Delegates may miss Friday deadline on Bali Commitment

Delegates may miss Friday deadline on Bali Commitment

The Jakarta Post, Nusa Dua, Bali

Despite a few days of intense meetings, a slew of unresolved
issues will likely push negotiations on governments' commitments
on sustainable development past Friday's deadline. This will
likely force Indonesia as host country to extend the talks until
Saturday or possibly Sunday.

As of Thursday, differences remain too far a field for a final
document called the Chairman's Text to emerge on Friday, the
deadline after which delegates expect to start discussing the
political declaration based on the Chairman's Text.

A senior government official explained on Thursday that the
Chairman's Text was originally supposed to be finalized during
the third preparatory meeting in New York.

"As yet there hasn't been a compromise between the different
interests," said the official, who refused to be named.

The Chairman's Text, which is to be called the Bali
Commitment, is a set of action plans on sustainable development
principles that delegates expect to finalize before world leaders
meet for the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) in
Johannesburg, South Africa, next August through September.

Over the past two days, working groups negotiating the
Chairman's Text have been meeting from 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. But
issues which from the start were deemed tough remain largely
untouched.

They mostly cover paragraphs under chapter IX on the means and
implementation of the action plan. Others on which negotiations
have just begun relate to the effectiveness of international
bodies dealing with sustainable development.

We have to push ahead, if Friday is not possible, we'll
continue on Saturday and Sunday," the official said, adding that
as host, Indonesia must ensure it meets the UN mandate to
finalize negotiations here.

"Mr. Emil Salim -- as the chairman of this UN meeting -- has
made this very clear. We will continue to seek common ground."

Negotiations on the 39-page Chairman's Text are divided into
three working groups discussing the nine chapters of the text.
Djumala Darmansjah representing Indonesia in working group II,
discussing the means and implementation, said demands to
incorporate time targets into sustainable development programs
were tough to meet.

He said a number of developed countries, notably the United
States and Japan, opposed the measures, while developing
countries and the European Union supported the time targets.

Developing countries and many non-governmental organizations
view time targets as crucial to get concrete actions.
The 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil fell short of
producing the measures promised under the Rio declaration in the
absence of time targets.

Djumala said that while including time targets on promised
programs forced governments to commit to concrete actions, the
U.S. argued it could not commit any resources without Congress'
approval.

But according to him, this is a negotiation tactic. The U.S.,
he was sure, was willing to compromise despite its unflinching
stance over the issue.

These compromises would likely be made once the committee as a
whole meets to wrap up the negotiation with all three working
groups joining.

Djumala estimated three scenarios in which the debate on the
time targets could end. One was that the U.S. and other developed
countries agree to include time targets in the Chairman's Text.
Second was that no time targets make it to the text. And third
was that developed countries agree only to time targets on social
programs that were already pledged under the UN Millennium Goals,
which aim to cut poverty and stop over-exploitation of planet
earth.

Other issues that would likely make it to the committee
include the use of the Official Development Assistance (ODA),
proposals on debt payment schemes, and reforming the
International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Indonesian delegate Slamet Hidayat at working group III on
institutional architecture said that talks on improving the
effectiveness of the UN's Commission on Sustainable Development
(CSD) and the UN Environment (UNEP) were still in the early
stages.

The negotiation aims to seek ways for the two UN bodies to
better coordinate with each other, as the CSD also lacks
authority to accelerate sustainable development programs.

Differences remain over whether to empower CSD or UNEP, as
both bodies handle environmental issues, with CSD covering the
other two pillars of sustainable development -- economics and
social affairs.