WORLD SUMMIT HEADING TOWARDS ACRIMONY AND MINIMALISM AS LAST PREP BEGINS

In lead-up to the World Summit on Sustainable Development, the fourth and final preparatory meeting (PrepCom IV) will take place in Bali, Indonesia on 27 May to 7 June. Also taking in three days of informal discussions prior to the scheduled meeting, delegates will debate the latest proposed draft text, put forward by PrepCom Chair Emil Salim earlier this month. In the ongoing debates around the Summit process, the draft text has been widely criticised by civil society groups, which have called on governments to show the political leadership necessary to develop a strong action plan.

Following delegates' failure to agree on a draft text at the last preparatory meeting (see BRIDGES Trade BioRes, 18 April 2002), Chair Salim submitted a revised text on 9 May that includes compromise language on most issues with some points, mainly in the sections dealing with means of implementation, left bracketed for further discussion. Regarding references to trade, most of the more concrete points were moved to Section IX on 'Means of Implementation' as tentatively agreed at PrepCom III. The text largely reiterates commitments made during the Fourth WTO Ministerial Conference in November 2001, including improved market access for developing countries and the need for technical assistance. More general references to trade are also included in Section V on 'Sustainable Development in a Globalising World', including references to the precautionary approach as set out in the Rio Declaration, but with the caveat that countries should avoid any "misuse that may restrict exports from developing countries", thereby responding to developing countries' concerns that precaution might be invoked by industrialised countries to justify protectionist measures.

In a joint letter to heads of state and UN General Secretary Kofi Anan, signed, inter alia, by WWF, Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth, Oxfam and ANPED, civil society groups sharply criticised the draft text, which they say "is entirely lacking in [the] specificity needed to make it deliverable". They propose developing a new text that clearly outlines targets and timetables, financial resources, means of implementation, institutional requirements and a monitoring and reporting mechanism. "Government leadership, which has been largely lacking so far, is desperately needed," the letter states.

Friends of the Earth International reiterated previously voiced concerns that sustainable development is being subjugated to trade liberalisation. The environmental NGO called for all references to the Doha mandate to be deleted from the text and demanded a comprehensive review of the impacts of trade liberalisation, with reform based on this analysis, before embarking on further liberalisation.

For its part, WWF has prepared a document outlining recommended elements of the proposed implementation document (programme of action) on a number of issues, including trade and investment and sustainable development governance. Regarding trade and investment, WWF requests governments to recognise that "global economic liberalisation is a process driven and controlled by national governments" that must, together with other policies, contribute to environmental and social well-being. In particular, WWF calls on governments to conduct national sustainability assessments of trade agreements, to phase out environmentally and socially harmful subsidies, and to examine the impacts of foreign investment flows on sustainable development. Reports on these activities should be submitted to the Fifth WTO Ministerial Conference in 2003.

In the context of sustainable development governance, WWF draws attention to the relative jurisdiction of multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs) and the WTO. In addition to ongoing work in this area at the WTO, WWF calls on WSSD to undertake that MEA dispute settlement, compliance and enforcement mechanisms are strengthened, and that measures taken pursuant to MEAs should be presumed consistent with WTO rules. In addition, WWF would like to see a review of the role of the WTO Secretariat in independently promoting liberalisation, to be submitted to the next WTO Ministerial Conference in 2003. Despite repeated calls by civil society organisations that WSSD should reaffirm the authority and autonomy of MEAs and should clarify that "the objectives, principles and provisions of MEAs must not be subordinated to WTO rules" (see BRIDGES Trade BioRes, referenced above), no references to this issue were included in the revised Chair's text.

WSSD will take place on 26 September to 4 August in Johannesburg, South Africa

Documents of PrepCom IV and further information are available at http://baliprepcom.org and http://www.johannesburgsummit.org. For daily coverage, see IISD Linkages at http://www.iisd.ca/linkages/2002/pc4/. The WWF document will be available in Bali on 25 May.

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