Commission gears up for ‘Rio Plus Ten’ green summit

Date: 23/11/00

By Simon Coss

THE European Commission will next week unveil plans designed to help the EU set the pace at forthcoming international talks on the tenth anniversary of the 1992 'Earth Summit' in Rio de Janeiro.

Environment chief Margot Wallström and development supremo Poul Nielson have joined forces to draw up the 'Rio Plus Ten' report which will, according to officials, "examine ways in which development and environment policy can be better coordinated".

This combined strategy is designed to address past criticisms that Commission-funded projects in the developing world often have a damaging effect on the environment. The

Euro-Med scheme, which provides aid to North Africa and the Middle East, has for example come under fire for promoting tourist developments in environmentally sensitive coastal zones.

Officials say the Union's precise approach to the 2002 'Rio Plus Ten' talks will be decided at next summer's EU summit in Göteborg and next week's report will therefore not go into much detail. But they add that it will contain suggestions on how the Union can put itself at the forefront of worldwide efforts to improve the environment. "What we will be trying to do is put some key strategic issues on the table without locking ourselves into anything before Göteborg," said one.

The Commission says the forthcoming report should help to reassert Europe's role in setting the pace when it comes to global environmental concerns. "There has been a bit of a feeling recently that the EU has not been as high profile on environmental issues as it was ahead of the Rio talks. This report is in part designed to address that perception," explained one official.

One concrete proposal the report is likely to make is for the 2002 meeting, which will probably be held in southern Africa, to be a full-blown summit attended by world leaders.

Officials also stress that while the question of climate change and global warming will be addressed in the report, it will not be the central theme. "Rio really put climate change on the global agenda and now it has a momentum of its own, so we will be looking at other issues," said a Wallström aide.

The European Commission is due to unveil plans designed to help the EU set the pace at forthcoming international talks on the tenth anniversary of the 1992 'Earth Summit' in Rio de Janeiro. Environment chief Margot Wallström and development supremo Poul Nielsen have joined forces to draw up the 'Rio Plus Ten' report which will, according to officials, 'examine ways in which development and environment policy can be better coordinated'.