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new york, april 5th 2002
With us or against us
to save the planet?
Friends of the Earth International
calls for change of direction to rescue Earth
Summit negotiations
.
Friends of the Earth International (FoEI)
today slammed governments gathered at UN
Headquarters in New York for failing to
respond to the widespread global concern over
globalization. FoEI accused the United
States, Canada, Australia and the OPEC
countries of trying to ruin the historic
World Summit on Sustainable Development to
take place in Johannesburg, South Africa this
August (1).
The US and its allies blocked meaningful
targets and timetables being inserted into
the negotiating text for the Summit, which
FoEI believes must set clear social and
environmental limits to globalization. The
US, Canada, Australia and the OPEC countries
must also take most of the blame for two
weeks of chaotic negotiations resulting in a
long document, strong on platitudes but weak
on substance. The EU and the majority of the
G77 developing countries meanwhile failed to
show the necessary leadership in the face of
US obstructions. They failed to offer
concrete actions. The EU was unwilling to
respond to G77 concerns on finance and trade
in the wake of the Monterrey and Doha
negotiations on these issues (2). FoEI calls
on the EU to take a leadership role on the
road to Johannesburg, as it did in the global
climate negotiations.
Friends of the Earth International has
made constructive proposals throughout the
preparations for the Johannesburg Summit. One
of the great achievements of the Rio Summit
in 1992 was the opening of the United Nations
to civil society inputs. But governments have
been unwilling to respond to civil society
concerns, especially on the key issue of
globalization. Governments have ignored the
massive public outcry on corporate
misbehavior in the wake of the ENRON scandal.
All they are willing to offer on corporate
accountability are voluntary initiatives,
which fail to establish rights for the
communities affected by corporate abuses (3).
Governments also continue to make the
sustainable development agenda subservient to
the trade agenda pushed forward at the WTO. A
call by Friends of the Earth International
and other major NGOs to make it clear that
Multilateral Environmental Agreements should
not be subservient to WTO trade rules only
gained the clear support of Switzerland
(4).
Daniel Mittler, WSSD Coordinator of FoEI
said:
" Governments must commit to meaningful
action now. Targets and timetables with money
attached are key if the Johannesburg Summit
is still to succeed. Governments must start
taking the voice of civil society seriously
instead of trying to sell a corporate-led
free trade agenda as sustainable development.
At Johannesburg governments will have to tell
the world whether they are with us or against
us, when it comes to saving the planet."
Friends of the Earth International
believes that governments are hiding the
unacceptable negotiation results by putting
special effort into pursuing "partnership
initiatives", especially with business. FoEI
opposes this "privatization of
implementation" and insists that UN processes
must be about governments fulfilling their
global responsibility (5). The UN should not
become a market place for individual
initiatives put forward by self-interested
entities such as transnational companies.
Daniel Mittler of Friends of the Earth
International said:
"The proposed partnerships are having a
'chill effect' on negotiating meaningful
multilateral agreements rather than helping
the necessary implementation. The
Johannesburg summit will only be a success if
governments agree an ambitious implementation
program for which time is running out."
Notes
1. The current meeting in New York started
on March 25th and is scheduled to end on
April 5th. It is the third global meeting
preparing the Johannesburg Summit, the Summit
will take place from August 26th to September
4th, and will review progress made on
sustainable development in the ten years
since the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in
1992. The negotiating text and all official
information can be found at
www.johannesburgsummit.org
2. The "Financing for Development"
conference took place in Monterrey, Mexico in
March 2002, but was judged a failure by most
civil society groups. The Doha WTO
Ministerial meeting took place in November
2001 and agreed a negotiating agenda for
further trade liberalization. FoEI believes
the Doha agenda represents clear risks for
people and planet and calls for an urgent
assessment of the social and environmental
impacts of trade liberalization. See
www.foei.org
3. Friends of the Earth International has
launched a global campaign for a Corporate
Accountability Convention which received
widespread civil society support at the New
York meeting. A more detailed document
setting out the need for binding corporate
accountability and key elements of the
proposed convention can be found at
www.rio-plus-10.org
.
4. A statement calling for the autonomy and
authority of Multilateral Environmental
Agreements to be clearly established at
Johannesburg was published jointly by Friends
of the Earth International, Greenpeace
International, Third World Network, ANPED and
Sierra Club on April 3rd. See
www.foei.org
5. FoEI does not oppose all partnership
agreements, but calls for them to follow
clear guidelines and be transparent. FoEI
especially supports initiatives agreed
between a number of countries that address
the root causes of unsustainable development
and help to achieve stricter targets than can
currently be agreed to globally.
Contacts in New York:
Daniel Mittler (FoEI WSSD Coordinator) +49
173 923 4747,
daniel.mittler@bund.net
Craig Bennett (FoEI Corporates campaigner)
+1 347 682 0967
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