Businesses urge governments on commitments
Businesses urge governments on commitments
Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, The Jakarta Post, Nusa Dua, Bali
The international business community joined hands with non-
governmental organizations in urging world governments to
strengthen their commitment to sustainable development before
heading to Johannesburg.
Speaking at a discussion here on Friday, Lynn Schloesser from
the International Chamber Commerce said businesses were ready to
support all kinds of partnerships as soon as governments set the
time targets for their commitments.
Schloesser, also a member of the American Business Council,
said that time targets were extremely important to allow
businesspeople to move forward and take the initiative with
partnerships.
"It's like doing things in a business. We need to make plans
and there should be time targets as they are important factors in
ensuring accountability," Schloesser said.
He further said that it was only with specific government
frameworks that the business community could fully support
sustainable development.
Setting time-bound measures in the draft plan of
implementation has become the major sticking point in the
negotiations during the two-week preparatory committee (PrepCom)
meeting in Bali.
The ministerial meeting in Bali for the World Summit on
Sustainable Development in Johannesburg has to finalize the draft
plan of implementation as mandated by the United Nations.
Many have expressed disappointment as the final session failed
to resolve many of the outstanding issues.
They also questioned the good faith of governments regarding
better earth management.
Initiatives for partnerships, known as type 2, or non-
negotiated, documents, should cover concrete projects for
sustainable development.
This type 2 initiative, however, should be supported by
government commitments through type 1, or negotiated, documents
in the draft plan of implementation.
The business community, which is often considered as being on
the other side of the fence as far as sustainable development is
concerned, urged that commitments should come first.
Only then could concrete actions through partnerships be
pursued by businesses.
"We are very disappointed that the WSSD (World Summit on
Sustainable Development), which should have become the initial
step for partnerships, has been stalled," Scholesser said.
Scholesser stressed that the business community needed
commitments from the governments that went beyond the Rio
declaration.
"We need something that goes beyond Rio, so we can move
forward with the sustainable development idea," he remarked.
A representative from the World Business Council for
Sustainable Development, Annik Dollacker, also said that she
hoped to bring back concrete concepts of partnership to her
colleagues, but that seemed to be a hard item to sell.
"We expect to sell the idea to our forum, and we still hope
that the Johannesburg meeting will be the initial step to setting
up initiatives for partnerships," Dollacker said.
She asserted that partnerships could not be a solution without
clear regulations from governments, from whom companies would
receive the standards to be applied in the partnerships.
Kim Carstenson from the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF)
shared the view of the businesses, saying that the business
community would have the confidence to join the partnerships only
if the governments displayed strong political commitment.
"Government delegations should go back to their countries and
come with good commitments. This is crucial to ensuring the
Johannesburg Summit does not fail," Carstenson said.
He underlined that business action would only be successful if
governments established the framework for how the partnerships
should work.