considered," he continued. The US focus on a war against terrorism launched after the September 11 attacks last year should not prevent it from trying to promote environmental conservation and poverty reduction in developing countries, he added. "More than ever we have to fight all together against terrorism, but we must also use this alliance against hunger and hopelessness, and for globalisation with a human face," he said. – Reuters
14. MORE THAN 420 MILLION COULD LIVE IN EXTREME POVERTY BY 2015, UN WARNSUnited Nations 18 June 2002 Internet: http://www.un.org/apps/news/subject.asp?SubjectID=218 June - The number of people living on less than $1 a day could exceed 420 million by 2015 if current economic trends continue, a new report by a United Nations agency focussing on trade and development issues warns. According to the "Least Developed Countries Report 2002: Escaping the Poverty Trap," released today by the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the number of people living in extreme poverty has doubled over the past 30 years, and is currently about 307 million. Such poverty can be dramatically slashed by simply doubling the average household living standards of the most poor, the report finds. However, international partnerships are essential if successful efforts are to be made to address poverty in least developed countries. "Too many impoverished countries are stuck in a trap of poverty that they will not get out of through their own resources," Jeffrey D. Sachs, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan's Special Advisor on the Millennium Development Goals, explained at a press conference yesterday to launch the UNCTAD report at UN Headquarters in New York. "And unless there is truly international partnership, of the kind that we profess but don't always act upon, the natural dynamics of international market forces underway will not relieve the mass suffering experienced by hundreds of millions of people," he added. Joining Mr. Sachs at the press conference was Anwarul K. Chowdhury, the UN High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States. He said that the timing of the report's release was particularly significant because of its proximity to the summit of the Group of Eight richest and most powerful countries, scheduled for 26-27 June in Kananaskis, Canada. As that meeting would be focusing on Africa's development, the analysis in the report on Africa's least developed countries would be important to participants, Mr. Chowdhury noted. See Also: http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2002/TAD1930.doc.htm
15. GLOBAL WARMING NOW A REALITYThe Yomiuri Shimbun 18 June 2002 Internet: http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/newse/20020618wo74.htm Mountaineer Ken Noguchi, 28, recalls the moment when the Sherpas he was climbing with on the Nepalese side of Mt. Everest began reciting a Lamaistic prayer that their lives be spared. Having reached an elevation of 6,200 meters, Noguchi and his group were suddenly confronted with the roaring sound of a nearby avalanche and a huge icefall in front of them. The jagged icefall had been created by the collapse of a glacier. Countless crevasses, most of them a few meters wide, appeared in the glacier. The group connected several ladders to form a bridge that could be laid across the crevasses. Walking over the bridge, Noguchi said, was frightening. "This year, (the weather) was really unusual in the Himalayas," Noguchi said after returning from Nepal in late May. Noguchi has been making trips to the country for three years to collect trash left behind by climbers. He goes in the dry season--April and May--when the weather is usually fine. However, Noguchi said that this year, due to unseasonable snowfalls in the area, there were a series of avalanches. He added that they disturbed his sleep many times. In late April, a British mountaineer went missing in the Himalayas. On May 12, Noguchi had a lucky escape after a 30-meter-high wall of ice collapsed in front of him. According to meteorologists, the average temperature in the southern Himalayas is increasing faster than the average temperature on the Earth as a whole. Glaciers currently are shrinking at a rate of 70 meters to 100 meters a year. Such data points to the effects of global warming. According to Assistant Prof. Tomomi Yamada of Hokkaido University, there are 350 glacial lakes in Nepal and the surrounding area. In the past 10 years, rapid rises in water level caused such lakes to overflow their banks and damage villages and a hydroelectric plant on three separate occasions. One lake, Tsho Rolpa, is in danger of overflowing. Though water was drained from the lake two years ago as a preventive measure, the risk of it floods remains high. Akiko Sakai, a researcher from Nagoya University's graduate school who has made five research trips to the Himalayas, said, "The study of glacial lakes has shifted from science to civil engineering." She stressed that irregularities in climate patterns have reached the point where they are causing such damage that action is urgently needed. In August, the World Summit on Sustainable Development will be held in Johannesburg with the aim of implementing measures to restore the Earth's environment in the 21st century. What can be achieved at the summit? The future of the Earth is highly dependent on bearing the following in mind: In the past 10 years, a series of natural disasters and other irregularities believed to be the result of global warming have been reported. Global warming used to be considered a hypothetical threat to humanity, but it has now become a reality. Each spring in recent years, the ocean submerges part of the South Pacific island of Tuvalu. Residents believe the flooding points to an overall rise in sea levels, citing as evidence the increased frequency of unusually high tides and cyclones in the past 10 years. Tuvalan Prime Minister Koloa Talake has said his people were victims of global warming and were in danger of losing their land due to rising sea levels. Talake has asked the New Zealand government to provide relief by allowing Tuvalans to immigrate. Swiss Re, a global insurer, has compiled statistics on compensation paid for natural disasters in the past 30 years. Of the 32 highest payouts, 18 occurred after 1992. Meanwhile, a team led by Nobuyuki Tanaka of the Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute has compiled a computer simulation, which indicates that about 90 percent of the optimum land for Japanese beech trees in the Shirakami-Sanchi mountain range will be lost by 2090 because of decreasing snowfalls in the area. The mountain range in Aomori and Akita prefectures has been added to UNESCO's World Heritage List. An Environment Ministry committee has also pointed to the movement north of butterflies, dragonflies, cicadas and other insects as well as the appearance in Japanese Waters of tropical fish and crabs as signs of global warming. In the past 10 years, carbon dioxide emissions have increased 10 percent in Japan and 9 percent worldwide. According to some environmental experts, stopping global warming would require a 60 percent reduction in the current level of carbon dioxide emissions. The Kyoto Protocol requires developed countries to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 5 percent from 1990 levels. This is the first step in controlling global warming. Nevertheless, the United States, which emits more carbon dioxide than any other country, has refused to ratify the protocol. U.S. President George W. Bush recently criticized a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency report on the link between global warming and human activity as bureaucratic. More than 70 countries have ratified the protocol. However, in addition to the United States, several other developed countries--including Russia, Canada and Australia--have yet to ratify the protocol. To secure the basics necessary for the continued existence of humanity and the restoration of the Earth's environment, the Kyoto Protocol must be implemented.
16. AFRICAN MINISTERS TO COORDINATE ENVIRONMENT POLICIESThe Namibian 18 June 2002 Internet: http://www.namibian.com.na/2002/june/envirotalk/0269A9F67A.html KAMPALA, June 18 (AFP) - Africa's environment ministers and experts are to meet in the Ugandan capital Kampala next month to map out a common strategy for the continent, organisers said here Tuesday. Some 350 delegates are expected to attend the five-day session of the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment, to be opened by Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, organiser Elizabeth Gowa told Nampa-AFP. A report entitled African Environment Outlook will articulate common environmental policy for the continent ahead of next October's World Summit on Sustainable Development to be held in Johannesburg, aimed at helping policy and decision-makers to develop national environment policies. The conference will promote the coordination of African environment and development policies with governments, non-governmental and international organisations and the private sector, including business and industry, Gowa said. The ministerial conference held its first session in December 1985 and meets every two to three years. - Nampa-AFP
17. UNTREATED WATER, A HEALTH HAZARDThis Day (Lagos) via All Africa 18 June 2002 Internet: http://allafrica.com/stories/200206180425.html The Minister of State for Water Resources, Chief Precious Ngelale has identified use of untreated water as one of the greatest environmental threats to health in the developing countries. He made this statement in his address at the just concluded Pre-conference World Summit on Sustainable Development in Bali, Indonesia. He said water had remained a major crisis which had not been seriously tackled by the international community since the Rio Summit on environment held 10 years ago. Quoting the United Nations Environmental Programme, Ngelale said about one third of the world's population live in countries suffering from moderate to high water stress while 80 countries representing 40 per cent of world's population continue to suffer from serious water shortages. Ngelale noted that in his recent environmental lecture, entitled "Towards a Sustainable Future", the Secretary-General of UN had pointed out that more than one billion people are without safe drinking water. Highlighting the critical importance of water to Africa's socio-economic and environmental security, Ngelale said, "there is an intimate link between the health of our planet and human health. The link between poverty, health and the environment is nowhere close than with regard to water issues. Water is the key to sustainable development and good health. "Some two billion people lack the energy they need to pump water or light their homes. Ironically, this energy can be harnessed through water resources development. While over 70 per cent of the hydropower potentials of the developed countries have been harnessed, only a mere five percent of Africa's potentials have been developed. "75 per cent of the world's poor live in rural areas. Sustainable agriculture depends on the proper use of the environment as a common asset, avoiding water pollution, desertification and deforestation. In addition, water supplies and irrigation must be managed efficiently to ensure optimum results. "The importance of aquatic biodiversity to socio-economic development and environmental management cannot be over emphasized".
18. UN CALLS FOR BACKING OF MULTIBILLION-DOLLAR ENVIRONMENTAL FUNDUnited Nations 17 June 2002 Internet: http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=3954&Cr=environment&Cr1=facility 17 June - The head of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) today urged governments to "swiftly and significantly" replenish a multibillion-dollar fund that has proven to be an invaluable weapon in the fight against poverty and environmental degradation. UNEP Executive Director Klaus Toepfer, speaking in Stockholm at the 30th anniversary celebrations of the conference that led to the creation of the UN agency, called on heads of State to make the replenishment of the Global Environment Facility (GEF) a top priority and a key outcome of the upcoming World Summit on Sustainable Development. The GEF was established for a pilot phase in 1991 in the run-up to the Rio Earth Summit of 1992 to focus on biodiversity, climate change, international waters, land degradation, the ozone layer and, more recently, issues like the phasing out persistent organic pollutants (POPs), according to UNEP. During its pilot phase the Facility was given $1.2 billion, and subsequently was replenished twice, for $2.02 billion and $2.75 billion, before it was re-structured in 1994. The third replenishment is due this year. The GEF has proven its worth and the funds, given to it by developed nations, have been very well spent, Mr. Toepfer said, noting that 16 independent auditors recently concluded that the Facility was an innovative, unique and successfully run body for sustainable development. "The GEF is not a new funding arm but an established one," he said. "It has been agreed that it is now due for re-vitalization so it can continue its excellent work. Let's now do this and give it the financial resources needed to carry on with its important activities."
19. SUBSTANTIAL BACKING FOR GEF RECIPE FOR SUCCESS AT WORLD SUMMIT ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT United Nations Environment Programme 17 June 2002 Internet: http://www.unep.org/Documents/Default.asp?ArticleID=3082&DocumentID=253 A multibillion-dollar fund, which has proved itself an invaluable weapon in the fight against poverty and environmental degradation, should be swiftly and significantly replenished, the head of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) will urge today. Stockholm/Nairobi, 17 June 2002 - Klaus Toepfer, UNEP's Executive Director, will call on heads of state to make the replenishment of the Global Environment Facility (GEF) a top priority and a key, concrete, outcome of the World Summit on Sustainable Development. The summit is scheduled to commence on August 26 in Johannesburg, South Africa and comes after this month's G8 summit in Canada where the issue of re-vitalizing the GEF is likely to be discussed. The GEF has, over the past 10 years, committed more than US$ 4 billion and mobilized some US$ 9 billion for more than 1,000 projects in 162 countries. Successes include helping developing countries to cope with the impacts of global warming to ones that are assisting poorer nations to conserve wildlife, monitor and improve the health of international waters and overcome land degradation. Mr Toepfer, speaking in Stockholm, Sweden, at the 30th anniversary celebrations of the conference that led to the creation of UNEP, will tell delegates that a well-funded GEF must be made a priority. "The World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) will be a crucial test of the world's ability and its enthusiasm for tackling the very pressing problems facing people and the planet today. In April, in Monterrey, Mexico, developed countries including countries in the European Union and the United States pledged to increase overseas development aid significantly, reversing years of decline," he will say. "This is a real turnaround and a good start. Now these pledges need to be turned in concrete actions at Johannesburg in areas such as water, energy and biodiversity. This year we also have the replenishment of the GEF. This fund has proved its worth time and time again and the money, given to it by developed nations, has in the main been very well spent. There are several, funding options on the table. I would urge developed nations in the run up to WSSD to make serious financial commitments to the fund so that all countries, so that all delegates, leave Johannesburg satisfied that it has been a summit of implementation and not another summit of promises, another meeting of declarations. UNEP is not isolated in this. The overwhelming majority of nations believe only a substantial replenishment is an acceptable outcome," he told delegates. Mr Toepfer said it was not just the United Nations that believed the GEF was an important funding mechanism for sustainable development. Recently 16 independent auditors concluded that the GEF was an innovative, unique and successfully run body. He added that the GEF was also a unique partnership between UN organizations and the Bretton Woods institutions as represented by the World Bank Group. Mr Toepfer was speaking in the wake of the final preparatory meeting for WSSD which was held in Bali, Indonesia. While some progress was achieved, in common with most delegates he conceded that far more needs to be done to ensure that the Johannesburg summit is a success. "Out latest Global Environment Outlook, the work of over 1,000 scientists and experts around the globe, gives us the hard facts and tough choices that are needed to restore the health and natural wealth of this wonderful blue planet. Unless action is taken now we face, in 30 years time, the prospect of half the world's people living in water stressed areas, over 70 per cent of the Earth's surface impacted by roads, cities and other infrastructure developments and concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere at 450 parts per million, on track for a doubling from pre-industrial levels by 2050," he said. "But we do not need to look to the future to see how the unsustainable life-styles of the richer parts of the world, and the poverty of the poorer parts, are threatening the Earth's life support systems. Around a third of the world's fish stocks are in a degraded state as a result of over-fishing fueled by subsidies estimated at up to US$ 20 billion a year, around half the world's rivers are seriously depleted and polluted and some two billion hectares of soil, equal to an area the size of the United States and Mexico combined, is classed as degraded. Our motto is Environment for Development, for without the environment you can never have the kind of development that can last. If we are to break the current impasse we will have to balance the needs and aspirations of both developed and developing countries. The GEF, which is administered by a secretariat in Washington DC, is not a new funding arm but an established one. It has been agreed that it is now due for re-vitalization so it can continue its excellent work. Let's us now do this and give it the financial resources needed to carry on with its important activities," he said. Note to Editors: The Global Environment Facility was established for a pilot phase in 1991 in the run up to the Rio Earth Summit of 1992. It has three implementing agencies. These are UNEP, the United Nations Development Programme and the World Bank. During its pilot phase the facility was given US$1.2 billion. It has had two replenishments of US$2.02 billion and US$ 2.75 billion and was re-structured in 1994. The third replenishment is due this year. The GEF's key focus areas have been biodiversity, climate change, international waters, land degradation, the ozone layer and more recently issues like the phasing out Persistent Organic Pollutants. It is also the financial mechanism for, for example, the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety.
20. ANNAN URGES FOUNDATIONS TO SUPPORT UN MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALSUnited Nations 17 June 2002 Internet: |