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other people's money

the third global ministerial environment forum

simone lovera, foei

“There ain't no better money than other people's money.” This old saying dominated the discussions at the Global Ministerial Environment Forum (GMEF) from 12-15 February in Cartagena, Colombia, where the ultimate question was: who will pay for UNEP's badly needed budget increase?

After all, none of the 90 ministers who attended could openly deny that both the staggering lack of funding and the instability of UNEP's income are behind its ineffectiveness as a "global environmental authority". The entire budget of the UN Environment Programme is less than US$100 million, making it one of the smallest bodies in the United Nations system. Funds and authority are intricately linked; any UN body has more influence if it arrives to solve a problem carrying a nice bag of money.

Yet despite this acknowledgement, and no less than four ministerial meetings in one year, the final ministers' decision provides the basis for neither stable, predictable, nor adequate UNEP funding. Instead, in an almost laughable compromise solution, countries are encouraged to contribute on the basis of a voluntary, indicative scale they may adapt to their own financial situation, or "any other basis" that might be identified!

unep strengthening denied
Other careful references to developments that might strengthen environmental governance, such as UNEP's possible reform into a specialized agency, were ruthlessly shot down by ministers. The US was particularly averse, proving once again this country's disinterest in the environmental pillar of sustainable development. UNEP is now permitted to "encourage" cooperation between multilateral environmental agreements that happen to deal with the same issue -- not exactly the hoped-for breakthrough on increased coherence between existing agreements.

compliance & enforcement
The European Union pushed for more coherent compliance mechanisms, a key FoEI proposal from our discussions on international environmental governance, but the US and others blocked this attempt.

On a more positive note, the ministers adopted the guidelines on compliance and enforcement prepared by UNEP. Regretfully, Australia and the US blocked proposals for the regular monitoring of compliance with sustainable development agreements. But there was an agreement that the guidelines would form the basis for further capacity building in the area of compliance and enforcement, leaving the door open for future work on their implementation.

good news
The ministers also endorsed the Bahia Declaration of the Intergovernmental Forum on Chemical Safety as a basis for a strategic approach to chemicals management, and committed themselves to further support for the Global Plan of Action on Land-based Sources of Marine Pollution.

And the good news for civil society organizations is that the ministers supported more effective approaches to ensure these organizations' views are incorporated in future GMEF's, including the convening of informal civil society meetings prior to these intergovernmental meetings. However, it was decided that the revision of formal participation rules would be taken up only after 2003. Unfortunately, an EU attempt to highlight public participation and access to information through Principle 10 of the Rio Declaration and the Aarhus Convention was blocked by the US, Egypt, Canada, China and Indonesia.

hungry unep courts industry
Meanwhile, the close relationship between UNEP and one particular sector of civil society -- business and industry -- provides a reason for increasing concern. Now that stable public funding for and formal strengthening of UNEP seem to be off the agenda for a while, the executive director and key bureau members of UNEP's governing council are turning to business for financial assistance. A plan of action on the road to Johannesburg could include narrow cooperation between UNEP and industrial sectors like tourism, oil producers and insurance companies.

It is just a matter of time before we will see "public-private partnerships" in the form of Shell-sponsored UNEP projects for cleaner oil production in tropical forests, or coral reefs sponsored by tourism agencies. After all, other people's money doesn't smell!