Posted on 18-2-2002
Sustainable
Development Means?
Sustainable Development is the number one catch cry of the UN,
the EU and
now global corporates have targetted it for the PR spin treatment.
The
world is now global inc's apple, and the bite is starting to
hurt bad. Spin
is spinning us out.
Last week long-delayed Commission Communication on the External
Dimension
of Sustainable Development was presented by Development Commissioner
Poul
Nielson, but it appears to have the stamp of Trade Commissioner
Pascal Lamy
on it. What should be an important signal to the rest of the
world on just
how seriously the EU will take its commitment to sustainable
development
(as enshrined in Articles 2 and 6 of the Treaty) is now in danger
of
becoming a pretext for a trade-oriented agenda at the coming
World Summit
on Sustainable Development ("Rio +10") in Johannesburg.
Commissioner Lamy himself has said the 4th WTO Ministerial Conference
in
Doha last November "contributed to building a strong platform
for further
international co-operation, particularly in the UN event on
Financing for
Development, which will take place in Monterrey in March 2002,
and in the
World Summit on Sustainable Development later in 2002." (Note
1). . "We are
seeing a co-ordinated attempt to hi-jack the World Summit on
Sustainable
Development" said the Group's co-ordinator for the Development
Committee,
Green MEP Didier Rod (France). "Since the publication last year
(Note 2) of
a joint paper by the Environment and Development Commissioners
intended to
put environmentally sustainable practices at the forefront of
international
policy making at the World Summit, the focus is in danger of
shifting to
making free-trade the motor of development. We have seen that
the
'consensus document' already agreed ahead of the Monterrey Conference
on
Financing for Development does not contain binding target dates
for
increased public funding and instead is starting to turn development
aid
into a privatised trade tool. Today's Communication goes in
the same
direction."
Alexander de Roo MEP (Netherlands), vice president of the Parliament's
Environment Committee commented "Last week the second preparatory
meeting
for the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) was held
in New
York. The Chairman's paper, summarising the state of discussions
so far
(Note 3), is built on the same agenda: the need to support the
WTO
multilateral trading system and the Doha Declaration. The message
from
Europe delivered to the New York meeting (Note 4) was that the
free-market
will make globalisation work for sustainable development by
removing trade
distortions, giving duty-free and quota-free market access,
and by
encouraging investments in the least developed countries. In
contrast the
Prepcom has so far failed to produce texts on global environmental
governance and on binding rules for corporate social responsibility.
The UN
needs to confront the WTO paradigm, not to endorse it."
The European Parliament will have the opportunity to respond
to the
Commission's Communication and to give its views in advance
of the WSSD
when it debates the Papayannakis Report on Rio+10, probably
in July. Green
MEPs Paul Lannoye and Caroline Lucas will present Opinions in
the
Development and Industry committees.
[2] Civil Society NGO's focus on "Corporate Accountability"
Binding
Agreement [Convention]
From UN Wire today, Michael Dorsey quoted on corporate accountability...
www.unfoundation.org/unwire/current.asp
UNITED NATIONS-The preparatory committee for the World Summit
on
Sustainable Development concluded its second session Friday,
adopting its
draft report, including the chairman's paper, which will provide
a basis
for negotiations when the preparatory meeting resumes at the
end of March.
The summit will be held in Johannesburg, South Africa, in August
and
September, 10 years after the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro.
Chairman Emil
Salim said Friday that the summit will be held "in a globalized
world" and
that globalization "marginalizes the developing countries."
Therefore,
Salim said, "there is a need to make globalization work for
sustainable
development." Salim's paper includes several foci. "Focus No.
1 is poverty
eradication," he said, including access to land and markets
for subsistent
workers. The second focus is "changing the unsustainable patterns
of
consumption and production ... but this must change through
market
resources." The third focus, he said, is "sustainable management
of natural
resources," which he defined as "development below the threshold
of
degradation." Meanwhile, civil society groups are focusing their
energies
on corporate accountability, specifically some kind of legally
binding
agreement governing corporate behavior. According to Michael
Dorsey of the
Sierra Club, "The corporate fox can no longer watch over peoples'
houses."
Voluntary codes of conduct have become "codes of corporate misconduct,
he
said. "It is not understood by governments that regulation is
necessary."
While the form of such an agreement is not settled, even among
nongovernmental organizations, Dorsey said, "Oddly enough, corporations
are
willing but governments are dragging their feet." This will
be a major
issue for NGOs at the next preparatory meeting, he said. While
getting
corporate accountability on the agenda was "a great success
for NGOs,"
Daniel Mittler of Friends of the Earth said, there is little
firm support
coming from governments other that the Group of 77 developing
countries.
Besides corporate accountability, Dorsey said there are two
other key
issues for NGOs: funding for sustainable development and trade
reform,
which will include transparency and accountability. "If you
are not going
to fund sustainable development, at least you've got to stop
funding
unsustainable development," he said.
Nitin Desai, who will be the secretary general of the summit,
said
corporate accountability "is on the table. ... Corporations
themselves are
aware of the importance of accountability." He added, "There
is an
acceptance that this will have to be discussed," but there is
no agreement
emerging as to whether this should be voluntary or binding.
"This whole
notion that government and civil society need to come together
has been
building up, but this cannot be a substitute for government
action," Desai
said. Dorsey said Johannesburg might be the last chance "to
get the
sustainable development train out of the station." He said official
development assistance is shrinking, free trade is "out of control,"
and
global businesses are "the main drivers of unsustainable development."
Mittler also noted there is support for dealing with water issues,
especially access to clean water, "but there is no clear commitment
against
the privatization of water." He called this "a classic case
where we can
test the [good faith] of governments" since Agenda 21, the agreement
reached at the Earth Summit, has an agreed timetable that has
not been met.
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