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28 february 2002
Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott is
giving oral evidence to the Environmental
Audit Committee on Monday 4th March at 4.20
pm
earth summit 2002 -
heading for failure?
The Earth Summit is less than six months
away. It will be the first major summit
addressing sustainable development since the
Rio Earth Summit in 1992. The 1992 Earth
Summit firmly put sustainable development on
the map. However, despite gains in some
areas, it failed to deliver the real changes
necessary to protect the environment for
future generations. Political will has waned,
corporate influence has grown and the poorest
have suffered.
Will the 2002 Earth Summit succeed where
the 1992 Earth Summit failed? The omens are
not good:
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On 26th February the EU Environment
Commissioner Margot Wallström said that
we must “inject a sense of urgency into
our preparations”. She also stated that
“we cannot keep coming back from world
gatherings with impressive commitments
and fine words that we then leave in the
corner of our offices to gather dust. Our
implementation deficit will quickly turn
into a credibility gap...”
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The results from the second preparatory
session held in New York at the end of
January were poor to say the least. It
was characterised by nations pushing
vested interests and refusing to
countenance any new binding agreements
(see details below)
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The Global Ministerial Environmental
Forum (GMEF) in February agreed draft
guidelines on compliance and enforcement
of multi-lateral agreements
(http://www.unep.org/governingbodies/gc/specialsessions/gcss_vii/).
However these lack any real teeth and
without strong political leadership to
push for strong compliance mechanisms in
existing and new agreements the
guidelines will achieve little. This
political leadership is lacking.
Results from the second preparatory
session.
The second preparatory session for the
Earth Summit was held at the UN in New York
between the 28th January and 8th February.
The key outcomes of this meeting were:
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Much to the chagrin of the corporate
lobby, NGOs, unions and developing
countries ensured the issue of corporate
accountability was on the agenda. The
Chairman’s Summary paper from the session
failed to state that this should lead to
binding mechanisms to control corporate
abuses, however it also did not say that
these should be voluntary (see
http://www.johannesburgsummit.org). This
is one of the most contentious issues on
the agenda. Friends of the Earth
International is prioritising work on
binding corporate accountability (see
http://www.foe.co.uk/campaigns/corporates).
The USA is adamantly opposed to any new
multi-lateral agreements and rejected any
mention of binding rules for
corporations.
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Trade is a major issue for the Summit.
Governments are reluctant to recognise,
let alone discuss, the environmental and
social damage caused by current and
proposed trade rules. The Chairman’s
paper is littered with references to
trade, including for example, making
substantial reductions in “trade
distorting domestic support”. Agriculture
is the key issue. Friends of the Earth
International and others calling the
removal of agriculture from the WTO and a
new international agreement on food and
farming to protect the environment and
farmers livelihoods. The EU is pressing
for discussions on greening trade rules.
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Oil producing nations - especially Saudi
Arabia - are loath to see energy as a
major issue of the Summit. The Chairman’s
paper suggests a paltry target of
producing only 5 per cent of energy from
renewable sources by 2010. It suggests
increasing the uptake of natural gas and
the adoption of more efficient fossil
fuel technologies.
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There is a recognition that consumption
and production patterns in developed
countries need to change. For example the
Chairman’s statement states that
four-fold increase in energy and resource
efficiency should be achieved. However
there is a paucity of effective
mechanisms to achieve this, instead it is
mostly voluntary initiatives suggested,
despite the obvious failures of this
approach.
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Other issues addressed in the Chairman’s
paper include: poverty reduction,
HIV/AIDS, fisheries, forests, and Africa.
Issues likely to emerge at the next
preparatory meeting include environmental
governance and global controls on
chemicals and chemical manufacture.
The next Summit Preparatory Commission
meeting will be on 25 March to 5 April in New
York. This will see intensive negotiation of
what will be the likely final outcome of the
Summit. The final outcome will largely be
concluded at a further meeting in Jakarta (27
May to 7 June) which Ministers will attend
(including John Prescott, Margaret Beckett,
Michael Meacher and possibly Clare Short
and/or Patricia Hewitt). The Summit itself in
Johannesburg (26 August-4 Sept) may feature
relatively little negotiation.
Priorities for Friends of the Earth
International and the Earth Summit
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An agreement to negotiate a legally
binding framework on corporate
accountability - This should lead to
regulations to secure an international
framework ensuring high standards of
behaviour wherever corporations operate
and to make corporations respect and
answer to all those they affect -
especially local communities, but also
employees and customers.
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Establishment of the principle that
multi-lateral environment and social
agreements take precedence over trade
rules - Reform is needed that supports
local and regional economies, community
businesses, and promotes equity, fairness
an justice. Importantly, this should lead
to a treaty on food and agriculture
outside of the WTO.
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Acknowledgement of the ecological debt
owed to the South from the North - At the
1992 Earth Summit developed countries
acknowledged the pressures they place on
the global environment. Action is needed
to redress this and to “pay back” this
debt to developing countries through
programmes and plans of action.
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Environmental governance - the
establishment of a joint compliance and
dispute settlement system on the
implementation of international law related
to sustainable development - A new approach
is needed to global environmental action
that secures resources for and ensure
compliance and implementation with
international environmental law and
provides for effective dispute settlement
in a way which ensure the highest standards
of participation.
Other issues of importance include: the
ratification of the Kyoto Protocol,
affirmation of the crucial role of the
precautionary principle, compliance with and
effective implementation of the Convention on
Biological Diversity, ratification and entry
into force of the Cartagena Protocol on
Biosafety, global rules on chemical usage and
manufacture based upon the precautionary
principle and support for community action to
protect forests and other biodiversity.
-- ANOTHER SADLY UNPUBLISHED LETTER TO HER
MAJESTY'S DAILY TELEGRAPH
The Editor Daily Telegraph
Wednesday 13th February 2002
Dear Sir,
The Government has proposed new vocational
qualifications for unacademic schoolchildren,
including the important subject of
"leisure".
I believe I have demonstrated a particular
talent for leisure, at school and indeed
subsequently. Yet my considerable
achievements in this area have never been
properly marked by the academic system. It
would surely be most unfair if younger
practitioners of this difficult art were to
receive the formal recognition which I have
been denied.
Would it be possible, in especially
deserving cases such as mine, for the
Government to award the qualification
retrospectively?
Yours sincerely,
Ian Willmore
Contact:
Ian Willmore
media-coordinator
Telephone: 0207 566 1657 (w)
07887 641 344 (mobile)
0208 885 3779 (home)
Fax: 0207 490 0881
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