Earth may get second chance in Johannesburg<\/p>\n
The Jakarta Post, Nusa Dua, Bali<\/p>\n
After failing to garner more support from developed countries in
\nBali for sustainable development measures, delegates are now
\nlooking toward the United Nations (UN) world summit in
\nJohannesburg, South Africa, next August for a second chance.<\/p>\n
However, some delegates say the chances of a better deal are
\nslim.<\/p>\n
Two weeks of negotiations on a plan to implement sustainable
\ndevelopment measures ended in deadlock in the early hours of
\nSaturday morning last week. Exhausted negotiators decided to end
\nthe talks in Bali and bring the unresolved issues to Johannesburg
\nfor a last-ditch attempt.<\/p>\n
In the meantime, the opposing sides will continue their talks
\nin Brazil, which was the host of the first 1992 Earth Summit,
\nsaid Emil Salim, the chairman of the UN pre-summit meetings in
\nBali.<\/p>\n
"We hope we can bridge our differences there," Emil said on
\nMonday, adding that the meeting would take place from June 23 to
\nJune 25 in Rio de Janeiro.<\/p>\n
At the meeting, he would transfer his chairmanship to South
\nAfrica, where world leaders are expected to endorse the action
\nplan with a political declaration.<\/p>\n
According to him, 80 percent of the action plan on sustainable
\ndevelopment has been finalized in Bali. "Yet, it is the remaining
\n20 percent that is of most importance."<\/p>\n
Emil was referring to Chapter IX on means and implementation,
\nwhich requires developed countries to lend financial support for
\nthe plan.<\/p>\n
Delegates in Bali decided that Indonesia and South Africa
\nshould draw up another draft on Chapter IX, focusing on the
\ncommon ground between the conflicting parties.<\/p>\n
The two countries tried to revise the chapter in Bali in a
\nfinal attempt to salvage the negotiations. But the developed
\ncountries, spearheaded by the U.S., turned down the draft.<\/p>\n
It remains to be seen whether the two can produce a better
\nChapter IX than they did in Bali, and, on top, get the U.S. to
\nagree to it.<\/p>\n
"I was asked by South Africa to help them out," Emil said,
\nadding that it was not uncommon for summit preparatory meetings
\nto fail to come up with an agreement before the actual summit.<\/p>\n
Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that have been tracking
\nthe negotiating process since the first preparatory meetings,
\nsaid the three months would allow delegates to hammer out
\nstronger commitments into the draft plan.<\/p>\n
Initially to be called the Bali Commitment, the unfinished
\ndraft plan of Implementation for the World Summit on Sustainable
\nDevelopment drew fire from NGOs as lacking the strength to create
\nreal change.<\/p>\n
The negotiations in Bali were about implementing the promises
\nmade under the Rio declaration at the Earth Summit in Rio de
\nJaneiro.<\/p>\n
The declaration introduced sustainable development as the
\nantidote to the overexploitation of the Earth's natural
\nresources.<\/p>\n
Current economic development shifts most of the earth's
\nnatural resources to rich nations leaving developing countries
\nwith a damaged environment out of which the poor must attempt to
\nsurvive.<\/p>\n
That means that nearly two-thirds of the world's population,
\nwho live in poverty, mainly in developing countries, pay for the
\ndeveloped countries' current high living standards.<\/p>\n
Concerns have increased that the pace at which natural
\nresources are dwindling will deprive the Earth of the resources
\nto support future generations.<\/p>\n
Over the next 25 years, the Earth's population will grow by
\nanother two billion, mainly in developing countries.<\/p>\n
The Rio declaration drew on this iniquity to call on nations
\nto align economic development with social and environmental
\nconcern through sustainable development.<\/p>\n
But 10 years later, the changes have been minimal. The
\ngreatest resistance has come from developed countries unwilling
\nto change their lifestyles and invest in sustainable development,
\nNGOs have charged.<\/p>\n
Emil blamed this on the declaration's absence of clear
\ntargets, defined by timetables and adequate funding.<\/p>\n
The Chairman's Text that he drafted and on which the
\nnegotiations' in Bali were based included time-bound measures.
\nThey were mostly deleted in the two weeks of negotiations.<\/p>\n
Developed countries agreed to accept only the previous targets
\npromised during the United Nations Millennium Summit in September
\n2000.<\/p>\n
NGOs and developing countries warned that the Johannesburg
\nsummit would become meaningless without new targets.<\/p>\n
The delegates in Bali were largely divided into three
\nnegotiating blocks: developing countries under the Group 77 plus
\nChina, the European Union and the so-called JUSCANZ group, with
\nJUSCANZ standing for Japan, the United States, Canada, Australia
\nand New Zealand.<\/p>\n
JUSCANZ was against pledging new financial resources after
\ndeveloped countries agreed earlier this year to allocate US$30
\nbillion by 2006 at the summit on financing development in
\nMonterey, Mexico.<\/p>\n
Other paragraphs, such as reforming the International Monetary
\nFund (IMF), and the phasing out of subsidies that hurt developing
\ncountries, were also bracketed, the latter despite EU protests.<\/p>\n
An Indonesian delegate warned that the developed countries
\ncould use the three months before Johannesburg to approach
\ndeveloping countries bilaterally and "buy their votes" by
\noffering them aid.<\/p>\n
Activist Anthony Hill of Oxfam International said such
\nlobbying was already happening in Bali.<\/p>\n
"From what I understand, the United States is talking
\nindividually not only here but in capitals, and is seeking deals
\nwith developing countries, holding off progress," Hill said last
\nThursday amid signs that the negotiations in Bali were heading
\nnowhere.<\/p>\n
Also clouding the next summit is the apparent reluctance of
\nU.S. President George W. Bush to come to Johannesburg.<\/p>\n
His father George Bush reportedly only attended the 1992 Rio
\nSummit at the last minute following international pressure.<\/p>\n
Without the U.S., the Johannesburg declaration would lack
\nteeth as the country is the world's largest economy.<\/p>\n
A UN official urged governments on Monday to show greater
\npolitical commitment lest the Johannesburg summit collapse.<\/p>\n
"If ... people quickly don't regroup and start pulling some
\nplans together, then we're going to be in trouble," UN
\nDevelopment Program (UNDP) head Mark Malloch-Brown was quoted as
\nsaying by Dow Jones<\/p>",
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