Preparatory meetings to hammer out action plan

Preparatory meetings to hammer out action plan

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Preparatory meetings for the upcoming World Summit on
Sustainable Development (WSSD) are currently underway in New
York, and will be continued in Bali, Indonesia, from late May
through early June, to hammer out the action plan for the summit.

The third Preparatory Committee (PrepCom), chaired by former
Indonesia environment minister Emil Salim, is currently meeting
in New York until April 5 to focus on the new commitment made at
the recent international conference on financing for development
held in Monterrey, Mexico.

The United Nations said in a statement that the results of the
Monterrey conference provided a boost for the World Summit on
Sustainable Development, which will be held in Johannesburg,
South Africa, next August.

Through the summit, governments, together with all players in
society, will seek to marshal resources to carry out realistic
and practical initiatives aimed at promoting sustainable
development.

PrepCom III is primarily a negotiating session based on the
chairman's paper agreed at the conclusion of PrepCom II.

After this PrepCom, there will be one more preparatory meeting
at the ministerial level in Bali from May 27 to June 7, where
participants will consider a political declaration to be endorsed
by heads of state and governments in Johannesburg.

In Monterey, leaders from the European Union and the United
States promised to increase resources to fight poverty, a major
objective of the Johannesburg Summit, while developing countries
committed themselves to mobilize domestic funds for development.

Based on the broad agreement arrived at in Monterrey, the new
round of negotiations for the Summit will be aimed at reaching a
consensus on exactly what needs to be done to put sustainable
development into practice -- to promote economic growth, social
development and environmental protection.

Much is at stake at the summit in Johannesburg. The
international community will determine how far it will commit
itself to promoting economic growth in a globalized world while
fighting problems such as poverty, environmental degradation,
diseases such as AIDS, and unemployment, according to
Johannesburg Summit secretary-general Nitin Desai.

"If we think ahead and act now, we can change from business as
usual to a new way of conducting political business, so that
everyone -- including future generations -- can benefit," Desai
said.

He called Johannesburg "an historic opportunity to forge a
nonmilitary alliance to secure a safer, more secure and just
world."

But Desai warned that to achieve progress, world leaders must
demonstrate the political will to move forward, and there must be
practical measures on the table that could be implemented through
partnerships.

The negotiations at this preparatory meeting, PrepCom III, are
challenging. While there is a consensus that Agenda 21, the
blueprint for sustainable development adopted at the 1992 Earth
Summit, remains a valid long-term vision, implementation has been
sluggish and the participants maintain widely varying positions
on how to move forward.

There are many seemingly competing interests. Poorer
countries, where 1.2 billion people live on less than one dollar
a day, want the Summit to focus on fighting poverty.

Small island developing states are concerned that present
production and consumption patterns are contributing to global
warming and rising sea levels, which threaten their existence.
Environmentalists are seeking action to protect and preserve the
world's ecosystems.

Others want to focus on health, social development, economic
growth and human rights. Some want stronger international action
while others look to greater domestic responsibility.