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.