Saturday, June 22, 2002 4:20
PM
|
Compiled by Richard Sherman Edited by Kimo Goree |
|
Published by the International
Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) Editor's note: Welcome to the fourth 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. Funding for the production of WSSD.Info News (part of the IISD Reporting Services annual program) has been provided by The Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Government of Canada (through CIDA), the United States (through USAID), the Swiss Agency for Environment, Forests and Landscape (SAEFL), the United Kingdom (through the Department for International Development - DFID), the European Commission (DG-ENV), the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Government of Germany (through German Federal Ministry of Environment - BMU, and the German Federal Ministry of Development Cooperation - BMZ). General Support for the Bulletin during 2002 is provided by the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Environment of Finland, the Government of Australia, the Ministry of Environment and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Sweden, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade of New Zealand, the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Environment of Norway, Swan International, and the Japanese Ministry of Environment (through the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies – IGES). If you like WSSD.Info News, please thank them for their support. |
|
UNESCO FINALIZES PREPARATION FOR THE WORLD SUMMIT ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT UNESCO
21 June 2002Attended 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.
EXPECT TIGHT SECURITY AT WORLD SUMMIT
SABC News, 20 June 2002 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
PRINCESS BASMA LAUDS DEVELOPMENT ROLE OF UN AGENCIES
The Jordan Times, 20 June 2002AMMAN (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.
EU TRADE COMMISSIONER PASCAL LAMY TO HOST ROUND TABLE ON TRADE, GOVERNANCE AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
20 June 2002 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
SWEDEN URGED TO TAKE 'VIKING SPIRIT' TO JOHANNESBURG MEET
BusinessWorld Online, 20 June 2002STOCKHOLM -- 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
WORLD SUMMIT MUST FIND WAYS OF HELPING POOR NATIONS
The Herald (Harare) via All Africa, 19 June 2002 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.
TOUGH TALKS AHEAD OVER POVERTY DEAL
The Mercury, 18 June 2002 South Africa will lead two months of "hard-ball negotiations" and "trade-offs"
to resolve outstanding questions obstructing an international deal on poverty
eradication at the forthcoming World Summit on Sustainable Development.
Briefing parliament on the last WSSD preparatory commission meeting held
in Indonesia, environment director-general Chippy Olver said some "tough
negotiation processes" now lie ahead with just over 60 days left before
the summit starts in Johannesburg. Olver said the most important areas of
contention were around financing development programmes and the lifting
of trade barriers.
President Thabo Mbeki said in his budget speech that the failure of the
Indonesia meeting to resolve efforts to link trade agreements to the implementation
of the outcomes of the WSSD "places increased responsibility on South Africa
to find a basis for agreement".
Nearly 50 important issues are still in brackets in the final preparatory
document, reflecting a stand-off between the developed countries and the
G77 developing countries. Olver believes once there is agreement on trade
and finance other issues of contention will likely fall away.
MBEKI PUSHES EARTH SUMMIT SUCCESS
CNN, 18 June 2002 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.
AFRICANS URGED TO TACKLE PROBLEMS FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
Xinhua News Agency, 18 June 2002 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.
he 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
AHEAD OF G-8 MEETING, ANNAN URGES SUPPORT FOR AFRICA, ACTION ON MILLENNIUM GOALS
United Nations, 18 June 200218 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).
CONCERN HEADS OF STATE MAY SHUN SUMMIT
SABC News, 18 June 2002 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
MBEKI VOWS TO RESCUE WORLD SUMMIT
SABC News, 18 June 2002 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
KEEP YOUR SUMMIT PROMISES: TOEPFER
SABC News, 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
MORE THAN 420 MILLION COULD LIVE IN EXTREME POVERTY BY 2015, UN WARNS
United Nations, 18 June 200218 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
GLOBAL WARMING NOW A REALITY
The Yomiuri Shimbun, 18 June 2002Mountaineer 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.
AFRICAN MINISTERS TO COORDINATE ENVIRONMENT POLICIES
The Namibian, 18 June 2002 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
UNTREATED WATER, A HEALTH HAZARD
This Day (Lagos) via All Africa, 18 June 2002The 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".
UN CALLS FOR BACKING OF MULTIBILLION-DOLLAR ENVIRONMENTAL FUND
United Nations, 17 June 200217 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 $2.75 billion, before it was re-structured in 1994. The third replenishment is due this year. The GEF has proven its worth and the funds, given to it by developed nations, have been very well spent, Mr. Toepfer said, noting that 16 independent auditors recently concluded that the Facility was an innovative, unique and successfully run body for sustainable development. "The GEF is not a new funding arm but an established one," he said. "It has been agreed that it is now due for re-vitalization so it can continue its excellent work. Let's now do this and give it the financial resources needed to carry on with its important activities."
SUBSTANTIAL BACKING FOR GEF RECIPE FOR SUCCESS AT WORLD SUMMIT ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
United Nations Environment Programme, 17 June 2002A multibillion-dollar fund, which has proved itself an invaluable weapon in the fight against poverty and environmental degradation, should be swiftly and significantly replenished, the head of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) will urge today.
Stockholm/Nairobi, 17 June 2002 - Klaus Toepfer, UNEP's Executive Director,
will call on heads of state to make the replenishment of the Global Environment
Facility (GEF) a top priority and a key, concrete, outcome of the World
Summit on Sustainable Development.
The summit is scheduled to commence on August 26 in Johannesburg, South
Africa and comes after this month's G8 summit in Canada where the issue
of re-vitalizing the GEF is likely to be discussed. The GEF has, over the
past 10 years, committed more than US$ 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.
ANNAN URGES FOUNDATIONS TO SUPPORT
United Nations, 17 June 200217 June - United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan today urged representatives of philanthropic foundations to support the implementation of the Millennium Development Goals adopted in 2000 by world leaders at a landmark UN summit. "It is my hope that this initial meeting will lead to the creation of new partnerships, and - in cases where we are already working together - to a strengthening of our collaboration in the years ahead," the Secretary-General told a gathering in New York of representatives of several high-profile, multimillion dollar foundations. "As we in the United Nations seek to broaden and deepen coalitions for change around the Millennium Development Goals, we know that we can only do this with your full participation and support." The targets set in 2000 include halving extreme poverty and hunger, achieving universal primary education and gender equity, reducing under-five mortality and maternal mortality by two-thirds and three-quarters respectively, reversing the spread of HIV/AIDS, halving the proportion of people without access to safe drinking water and ensuring environmental sustainability. "These goals are inextricably linked to each other and to the broader purposes of this Organization," the Secretary-General said. While acknowledging that the challenges appeared immense, he pointed to a growing global momentum towards a change in priorities. "The horrors of September 11 strengthened our sense of a common destiny, and people around the world are looking for strategies and solutions to the challenges that we as one human family face together," he said. Among those attending the meeting were representatives of the Rockefeller Foundation, the Open Society Institute, the Gates Foundation, the Markle Foundation and the Ford Foundation. Other attendees included those from the MacArthur Foundation, the UN Foundation, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, Riksbankens Jubileumffond, and the European Foundation Centre.
GLOBAL CLIMATE SHIFT FEEDS SPREADING DESERTS
Environment News Service, 17 June 2002 NEW YORK, New York, June 17, 2002 (ENS) - Over the next 20 years some
60 million people in northern Africa are expected to leave the Sahelian
region if desertification there is not halted, United Nations Secretary-General
Kofi Annan said today. June 17 is the day set aside each year by the UN
as World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought, twin problems that must
be solved if world hunger is to be relieved, Annan said.
"The fight against desertification is fundamentally a fight against poverty,"
said Hama Arba Diallo, executive secretary of the eight year old UN Convention
to Combat Desertification and Drought. Desertification, environmental degradation
and poverty are closely linked, and now an Australian scientist has found
that air pollution may also play a role in the Sahel drought, by hampering
the northward movement of the tropical rain belt.
Desertification and land degradation are worldwide phenomena with most severe
effects on communities in the poorest rural areas. More than 110 countries
are affected, and the livelihood of over 1.2 billion people are threatened
by desertification, with 135 million around the world at risk of being displaced.
In northeast Asia, "dust and sandstorms have buried human settlements and
forced schools and airports to shut down," Annan said, "while in the Americas,
dry spells and sandstorms have alarmed farmers and raised the specter of
another Dust Bowl, reminiscent of the 1930s." In southern Europe, "lands
once green and rich in vegetation are turning barren and brown," he said.
"Every year, an estimated $42 billion in income and six million hectares
of productive land are being lost because of desertification, land degradation
and declining agricultural productivity," Annan said today. The secretary-general
urged countries to support the UN Convention to Combat Desertification and
Drought - the only legally binding treaty to address desertification and
drought with a focus on sustainable development.
Diallo said that most of the 179 countries that are Parties to the convention
are hosting activities today such as roundtable discussions, field trips
and media campaigns at the national and local levels and involving government
and nongovernmental organizations, the media, and other stakeholders. But
raising awareness of the problems is not enough - funds are needed to solve
them. Diallo called on the international community to make financial commitments
to enable countries affected by land degradation to implement the treaty.
"In order for the convention to move from preparation to the implementation
of national action programs, predictable financial resources are imperative,"
he said from the secretariat's office in Bonn, Germany. He urged leaders
of the international community who will be meeting at the Johannesburg World
Summit for Sustainable Development in August and September to back up their
pledges made 10 years ago at the UN Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro.
Australian government researcher Dr. Leon Rotstayn has evidence that air
pollution is likely to have contributed to the what he terms the "catastrophic
drought in the Sahel," a region of northern Africa which borders the fringe
of the Sahara Desert. Tiny atmospheric particles, known as sulfate aerosol,
have contributed to a global climate shift, he says. "The Sahelian drought
may be due to a combination of natural variability and atmospheric aerosol,"
says Dr. Rotstayn.
"Cleaner air in future will mean greater rainfall in this region. The majority
of sulfate aerosol comes from the burning of fossil fuels and metal smelting.
Smaller amounts come from the burning of vegetation in the tropics, and
natural sources such as marine plankton. Atmospheric aerosol concentrations
are far greater in the northern hemisphere, cooling the atmosphere there
more than in the southern hemisphere. It is this imbalance that affects
the tropical rain belt.
"Global climate change is not solely being caused by rising levels of greenhouse
gases. Atmospheric pollution is also having an effect," says Dr. Rotstayn,
who is affiliated with CSIRO, the Australian government's research branch.
CSIRO's research into aerosol and climate is in part supported by the Australian
Greenhouse Office and involves collaboration with the University of Michigan
in the USA and Dalhousie University in Canada. The findings on air pollution
and the tropical rain belt have just been published in the international
"Journal of Climate." The researchers ran sophisticated global climate simulations
on a supercomputer. They found that sulfate aerosol particles, which are
concentrated mainly in the northern hemisphere, make cloud droplets smaller.
This makes the clouds brighter and longer lasting, so they reflect more
sunlight into space, cooling the Earth's surface below.
As a result, the tropical rain belt, which migrates northwards and southwards
with the seasonal movement of the sun, is weakened in the northern hemisphere
and does not move as far north. The main impact of the weaker rain belt
is in the Sahel. Since the 1960s, this region has experienced a devastating
drought. Rainfall was 20 to 49 percent lower than in the first half of the
20th century, causing widespread famine and death.
Scientists also believe that air pollution over China has affected their
summer monsoon rainfall belt. Northern China had successive droughts in
the summers of 1997, 1998 and 1999. A reduction in the severity of the Sahelian
drought during the 1990s may be linked with emission controls in Europe
and North America that lowered atmospheric aerosol concentrations during
that decade, Dr. Rotstayn says. Tropical and eastern Australia have experienced
an increase in rainfall over the 20th century, and this may be related to
the same effect.
"We are not yet seeing reductions in aerosol emissions in Asia," says Dr.
Rotstayn. "It is possible that other forms of aerosol in the air, such as
black soot emitted from Southeast Asia, could affect Australia's climate."
ENVIRONMENTAL EXPERTS HOPE FOR CONCRETE ACTION AND A CLEAR MESSAGE FROM SUMMIT IN JOHANNESBURG
Associated Press, 17 June 2002 STOCKHOLM, Sweden - Environmental officials and experts meeting on the
30th anniversary of a landmark U.N. conference expressed hope on Monday
that an upcoming summit on the environment in South Africa will result in
concrete action and a clear message.
Delegates said much progress has been made since the first U.N. Conference
on the Human Environment was held in 1972 in Stockholm but many of the same
challenges remained - including the use of fossil fuels that are blamed
for recent global warming, a growing population and increased industrial
activity.
"We must acknowledge that despite notable progress on many fronts ... we
have still not made the fundamental transition to a secure and sustainable
future for the human community," United Nations undersecretary-general Maurice
F. Strong said in a statement that was read at the two-day conference. "And
I am afraid that we will not do so unless we take the decisions and actions
that will break the inertia that continues to propel us along a course that
is not sustainable," he said.
The Aug. 26 to Sept. 4 World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg
is a follow up to the 1992 Earth Summit held in Rio de Janeiro. It is expected
to focus on reshaping the world economy to make it less environmentally
harmful and more socially equitable.
Swedish Environmental Minister Kjell Larsson told some 300 scientists, diplomats
and activists gathered in Stockholm that the challenge will be to bridge
the gap between commitment and action. "We need an ambitious political declaration
with a clear and unambiguous message from world leaders, an action with
clear and achievable targets defined in time, means of implementation and
clearly defined responsibilities," Larsson said in opening remarks.
Diane Dillon-Ridgely, director of Dallas-based Green Mountain Energy Co.,
said the public needs to be more involved in protecting the environment.
"Whatever we do at any industrial level, at any level, has a much greater
impact than it did because there are more of us doing it on the planet,"
she said. "And if (the public) can pressure their governments, their governments
would have to change what they are doing."
The 1972 conference in the Swedish capital launched a new era of international
cooperation in environmental issues, with participants from 113 countries,
including former U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara who was then
head of the World Bank. The Soviet Union and other former communist countries
boycotted the meetings because East Germany, which was not a U.N. member,
was not allowed to take part
WORLD EARTH SUMMIT ALL SET FOR MAJOR FLOP
Times of Malta, 17 June 2002 The "Earth Summit" in South Africa in August is shaping up to be a major
flop with politics in the driving seat and science hardly to be seen, scientists
and environmentalists say. Just days after the final preparatory meeting
for the World Summit on Sustainable Development ended without agreement,
Friends of the Earth (FOE) activists said last Friday the draft text was
all talk and no action.
"This draft plan is weak in the extreme," FOE spokesman Mike Childs said.
"Without firm targets, finance and enforcement mechanisms, it threatens
to be no more than hot air." FOE said the planning meeting on the tropical
paradise island of Bali failed even to agree whether globalisation was good
or bad for the sustainable development the whole discussion process was
supposed to support. Childs's comments echo the fears of some scientists
as a forecast 65,000 delegates prepare to descend on Johannesburg from August
26 in a supposed bid to drive forward world development while saving the
planet.
Kelly Rigg, of Greenpeace, accused the United States and other countries
of having systematically removed anything smacking of action from the draft
text. "Governments are walking away from their responsibilities. Now, more
than ever, there is a need to work together. Now is the time to save the
planet, but it is just not happening," she told Reuters from Amsterdam.
The Johannesburg summit was originally intended to review progress since
the first Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992 and plot the path to a
future free of the grinding poverty that grips large portions of the world's
population. The United Nations Environment Programme said in its annual
report last month the world was at a crossroads where it had to chose between
greed and humanity - with a disaster awaiting the wrong choice.
"We need a concrete action plan... concrete projects... and above all a
clear political declaration," UNEP head Klaus Toepfer said presenting the
report.
But critics say the Bali draft for Johannesburg contains none of that and
could not even decide whether to mention the Kyoto protocol on limiting
carbon dioxide emissions - a treaty the United States has refused to adopt.
Emil Salim, chairman of the Bali talks, said there could be further debate
before the summit, but also said the meeting had failed to reach agreement
on aspects such as time commitments and ways of financing pledges.
Scientists are dubious that Johannesburg will achieve anything other than
a restating of the deep divide between the rich, mostly northern hemisphere,
developed nations and the poor southern countries struggling under mountains
of debt.
"It is really very depressing. It doesn't look like there will be any science
at Johannesburg," Professor Georgina Mace, director of science at the Zoological
Society of London, told Reuters. "Everything is stuck in politics.
That is why so few scientists are actually going there. They know nothing
will come of it. There will be no targets set and no initiatives taken.
We need movement and we will not get it at Johannesburg," she added.
Some scientists point to the recent replacement of Robert Watson, who aggressively
pushed conservation, as head of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
in a move largely instigated by the United States as an indication of attitudes
towards environmental concerns.
"He was a thorn in the side of the US energy lobby which is extremely powerful
and has the ear of President Bush, so they got rid of him," Chris Rapley,
director of the British Antarctic Survey told Reuters in a recent interview.
"I think that speaks volumes about the US position on climate change. It
is not even certain if Bush will go to Jonhannesburg," he added.
CONFERENCE ON MARINE ENVIRONMENT OPENS IN ABUJA
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks via All Africa, 17 June 2002A three-day conference on the protection and development of the coastal and marine environment in sub-Saharan Africa opened in the Nigerian capital, Abuja, on Monday. Organised under the auspices of the African Ministerial Conference on Environment (AMCEN), its agenda was to work out a programme for a partnership conference to be held at the World Summit for Sustainable Development (WSSD) to be held in South Africa in September. The conference was jointly organised with the Super Preparatory Committee of the African Process for the Development and Protection of the Coastal and Marine Environment (APDPCME). A statement by Nigeria's Ministry of Environment said the conference would seek to "integrate socio-economic as well as scientific and technical considerations into proposed interventions for addressing leading causes of degradation in the marine and coastal environment" in Africa. Participants in the proceedings, declared open by Nigeria's President Olusegun Obasanjo, included Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme, Klaus Topfer, and representatives of African governments and international organisations. During the meeting, approval of 33 projects proposed to deal with problems of coastal and marine environments in Africa is to be considered. The projects were identified during the final deliberations of the working group of APDPCME in Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire, in May. They cover pollution, modifications to the ecosystem, climate change, over-exploitation of fishery resources and eco-tourism.
WATER, WATER EVERYWHERE, BUT...
Independent, 17 June 2002 The shortage of fresh water in the developing world is reaching critical
levels. And a new dam in Brazil only serves to highlight the environmental
problem.
Later this year, the construction of the world's latest dam is due to be
finished. As dams go, the one being built at Castanhão, in Brazil's arid
north-eastern state of Ceará, is not the biggest nor the most controversial,
and, in many respects, its completion will go largely unnoticed by the millions
of Brazilians who stand to benefit from it. Yet the fact that the Castanhão
dam needs to be built at all is testament to the growing worldwide crisis
in the supply of fresh water.
The latest study by the United Nations Environment Programme, which was
published last month in its Global Environment Outlook 3 report, identifies
water shortages as one of the most pressing problems facing the developing
world. The report points out that one-third of the world's population is
currently living in countries of moderate-to-high water shortages. Within
the next 25 years, this is due to rise to two-thirds of the human population
living in "water-stressed" regions.
By 2020, the demand for water is expected to increase by 40 per cent, and
17 per cent more water will be needed to irrigate the crops that will have
to be cultivated to feed a growing population. Yet already in the world
today, nearly 20 per cent of the world's population do not have ready access
to drinking water, while 40 per cent lack adequate sanitation. This is despite
the attempts to fulfil one of the main goals of the 1992 Earth Summit in
Rio de Janeiro, which identified a long-term aim of guaranteeing access
to clean water and sanitation for everyone.
Water, and the lack of it, is also on the agenda of the forthcoming World
Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg this August. In addition
to improved sanitation and pollution control, the summit will inevitably
have to confront the need to control even more rivers, using dams such as
the one at Castanhão.
In many respects, the Castanhão dam exemplifies how a dam should be built.
It involved detailed planning, and extensive consultation with the people
whose homes in the nearby city of Jaguaribara were to be flooded. The planning
also involved an assessment of the dam's environmental impact. Preliminary
studies were carried out in the early 1980s, and the work itself began at
the end of 1995, with the help of funding from the World Bank.
The new city of Jaguaribara was built to replace the old one that was flooded.
The street plan of Jaguaribara "Nova" precisely matches the layout of the
old, flooded city, even down to the position of the local churches. Each
of the 12,000 residents was consulted about their new home, and they were
given the opportunity to choose whether they would like to live next to
their old neighbours - most said they would. Even the dead at the local
cemetery were exhumed and reburied in new graves to match the ones that
were to be flooded.
An ecological park has been set up adjacent to the flood site in order to
preserve the native plants and animals, while three seismological stations
will monitor any seismic movements related to the build-up of the 4.5 billion
cubic metres of water behind the dam's concrete walls. Engineers say that
the local rock and soil conditions will ensure that the dam will not silt
up in the way that has affected other dams, such as the Aswan dam in Egypt.
They insist that every effort has been made in its construction to minimise
the dam's environmental impact.
Although much of Brazil benefits from heavy rainfall, the state of Ceará
in the north-east suffers badly from drought. Flying west by helicopter
from Fortaleza, Ceará's capital city on the Atlantic coast, the effects
of the drought quickly become apparent. Although the coastal region is relatively
green and lush, the land quickly dries out as you leave the climatic influence
of the ocean. After about 15 minutes of flying, you cross the line in the
vegetation that marks the point at which the aridity of the hinterland becomes
clearly visible.
From here, hundreds of miles inland, the ground is brown and parched. After
another hour or so of flying and the arid landscape is broken up by the
glistening lake that is already building up behind the new dam built at
Castanhão.
Local Brazilians view the dam as vital to the irrigation of vast tracts
of potentially fertile farmland in the state of Ceará. Brazilian engineers
estimate that the dam will be able to irrigate 43,000 hectares of crops,
as well as supply the needs of the two million inhabitants of Fortaleza,
with its important tourism industry. The dam will also control the flooding
that regularly plagues Ceará's river basins - about half of the annual rainfall
of the state falls in just two months, often in torrential downpours that
can sweep away crops and buildings.
If Ceará needs anything, say Brazilian officials, it is a regular and reliable
water supply. The state typifies the problem with water - the planet's most
abundant substance is often not where you need it most. Even when water
does arrive in the form of rain, it frequently comes suddenly, causing widespread
and destructive flooding.
It is somewhat ironic that Brazil, famous for its rainforest, also sits
on one of the largest underground water sources on Earth. But the Guarani
aquifer system, covering some 1.2 million square kilometres and holding
a stupendous 48,000 cubic kilometres of fresh water, is in the south-east
of the country, many hundreds of miles from Ceará in the dry north-east.
Just extracting 20 per cent of the amount of water that drains into the
Guarani aquifer each year would be enough to supply 300 litres of fresh
water per day to 360 million people - if only it could be distributed across
this vast, continent-sized country.
Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay are working together on an integrated
approach to developing a sustainable method of extracting water from the
Guarani aquifer. The project is being closely watched by various international
bodies, including the World Bank, which is helping to fund the initiative.
"Success would be an important step towards ensuring long-term availability
of freshwater and aquifer resources for people in these countries," says
the GEO-3 report of UNEP.
The Castanhão dam and the Guarani aquifer system, along with the truly giant
Three Gorges Dam in China, represent the traditional ways of meeting the
worldwide water crisis caused by population growth, industrial development
and expanding agriculture. But UNEP believes that other approaches to water
management will have to be considered in the future.
"Planners have always assumed that growing demand would be met by taming
more of the hydrological cycle through building more infrastructure," says
the UNEP report. "This infrastructure has provided important benefits in
the form, for example, of increased food production and hydroelectricity.
There have also been major costs. Over the past 50 years, dams have transformed
the world's rivers, displacing some 40-80 million people in different parts
of the world and causing irreversible changes in many of the ecosystems
closely associated with them."
As important as dams have been in the past, planners and politicians are
now having to think of other ways to meet the problem of water shortages.
"Policy makers," the report says, "have now shifted from entirely supply
solutions to demand management, highlighting the importance of using a combination
of measures to ensure adequate supplies of water for different sectors."
Greater water efficiency and better controls on water pollution are two
obvious improvements that could result in real benefits.
The poor management of water resources - such as over-irrigation - has already
resulted in the salinity levels of about 20 per cent of irrigated land rising
to a point where agriculture becomes difficult or impossible to sustain.
Over the past 30 years, the pollution of groundwater sources has become
a significant problem in many parts of the world. Many rivers are now suffering
from high nitrate levels, caused by the use of agricultural fertilisers.
And even some once-pristine rivers, such as the Amazon and Orinoco, are
seeing rising levels of artificial nitrates.
For a planet that is mostly water, it may seem ironic that water shortages
are becoming such a limiting factor in human development. Yet only 2.5 per
cent of the Earth's water is fresh water, and less than 1 per cent of this
can actually be used for drinking. Even this limited natural resource is
dwindling quickly, as encroaching human settlements contaminate and overexploit
newly discovered sources of water. The point may soon come when, even on
such a watery planet as Earth, there is water everywhere but not a drop
to drink.
PRIME MINISTER CONSULTS YOUNG PEOPLE AHEAD OF 2002 UN EARTH SUMMIT
United Kingdom, 17 June 2002The Prime Minister Tony Blair has met school pupils to discuss environmental issues in advance of the World Summit on Sustainable Development. The Summit will be held in Johannesburg in August and September. Tim Green aged 10 from England, Peter Burton 10 from Northern Ireland, Stephanie Wiseman, 11, Scotland and Rhys Davies 17 from Wales made intelligent suggestions to Tony Blair and Margaret Beckett on how to make the back garden at Number 10 more sustainable. The four pupils have been nominated as WWF (World Wildlife Fund) "Earth Champions" after their original thinking on sustainable development issues won them acclaim. They are particularly concerned about renewable energy, world poverty, quality of species and habitats and access to fresh water. Prime Minister Tony Blair said: "I am pleased to have the opportunity today to hear young people's concerns about the future of the planet. These young Earth Champions are doing important work in raising awareness of key challenges for the World Summit on Sustainable Development." "We share their concerns about poverty, quality of species and habitats and access to clean energy and water. That is why we have taken action in the UK to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, increased our support to developing countries to reduce poverty and increase access to clean water." Later the youngsters provided Number 10 with a bat box to cater for the remote possibility that stray bats in Downing Street may be looking for a comfortable home
MESSAGE ON WORLD DAY TO COMBAT DESERTIFICATION AND DROUGHT
United Nations, 17 June 2002Desertification and drought pose a worldwide threat with serious economic, environmental and socio-political implications. Every year, an estimated $42 billion in income and 6 million hectares of productive land are being lost because of desertification, land degradation and declining agricultural productivity, and 135 million people who depend primarily on land for their livelihood are at risk of being displaced. The fallout is felt on all continents. In Africa, over the next 20 years some 60 million people are expected to move from the Sahelian region to less hostile areas if the desertification of their land is not halted. In northeast Asia, dust- and sandstorms have buried human settlements and forced schools and airports to shut down. In the Americas, dry spells and sandstorms have alarmed farmers and raised the spectre of another "Dust Bowl", reminiscent of the 1930s. And in southern Europe, lands once green and rich in vegetation are turning barren and brown. The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), adopted eight years ago today, integrates environmental and developmental concerns and thus is a key instrument not only in protecting ecosystems and resources, but also in alleviating poverty. However, a lack of predictable financial resources has hampered implementation. I urge developed countries to follow through on the commitments they made both in adopting the Convention and at the "Earth Summit" ten years ago in Rio de Janeiro -- including the provision of financial support through the Global Environment Facility (an alliance of the UN Development Programme, the UN Environment Programme and the World Bank), which should serve as a financial mechanism of the convention. Desertification will be among the most important issues to be discussed at the World Summit on Sustainable Development, which opens in less than three months. We need to find ways to halt land degradation, and to manage land more responsibly. We need to reverse the decline in agricultural productivity, especially in Africa, so that food production keeps pace with the number of mouths to feed. We need, in short, to implement the UN Convention to Combat Desertification as a key element in the world's quest for sustainable development.
ANNAN URGES COUNTRIES TO BACK TREATY AIMED AT STEMMING DESERTIFICATION
United Nations, 17 June 2002 17 June - Marking the World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought,
United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan said these twin scourges posed
a worldwide threat and urged countries to support an international pact
designed to stop land degradation.
"Every year, an estimated $42 billion in income and 6 million hectares of
productive land are being lost because of desertification, land degradation
and declining agricultural productivity, and 135 million people who depend
primarily on land for their livelihood are at risk of being displaced,"
Mr. Annan said in his message on the occasion.
Over the next 20 years some 60 million people in Africa are expected to
leave the Sahelian region if desertification there is not halted, he said.
In north-east Asia, "dust and sandstorms have buried human settlements and
forced schools and airports to shut down," while in the Americas, dry spells
and sandstorms have alarmed farmers and raised the spectre of another "Dust
Bowl," reminiscent of the 1930s. "And in southern Europe, lands once green
and rich in vegetation are turning barren and brown," he noted.
The Secretary-General called on States to implement the UN Convention to
Combat Desertification, which integrates environmental and developmental
concerns. "I urge developed countries to follow through on the commitments
they made both in adopting the Convention and at the 'Earth Summit' 10 years
ago in Rio de Janeiro - including the provision of financial support," he
said.
Looking to the upcoming World Summit on Sustainable Development, which will
review progress since the Rio conference, he called for delegates to grapple
with how to halt land degradation. "We need to reverse the decline in agricultural
productivity, especially in Africa, so that food production keeps pace with
the number of mouths to feed," he said. "We need, in short, to implement
the UN Convention to Combat Desertification as a key element in the world's
quest for sustainable development."
In his message on the Day, the President of the General Assembly, Han Seung-soo
of the Republic of Korea, also underscored the value of the treaty. "The
United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification is a cooperative quest
of the human community to address the environmental and social causes of
desertification and its consequences, in particular poverty, food insecurity
and forced massive migrations," he said. "I urge all countries to join their
efforts to stop desertification, which will help secure [a] healthy and
green Earth for us and our future generations."
MOUNTAIN PEOPLE SUFFER MORE MALNUTRITION AND DISEASE
Food and Agriculture Organisation, 16 June 2002 ADELBODEN, SWITZERLAND, 16 June 2002 -- A disproportionately high number
of the world's hungriest and chronically malnourished people reside in mountain
regions, Dr. Jacques Diouf, Director-General of the UN Food and Agriculture
Organization (FAO), said today.
In a statement delivered on his behalf by Jacques Eckebil, FAO Assistant
Director-General for Sustainable Development, at the International Conference
on Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Development in Mountains, held in Adelboden,
Switzerland (16-20 June 2002), Dr Diouf said malnutrition and food insecurity
in mountain regions contribute to increased disease and disability and the
displacement of hundreds of thousands of people who flee drought and famine.
Mountains are crucial to life. In addition to hosting more biodiversity
than any other eco-region on earth, mountains provide most of the world's
freshwater. More than 3 billion people rely on mountains for water to drink
and to grow food, produce electricity and sustain industries. However, policies
and decisions concerning the management of those resources are made often
from afar, leaving those who live in mountain communities with the least
amount of influence and power.
There are 815 million chronically undernourished people in the world, according
to FAO. Although mountain people represent about 12 percent of the world's
population, mountain communities may carry a much larger portion of the
burden.
Millions of people in the Andes, Himalaya and other large mountain areas
of the world suffer from goitre and cretinism, because glaciation, melting
snow and heavy rainfall regularly leach fragile mountain soils of their
iodine content. At the same time, in many mountain communities, Vitamin
A deficiency is the leading cause of preventable blindness in children,
while raising the risk of disease and death from severe infections.
According to FAO, the high levels of malnutrition and hunger in mountain
areas have much to do with the inaccessibility, complexity and fragility
of mountain environments, and the extent to which mountain people are often
marginalized.
In the Ethiopian highlands as well as in the Upper Rwaba watershed of Burundi,
for example, inequities of land distribution coupled with population growth
have increased poverty and food insecurity. In the Peruvian Andes, two of
every three households don't possess enough arable land to grow the foods
required to meet their nutritional needs.
Every day, mountain people face immense physical barriers -- rugged terrain,
poor communications systems and inadequate roads.
Heads of State and Government attending the World Food Summit: five years
later held in Rome from 10 to 13 June this year, renewed their global commitment
to reduce the number of hungry in the world no later than 2015. The Summit's
Declaration recognised in particular the extent of poverty in the mountain
zones and emphasised the vital role of mountain zones and their potential
for sustainable agriculture and rural development in order to achieve food
security. The need to build partnerships between developing countries in
this regard was stressed.
The United Nations declared 2002 the International Year of Mountains to
increase awareness of the global importance of mountain ecosystems and the
challenges faced by mountain people. The conference in Adelboden is one
of a series of major global events scheduled for the Year.
The opportunity to address mountain issues evolved from the 1992 United
Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro, where
mountains became the singular focus of Chapter 13 of Agenda 21, the blueprint
for sustainable development.
It is expected that the Adelboden conference will help set the stage for
policies and laws meant to protect mountain ecosystems and to create the
conditions in which mountain people can thrive. This Adelboden declaration
will be presented at the World Summit on Sustainable Developmentto be held
in Johannesburg at the end of August this year, as well as at the Bishkek
Global Mountain Summit to be held in Kyrgyzstan in October.
FAO is the lead United Nations agency for the International Year of Mountains.
FAO's partners include other United Nations agencies, non-governmental organizations,
Mountain Forum, mountain people's organizations and more than 67 national
committees representing countries around the world, with many more countries
preparing to join. FAO's priority is to stimulate long-term, on-the-ground
action by supporting the creation and ongoing efforts of national committees
dedicated to the International Year of Mountains.
BROWN TRIES TO HELP 67 MILLION CHILDREN
Independent, 16 June 2002 Gordon Brown, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, is today making a fresh
attempt to tackle poverty in the Third World, after the failure of negotiations
in Bali a week ago.
He is urging his fellow finance ministers from the world's richest