Emil wants Bali Commitment to set benchmark<\/p>\n
The Jakarta Post, Nusa Dua, Bali<\/p>\n
A benchmark of time targets would prevent the Bali
\nCommitment from seeing the same lackluster follow up as the 1992
\nRio Declaration on sustainable development, but talks on the
\naction plan indicate that it is too early to say that all
\ndelegates support the view, said Emil Salim.<\/p>\n
Emil, chairman of the preparatory committee meeting for the
\nWorld Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD), said the Rio
\nDeclaration's action plan, Agenda 21, lacked results from
\ngovernments, because it did not have a benchmark.<\/p>\n
\"This Agenda (21) says you have to do this and that, but
\nwhat it doesn't say is by when to achieve all that,\" Emil told
\nThe Jakarta Post in an interview on Thursday.<\/p>\n
Delegates, already behind schedule to finalize the action
\nplan, must decide quickly whether to include time targets. All
\ndiscussions on documents for the WSSD in Johannesburg, South
\nAfrica, must be finalized within a week.<\/p>\n
\"We want a more concrete result from Johannesburg than from
\nRio,\" Emil said.<\/p>\n
There is concern that the Johannesburg Declaration, which
\nwill be based on the action plan coined as the Bali Commitment,
\nwill lack strength to enforce implementation, following the same
\npath as the Rio Declaration.<\/p>\n
The 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, opened the
\nway for embedding sustainable development principles into
\ncountries' development plans.<\/p>\n
But action lessened among most countries that participated in
\nthe summit. It took Indonesia five years to issue its National
\nAgenda 21, and the 1997 economic crisis further slowed the
\nprocess of implementation.<\/p>\n
\"This (the Johannesburg Declaration) is about getting this
\ndone within a 10-year time frame, the deadline is 2012,\" said
\nEmil.<\/p>\n
But not all delegates agree to incorporate the time targets
\ninto the Chairman's Text, which is the negotiated document that
\nwill be endorsed by heads of state during the Johannesburg
\nSummit. The Chairman's Text is also known as the Bali Commitment.<\/p>\n
The United States has refused to include these time-bound
\nmeasures, which, according to Emil, was because the country
\nneeded congressional approval before committing future resources.
\nHe said the U.S. argument could be part of its negotiation
\ntactics. \"After all, it should be the government's job to
\nconvince Congress.\"<\/p>\n
Since talks on the Chairman's Text began on Monday, delegates
\nfrom developing countries, and some developed countries, have
\nexpressed frustration over the U.S.'s uncompromising stance.<\/p>\n
Emil downplayed delegates' concerns, saying that during
\nnegotiations parties always aimed for the highest stake.<\/p>\n
He said that despite the apparent deadlock, compromises were
\npossible and talks could shift to which programs in the
\nChairman's Text should come with a time target.<\/p>\n
One Indonesian delegate has said that if a compromise were to
\nbe reached, the U.S. would approve only those time targets, which
\nthe U.S. already agreed to under the Millennium Goals, set out at
\na United Nations conference in September 2000.<\/p>\n
The Chairman Text is a summary of input from three preparatory
\nmeetings in New York that were preceded by a series of
\nsubregional and regional meetings.<\/p>\n
The first version of the Chairman Text had 21 pages, but when
\nI asked for feedback it returned as a 150 page document,\" Emil
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
\"So what we did was we agree to omit the political language
\nand the pages went down. We expect to finalize the Chairman's
\nText by Saturday night, leaving Sunday free. Negotiation is
\nslated to resume on Monday with discussion on the political
\ndeclaration for the Johannesburg Summit.\"<\/p>\n
Emil said the political declaration in Johannesburg would act
\nas the political umbrella for the Bali Commitment action plan.<\/p>\n
But implementing the action plan, he added, would largely rest
\nupon the partnerships between governments.<\/p>\n
Bilateral and multilateral partnerships are key elements of
\nthe Rio declaration, and the current talks are discussing whether
\nto extend them to include stakeholders such as companies and non-
\ngovernmental organizations.<\/p>\n
However, discussions on these partnerships -- pursued
\noutside the negotiating room and often called type-2 outcome --
\nwere watered down due to fears that developed countries would use
\nthem to shift commitments on implementing sustainable development
\nmeasures to the private sector.<\/p>\n
Non-governmental organizations have also called on
\ngovernment delegates to set up monitoring and time-bound measures
\nfor the type-2 partnerships, fearing that corporations could not
\nbe held accountable for their programs.<\/p>\n
\"Partnerships lie with the real action, but the implementation
\nprogram (Bali Commitment) will give them direction, providing,
\nhowever, that time targets are put in place,\" Emil said.<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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