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28 Aug 2002
The Earth Summit covers a vast range of environment and development
issues. The following is a summary of progress on some key points, and
information about the negotiating position of key countries and blocs.
Friends of the Earth International (FoEI) experts are available for
advice and comment on the Summit talks.
The US opposes any target for renewable energy. Brazil has proposed
a target of new renewable energy amounting to 10% of primary energy
supply by 2010. More countries are thinking about adopting this target
and FoEI calls on them to do so. The EU has failed to support this real
progress on renewable energy expansion, supporting instead a very weak
target that could encourage the construction of socially and ecologically
damaging large dams in developing countries. The Kyoto Protocol must
be mentioned in the Plan of Action from the Summit, and a commitment
to entry into force by the end of 2002 included. Japanese NGOs have
written to Environment Minister Hiroshi Oki demanding that Japan supports
the inclusion in the text of a commitment to the entry into force of
the Protocol.
There is still no text that will ensure that multilateral environmental
agreements are not made subservient to WTO trade rules. More than 200
NGOs support a call initiated by FoEI that the autonomy and authority
of the international agreements that protect people and the environment
has to be affirmed loud and clear at Johannesburg. The EU in particular
must show leadership on this issue, after EU Commissioner Pascal Lamy
welcomed the NGO statement in the past. Eco-labelling (which has clear
implications for GM food) is controversial, with the current text making
such schemes voluntary and demanding strict WTO compliance. Given the
continuing dispute of the European Union with the United States over
GMO labelling, nothing less than the right for countries to put the
interests of their consumers above those of the global trade system
is at stake here.
Language related to the precautionary principle, a key principle agreed
at Rio, is in danger of being weakened, and the current draft implies
subordination to WTO rules. The EU is failing to defend it properly
in the trade chapter. Australia and Canada, supported by the US are
making it a priority to ensure WTO compatibility of the entire Earth
Summit text.
This is one of the key issues at this Summit. Yesterday morning the
G77 reintroduced the call for an inter-governmental framework on this
issue, which FoEI warmly welcomes. Norway during the negotiations last
night amended the G77 proposal. However, the G77 have difficulties accepting
some references to existing international agreements. The EU has been
one of the main stumbling blocks in achieving progress on this issue.
It remains committed solely to voluntary approaches, which the UN Environment
Programme recently criticized as insufficient. FoEI believes that agreement
on a negotiation process for global rules for business is a critical
test of the success or failure of the Earth Summit.
The UN Forum on Forests and its predecessors agreed 350 action points
– but while some support action on deforestation others effectively
promote timber trade. The UN Convention on Biodiversity is a much stronger
instrument, but has not been ratified by the US. At the Hague ministerial
meeting on the Convention this April, around 100 ministers signed an
agreement committing states to introduce measures by 2010 to reverse
loss of biodiversity. EU ministers have attempted to include this commitment
in the Earth Summit text but it currently remains in brackets (i.e.
not agreed). Rumour has it that this is a target that could be agreed
here. This is a test case for whether the Johannesburg Plan of Action
deserves its name.
The agreed text recognizes that small community initiatives to protect
forests are the most effective. It also states that the UN Forum on
Forests and Biodiversity Convention must be made consistent. Both these
points are welcomed by FoEI, and should lead to more biologically diverse
forests. However, the agreed text also promotes plantation forestry,
which damages biodiversity and is therefore inconsistent with the remainder
of the text.
The 192 Type 2 public-private partnerships include one which is clearly
designed to promote GMOs as part of “sustainable agriculture”.
Croplife, a plant-based science industry organization based in Brussels
which includes Monsanto, Sygenta and others, will run an e-mail learning
system for agriculture professionals, who will pass on the results to
small farmers around the world. Other players in the partnership include
APRDC, based in Bangkok.
The US – often supported by Japan, Canada, Australia and New Zealand (the JUSCAN group) – continues to be the single biggest block on progress at the Earth Summit. The US:
The issue of ecological debt, that is the debt accrued by industrialized northern countries to Southern countries from the exploitation of their environment, resources and people, has been completely ignored in the negotiations. FoEI believes it is time for the North to recognize and pay the debt to the South.
A Political Declaration addressing all the issues
above is available from FoEI and could be used as a model by negotiators
Rumour has it that UK Environment Minister Michael Meacher was today prevented from speaking to the press (including the BBC) by Alistair Campbell, Prime Minister Tony Blair’s Press Secretary. Blair previously tried to stop Meacher, easily the greenest UK Minister, from attending the Summit at all. So much for Blair’s promise to “put the environment at the heart of Government”.
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