Pronk tells leaders to come to Johannesburg

Pronk tells leaders to come to Johannesburg

The Jakarta Post, Nusa Dua, Bali

When traffic jams clog the streets of Johannesburg, when hotels are overbooked for weeks, when thousands of people from around the globe descend on the city, South Africa will have Jan Pronk to thank. Pronk is the Netherlands' environment minister, as well as the former chairman of the now-defunct International Consultative Group on Indonesia. And as the United Nations' special envoy for the World Summit on Sustainable Development, he has been touring the globe since late last year, calling on world leaders to attend the summit in Johannesburg in August and September. The Jakarta Post's Berni K. Moestafa caught up with him in Bali.

Question: What is your task as the UN's special envoy for the World Summit?

Answer: To get as many heads of government to Johannesburg, to discuss the political context of the whole conference. There is a representative group of countries which I was able to establish contact with, either by going to the countries or by making contacts in a different framework. I also went to many international conferences in order to meet with representatives of countries, because physically it is a bit difficult to go to all the countries.

Can you discuss some of the visits you made as a special envoy?

It started with a visit to President Megawati (Soekarnoputri of Indonesia), and later on I departed to many countries in the world, both in the North as well as in the South. Everybody was very anxious to ask about the conference.

Speaking about Johannesburg, quite a number of world leaders, prime ministers, heads of state want to come.

The whole process, to a certain extent, has already had some success -- the Monterrey conference. You may say the downward trend in international resources has now reversed into an upward trend. The commitments are different, they are surprisingly good. Of course not yet adequate, but we need more money and it is very important, the whole setting of the sustainable development conference. Not only governments but also other stakeholders, businesses, will play a role.

I have also had quite a few discussions about the political situation. At the moment, the major international conflict, that is in relation to the Middle East and Afghanistan, will not result in paralysis in governments dealing with social, economic and developmental issues. But many governments, in their discussions with me, also said that they understand that the conference also offers an opportunity to deal with such problems.

What has been the response to your visits?

Developing countries in particular say, 'Put your money where your mouth is. You have made many promises in the past, and you did not deliver on your promises,' and they are right. That's why in Bali we are not drafting a complete new text, but are drafting a plan to implement what has been promised in the past.

If there is no implementation, then you should not have a conference at all. That is why action is important. There is an increase in the ratification of the Kyoto protocol, many biodiversity treaties. Governments are asking parliaments to ratify in order to have a clean slate when we start the meeting in Johannesburg.

Why do you think the trend for sustainable development is rising?

There are a number of factors. You may say there is a globalization trend, which is meeting with a lot of criticism, and the criticism in particular refers to the fact that many people or countries seem to be excluded from the benefits of globalization. The criticism is being listened to now, and capitals understand that something has to be done in order to make globalization indeed serve the people.

They also understand that it is politically necessary, otherwise there is too much criticism against globalization, which may lead to violence. These are the reasons why you see more positive reactions toward the preparations for the conference; you see it in all parts of the world.

Secondly, we have had a surprising number of positive outcomes at major international conferences in the past. The climate negotiations are a good example, producing the Kyoto protocol which is being ratified by a number of countries.

Monterrey was the third factor. Nobody expected that the downward trend would be reversed there. You can say that Johannesburg will be seen as a kind of umbrella of international negotiations.

At the same time it is very realistic, you may say, that conferences are betting on two horses. As far as the political situation is concerned, we have an anti-terrorism policy, a security policy, a coalition against terrorism, and that is taking shape and some countries are very strongly oriented toward that.

Betting on two horses means that at the same time, countries are also interested in taking away possible causes of violence, are willing to approach the backgrounds of violence, are willing to ask serious questions in regard to inequality and injustice.

That is betting on two horses. It is not certain how long that will last, and that is the reason it is necessary to have some success as far as the second track is concerned, that is Johannesburg, in order to keep it attractiveness to governments. There is momentum, but momentum can fade very easily.