‘It’s time for us to turn appealing ideas into international reality,’ says environment chief

Date: 01/08/02

Commissioner Margot Wallström explains why the Johannesburg gathering is both an opportunity and a responsibility for world leaders.

THIS month's World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) comes against a very different background to the Earth Summit a decade ago.

Rio put sustainable development firmly on the political map and established new concepts and ways of working which have shaped the world's agenda ever since.

But the ground-breaking gathering of 1992 came in an era of optimism. The Berlin Wall had fallen and the Cold War was on its way into the history books. Eastern European countries were embracing freedom and democracy, the US economy was recovering from recession and the Asian Tiger economies leaped ahead.

In Europe, governments put people and the environment in the centre of their policies. All this created a good atmosphere for high ambitions in Rio and there was genuine hope for real change.

Ten years later, that sense of hope has tempered. Many feel insecure and threatened by forces beyond their control; excluded from the prosperity which globalisation has brought to some but not to all; alienated from their politicians and the political process.

The attacks on 11 September shook the global community. We all realise that poverty lies at the root of terrorism, but we are struggling to come to grips with solutions. In short, the world seems more starkly divided between winners and losers than was the case in 1992.

The 65,000 participants at the WSSD, led by 100 or so heads of state and government, all realise that the progress made since Rio is not as great as we would like. But it is for this reason that the European Union is mobilising to try to ensure that Johannesburg is a success.

An agenda for change.

The Johannesburg summit should therefore set out an ambitious agenda for change for the coming decades. It presents both an opportunity and a responsibility for world leaders.

The challenge is to deliver on the promises made at Rio and on the UN Millennium Development goals in order to eradicate poverty, improve living standards based on sustainable patterns of production and consumption and to ensure that the benefits of globalisation are shared by all.

Developed and developing countries share the responsibility for implementing these goals which will require a substantially increased effort, both by countries themselves and by the international community.

In the Doha Development Agenda and the Monterrey Consensus a framework was agreed for improving market access, for upgrading multilateral rules to harness globalisation, and for increasing financial assistance for development. The developed countries must now deliver on the commitments they made at Monterrey and the EU, as a major supplier of aid, is fully determined to do so.

All WTO members should respect the commitments made in Doha, including the Doha timetable for taking decisions, and the EU has been prominent, both in the run-up to Doha and in the subsequent negotiations, in driving the process forward.

The developing countries must also accept their responsibilities by improving internal policies and domestic governance and creating an enabling climate for trade and investment.

All countries must work together, recognising their common but differentiated responsibilities, to ensure that growth is decoupled from environmental degradation and that the needs of the present generation are satisfied without destroying the capacity of future generations to cater for their needs.

It is against this backdrop that three important outputs are under preparation for decision in Johannesburg.

First among these is a political declaration reaffirming the world's recognition that we are on an unsustainable development trajectory and confirming world leaders' commitment to sustainable development.

This declaration is essential in that it means the world will be able to hold its leaders to account on the progress they subsequently make in achieving sustainable development.

Second, an action plan on sustainable development is being drawn up which will contain the targets and timetables for the international sustainable development agenda for the decades to come.

Third, criteria must be set for the launching and monitoring of partnerships for action, involving govern-ments, financial institutions, business and civil society, to implement the commitments agreed in Johannesburg.

Leadership role of the EU.

At their June meeting in Seville, European heads of state and government reaffirmed their commitment to a successful outcome at the WSSD and the EU's willingness to continue playing a leading role in the preparation of the summit. We want to reach a global deal building upon the successful steps of Monterrey and Doha.

The EU's credibility in the multilateral arena comes not just from our commitments at Doha and Monterrey, but also from the role we have played in taking forward the agreements reached in Rio.

The EU is committed to sustainable development. We are trying to practise what we preach, by developing new ways of making economic, social and environment policy work together, decoupling economic growth and environmental degradation.

I am also obviously delighted that the European Community and all the 15 member states ratified the Kyoto Protocol on 31 May.

This was a historic moment in our efforts to combat climate change and it is at the same time an important signal for the WSSD.

The ratification reaffirms the commitment of the EU and all its member states to pursue multilateral solutions to issues of global concern.

The environmental agenda.

I have been worried throughout the WSSD preparations that we should not lose the focus on sustainable development per se. I understand the insistence of developing countries on the issue of trade as it can, of course, play a major role in achieving sustainable development.

But it must not dominate our discussions in Johannesburg. WSSD can play an important role in giving high-level impetus to the Doha agenda, but obviously we do not need only trade ministers to take the Johannesburg agenda forward.

The Rio conference in 1992 embodied a deal of breathtaking scope, but it was not unlimited scope. Rio was explicitly a conference on environment and development.

The major breakthrough was the binding together of environment and development through the concept of sustainability. In the short time remaining before the WSSD, it must be refocused on environment and development.

The EU, therefore, supports the proposals of the UN secretary-general that the WSSD should make tangible progress in five key areas - water, energy, health, agricultureand bio-diversity - of cross-cutting significance for sustainable development.

As environment commissioner, I of course have particular interest in the environmental issues to be discussed in Johannesburg.

Although I have long argued that WSSD is not only about the environment, the environment needs to figure prominently on the agenda.

Throughout the preparatory process for the summit we have sought to identify the key environment priorities which the EU wants to see decided at the WSSD. I would highlight five such priorities.

First, we need a clear target and timeframe for delivering clean drinking water and sanitation in a sustainable manner.

Our target should be to halve the proportion of people without access to clean water and sanitation by 2015.

To help deliver this target the EU has developed an EU Water Initiative, which, in partnership with countries and regions, can bring together public and private funds, stakeholders and experts to provide long-term sustainable solutions to problems of water management.

Meeting this political goal would make a major contribution to improved health and economic development.

The EU has already allocated €1.4 billion for 2003 and is ready to increase this figure for the following years within the context of partners' poverty reduction strategies.

Second, we need a target and action to deliver increased use of renewable energy. Our objective is to increase the share of renewable energy sources to at least 15 of primary energy supply by 2010, to improve energy efficiency and to enhance the use of cleaner, more efficient, fossil-fuel technologies.

The provision of affordable, sustainable energy services will have a major impact on poverty, health, economic and social development.

The EU is preparing an energy initiative to develop partnerships with interested developing countries to identify their energy needs and ways to meet these needs, by making use of EU development cooperation programmes as well as through the involvement of financial institutions and the private sector.

The EU has already allocated around €700 million per year through member state and Commission development cooperation programmes to energy and is again ready to increase this figure for the following years based on requests from developing countries.

Third, the EU is pushing for the development of a ten-year work programme to accelerate the shift towards sustainable consumption and production.

Industrialised countries should take the lead in changing their unsustainable behaviour towards more resource efficient production processes and lifestyles.

Life-cycle approaches, eco-labelling and environmental impact assessments are useful tools in that regard. Appropriate means should be made available to help developing countries move towards the same objective.

Fourth, we are pushing for political commitment to halt and reverse by 2015 the current loss of natural resources and bio-diversity through the management of natural resources in a sustainable and integrated manner.

This clear global objective should lead to incentives for local communities, in particular in developing countries, to benefit from the conservation and sustainable use of their rich variety of natural resources.

The European Commission's recent proposals for the reform of the Common Fisheries Policy and the Common Agricultural Policy will strengthen our credibility in these discussions.

Fifth, we need further action to deal with hazardous chemicals. Through the Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) Convention we have already banned the 'dirty dozen', but we need to go further.

By 2020 chemicals should be used and produced in ways that do not lead to significant adverse effects on human health and the environment.

High stakes.

The stakes for Johannesburg are high and we know that the discussions will be difficult. The EU wants the WSSD to send a clear political message on the need to make globalisation more sustainable for all and to agree on measures aimed at promoting this goal.

Of course, some of our partners in developed countries reject clear targets and timeframes, not wishing to be bound by international agreements.

Some of our partners in developing countries worry about how they will be able to meet such new obligations and are pressing for assurances on funding.

But it is in the EU's interest to keep pushing for multilateral solutions to global problems, so we will continue to press this agenda. Johannesburg must set the political targets the world aims to deliver in the coming ten years and harness the Doha and Monterrey processes as key means to implement these political goals.

Success in Johannesburg is by no means guaranteed as there, of course, remains a possibility that the meeting will be sidetracked from its main focus.

For me, a good outcome would be one that contains the environment goals I have outlined - as well as a strong political declaration from the world's leaders, reaffirming their commitment to sustainable development.

It is high time we moved sustainable development from being an appealing idea to an international reality.

The EU Environment Commissioner explains why the Johannesburg summit is both an opportunity and a responsibility for world leaders. Article is part of a European Voice survey on sustainable development.

http://www.johannesburgsummit.org http://www.johannesburgsummit.org

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