Rich Nations Reject "Global Deal" on Development
Copyright 2001 Inter Press Service
September 26, 2001
By Gustavo Capdevila
GENEVA, Sep. 26 - Environmental activists criticized the world's wealthy nations today for scuttling sustantive discussions on poverty, rights violations and environmental degradation at a meeting intended to preview issues to be debated at the next Rio Earth Summit.
Delegates at a meeting of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) this week in Geneva opted to put trade above people and the planet, charged Daniel Mittler of the environmental group Friends of the Earth International.
The ministers from the 55 UNECE member states, coming from Europe, North America and Central Asia, met to discuss the position that the region will take to the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD), to take place next year in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Sustainable development is a growth plan that attempts to meet economic, social or environmental objectives without harming future generations' potential for development. The environment ministers of the European countries had put together a draft of a "Global Deal" to present, on behalf of the entire region, at the Johannesburg summit, slated for September 2002.
But the Global Deal -- which contains positive elements, according to Friends of the Earth -- did not win the consensus of the ministers gathered in this Swiss city.
The United States delegation blocked approval of the initiative, saying more information on the Global Deal was needed, said the chair of the conference, Joseph Deiss, Switzerland's minister of foreign relations.
The UNECE, one of the U.N.'s five regional economic commissions, organized this week's two-day meeting in order to begin assessing progress made in sustainable development since the Earth Summit held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992.
This review process, which is also known as Rio+10, involves the other regions of the world as well, and will culminate at the Johannesburg Summit.
The concept of the Global Deal arose out of increasing awareness that "unsolved problems such as persistent poverty in many parts of the world, violations of basic rights, an increasing number of conflicts, and global environmental changes endanger the long-term survival of humanity," stated Deiss.
The Global Deal takes into account the numerous problems that countries and regions face, and commits each country to making a contribution, based on its potential, to meet the challenge of sustainable development, he said.
The initiative includes "debt relief and market access for developing countries, and a commitment to break the link between economic growth and environmental degradation."
Other points in the proposal call for increased development assistance and the reaffirmation of adherence to the Rio Declaration and other international environmental agreements, including the Kyoto Protocol, which sets country-specific targets for reducing emissions of climate changing gases.
Friends of the Earth lamented that the governments represented at the meeting did not make a greater effort to approve the EU's Global Deal, "which was the only substantive new idea at the negotiations."
The environmental organization stated that, "instead of moving forward, negotiations focused on issues such as the long-standing commitment by governments to increase development aid to 0.7 percent of their gross domestic product."
Also falling by the wayside were targets for renewable energy and the "precautionary principle," which establishes that the absence of absolute scientific certainty should not serve as a pretext to delay the adoption of measures to prevent environmental degradation.
Friends of the Earth charges that the declaration the ministers did ultimately approve "exposes a corporate libertarian stance" and that the governments want the Johannesburg Summit to throw its support behind the existing international trade system.
This attitude among the governments undermines "the positive themes the region wants discussed at Johannesburg, such as poverty, and improving democratic processes," commented environmental activist Mittler.
According to Friends of the Earth, governments should take advantage of the Rio+10 Summit to establish rules for corporate accountability, environmental rights, and a just trade system.
The group also calls for effective environmental governance and concerted action by "over-consuming countries" on their ecological debt to the developing South.
Regarding Europe's performance on sustainable development issues in recent years, UNECE executive secretary Danuta Hbner said the most radical changes have occurred in the countries of the former socialist bloc.
The economic transition over the last decade "has proven to be much more painful than anticipated," she said. "At the beginning of the process, production levels fell sharply in most countries, resulting in an increase in unemployment."
The UNECE official explained that poverty had spread to large sectors of the population in the former Soviet bloc as a result of the decline in income and the virtual collapse of social security systems.
"Income distribution became extremely uneven, weakening social cohesion. Corruption and criminality developed as the public authorities saw their resources and capabilities severely cut back," summarized Hbner.
Meanwhile, in the environmental arena, the sub-region's economic troubles led to a reduction in the emission of pollutants that affect the air, water and soil.
"In most countries, however, the decrease was smaller than would have been expected from the economic slowdown. For example, the energy intensity of many economies, in fact, increased, due to a lack of investment," Hbner said.
Wastewater treatment plants lost purification efficiency due to inadequate maintenance and drastic changes in water flows.
While emissions of nitrogen oxides and ozone-depleting substances were stabilized or slightly reduced in the formerly socialist republics, emissions of greenhouse gases continued to increase, raising concern about the ability of governments "to counter this most threatening of all environmental problems" said the UNECE official, referring to climate change.