FIVE YEARS AFTER RIO: WHERE DO WE STAND?
FIVE YEARS AFTER RIO: WHERE DO WE STAND?
Link to - summarizing the outcome of Earth Summit+5
{Subheads on various issues link to July
'97 updates}
Positive: Growth in world population is slowing, food production is rising, the majority of people are living longer and healthier lives, and environmental quality in some regions is improving.
Negative: The growing scarcity of fresh water, loss of productive agricultural land and downward spiral of poverty for many threaten to undermine these gains and cause collapse of local economies.
Overall: Global catastrophe is not imminent, but business-as-usual is not likely to result in sustainable development -- that is, a desirable balance of economic growth, equitable human development and healthy, productive ecosystems. (Source: Critical Trends, UN, 1997)
Situation: Gaps between rich and poor continue to grow, both within and between countries, attributed by some to the effects of globalization. The poorest countries have become even more marginalized. Over 1.1 billion people -- 20 per cent of the world's population -- live in absolute poverty, on the equivalent of less than one dollar a day.
Action Taken: At the 1995 Social Summit in Copenhagen, world leaders pledged to eradicate poverty by a target date to be set by each country and to increase spending on basic social services.
Proposals: The draft political declaration for Earth Summit+5 calls on Governments to reduce by half, by the year 2015, the proportion of people living in absolute poverty. In the draft final document, Governments are also urged to implement the Social Summit action plan.
Situation: Twenty per cent of the world's people continue to consume eighty per cent of its resources. Some large developing countries are moving rapidly toward higher-consumption lifestyles.
Action Taken: In industrialized countries, Governments and industry are making steady progress on recycling, using more efficient technologies and reducing waste; there is growing consumer awareness.
Proposals: To increase eco-efficiency, the European Union has proposed "Factor 10", a goal of ten-fold improvement in productivity in the long term, with perhaps an intermediate goal of "Factor 4", a four-fold improvement over the next two or three decades. Governments have agreed on the need to reflect environmental costs in the price of goods and services.
Situation: Fertility rates are declining more rapidly than expected in most regions. Latest projections show many developing countries will stabilize population within the next generation or two. Some countries still face high population growth rates that strain natural resources.
Action Taken: The 1994 Cairo Conference adopted a strong action plan with concrete targets, including that family planning be available to all by 2015. Many Governments have strengthened national policies, although international funding committed in Cairo has not materialized.
Proposals: Governments are expected to reaffirm support for the Cairo goals.
Situation: In spite of a recent downward trend, forest loss continues at an unacceptable rate. A total of 13.7 million hectares of forest -- roughly the size of Nepal -- are cut or burned each year.
Action Taken: Based on the Forest Principles adopted in Rio, an Intergovernmental Panel on Forests agreed to over 100 action proposals for sustainable forest management when it concluded two years of talks in March 1997.
Proposals: Governments have shown strong support for immediate implementation of the already agreed recommendations, but remain divided over whether to begin negotiations for a legal convention on forests.
Situation: One third of the world's population lives in countries facing moderate to severe water stress; by 2025 that figure may reach two thirds unless action is taken. One fifth of humanity lacks access to safe water and half lack adequate sanitation.
Action Taken: Progress in implementing the Rio recommendations has been limited.
Proposals: Expressing strong concern about a possible impending water crisis, Governments have called for discussions to consider a global strategy at the 1998 session of the UN Commission on Sustainable Development.
Situation: Marine pollution -- about 80 per cent of which is caused by land-based activities -- threatens the health and livelihoods of the two thirds of humanity living in coastal areas. Some 60 per cent of global fish stocks are overfished or fully fished, requiring urgent action to avoid depletion.
Action Taken: An international agreement to combat land-based sources of marine pollution was adopted in 1995, and negotiations have begun for a treaty to control persistent organic pollutants such as PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls) and dioxin. The UN legal agreement on fish stocks was adopted in 1994 but has not yet entered into force. Initiatives on coastal zone management and coral reef protection have spurred greater awareness and some action.
Proposals: Governments have agreed on the general need to eliminate overfishing, consider the impact of subsidies to fishing fleets, and strengthen implementation of existing agreements on marine pollution and sustainable use of oceans.
Situation: Global emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases continue to rise. A 1995 report by a UN panel of scientists stated that the balance of evidence suggests a "discernible human influence on the global climate".
Action Taken: The UN Convention on Climate Change, signed in Rio, has been ratified by 166 countries, but few developed countries will meet the aim of reducing emissions of greenhouse gases to 1990 levels by 2000. The parties to the Convention have begun negotiations to strengthen the commitments, and are scheduled to adopt legally binding targets for developed countries in Kyoto, Japan, this December.
Proposals: To send a signal to the Kyoto meeting, the European Union has proposed that in the Earth Summit+5 document, Governments agree to a 15 per cent reduction in emissions below 1990 levels by 2010. The Alliance of Small Island States has called for a 20 per cent reduction below 1990 levels by 2005. Several countries prefer that specific targets be negotiated at the December meeting.
Situation: Fossil fuel use in industrialized countries is slowly stabilizing, but many polluting emissions are on the increase. Rapid growth in fossil fuel use in many developing countries is leading to severe pollution. Global energy consumption is projected to more than double by 2050. Over 2 billion people, mostly in rural areas in developing countries, do not have access to commercial energy services.
Action Taken: No major international initiatives were taken at Rio. Some progress has been made in renewable energy technologies, energy conservation and efficiency, but few countries are pursuing alternative energy sources.
Proposals: Governments agree on the need for talks, under the UN, leading toward a strategy or recommendations on sustainable energy; details are under discussion. Developing countries seek commitments for transfer of clean energy technologies and concessional financing. Proposals to eliminate subsidies for fossil and nuclear energy have proven contentious.
Situation: World food production continues to rise, but over 800 million people still suffer from hunger and malnutrition. Use of pesticides and poor farming methods have taken a heavy toll: 300 million hectares of farmland worldwide are now severely degraded and farming abandoned. Another 1.2 billion hectares show moderate fertility loss. Desertification (degradation of drylands) affects one quarter of the Earth's land area -- 3.6 billion hectares.
Action Taken: The Convention to Combat Desertification -- which was negotiated after the Earth Summit and entered into force in December 1996 -- has spurred new approaches and aid partnerships. The 1996 World Food Summit called for at least halving the number of hungry people by 2015.
Proposals: Governments have agreed to combat soil degradation, promote sustainable agriculture, put the Food Summit recommendations into action, and ratify and implement the Desertification Convention. Proposals concerning the global mechanism set up to fund the Convention are unresolved.
Situation: Toxic chemicals and radioactive wastes continue to pose significant threats to human health and ecosystems. An estimated 3 million tons of toxic and hazardous waste crosses national borders each year.
Action Taken: The Basel Convention was strengthened in 1995 to ban the export of hazardous wastes from developed to developing countries, but this ban has not yet become legally binding. Timetables have been set for negotiations on legal agreements obligating those countries shipping toxic wastes to obtain "prior informed consent" and regulating persistent organic pollutants. Two new international bodies on chemical safety have been established, and a growing number of domestic regulations have been complemented by voluntary industry initiatives.
Proposals: Governments have agreed that safe substitutes for toxics should be developed and those technologies transferred to poorer countries. The Basel Convention should be further strengthened to define hazardous wastes covered, and a protocol should be negotiated on liability for damage from hazardous wastes shipped across national borders. Governments have agreed on the need to support the clean-up of contaminated sites from nuclear activities. Still not agreed: that radioactive waste should be stored or disposed of in the country in which it is generated, and as close to its source as possible, and that Governments should clean up contaminated sites left from military activities using nuclear materials. Also contentious: that Governments should accelerate the phasing out of leaded gasoline as soon as possible.
Situation: The current rate of species extinction and habitat loss is unprecedented. At a moderate estimate, 50,000 plant and animal species are likely to be lost each year over the next decades.
Action Taken: The Convention on Biological Diversity, ratified by 161 countries since Rio, obligates Governments to protect plant and animal species through habitat preservation and other means, but national action is insufficient to counter devastation from unregulated development and pollution. Treaty parties will focus on national implementation for the first time at their 1998 meeting.
Proposals: Governments have agreed to continue efforts to implement the biodiversity treaty, and to complete a protocol on biosafety.
Situation: Despite developed country pledges at the Earth Summit to increase aid for sustainable development, official development assistance declined from an average 0.34 per cent of donor country gross national product (GNP) in 1992 to 0.27 per cent in 1995. The UN target affirmed at Rio is 0.7 per cent of GNP.
Action Taken: The Global Environment Facility (GEF) has channeled $2 billion into projects since 1994. The World Bank and Paris Club have made limited progress on debt relief. Foreign investment by the private sector has risen sharply in some developing countries, but does not always promote sustainable development.
Proposals: Developing countries seek a recommitment to the Rio pledges. Donor countries are urged to provide new and additional resources through a "satisfactory" replenishment of the GEF. The European Union has proposed an international tax on aviation fuel to fund sustainable development. An Intergovernmental Panel on Finance has been proposed.
Situation: Developing countries urgently need greater access to environment-friendly technologies in order to develop sustainably. Most green technologies are held by the private sector and access is market-driven.
Action Taken: Some progress has been made through the UN on improving information about new technologies and encouraging financing partnerships in developing countries, but many countries continue to be marginalized from private sector investment and the technologies it can bring.
Proposals: Governments agree on the need to create an environment conducive to private-sector technology investment, including a legal and policy framework, and to continue promoting public-private partnerships.
Situation: Better coordination and collaboration is needed among the ever-growing number of policy-setting bodies in the area of sustainable development. The on-going financial crisis affecting many UN agencies and programmes has left many hard-pressed to carry out both their original mandates and those stemming from Rio.
Action Taken: The Earth Summit catalysed many new institutional arrangements. The UN Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD), set up after Rio, has become a central forum to review and urge implemention of Agenda 21 and other agreements. The UN Inter-Agency Committee on Sustainable Development now coordinates how agencies and programmes divide up responsibility on areas of expertise.
Proposals: Governments have agreed that the CSD should continue its central role; details of its work programme for the next five years are still being worked out. They have also agreed that the role of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) should be enhanced, and that a revitalized UNEP should be supported by adequate funding. The next major General Assembly review of Earth Summit follow-up after this year would be in 2002.
Situation: The Earth Summit identified nine "major groups" whose active involvement was needed to achieve sustainable development: women; children and youth; indigenous people; non-governmental organizations; local officials such as mayors; workers and trade unions; business and industry; scientists; and farmers.
Action Taken: Some 150 countries have established national councils on sustainable development or similar bodies, many of which bring together Government officials, business executives, environment activists and other major group leaders to recommend national policies. Over 1,800 cities and towns have drawn up a local Agenda 21 based on the Rio document. All the major groups have been actively networking and promoting public awareness of and policies for sustainable development. Through a series of dialogue sessions at the CSD, they have provided input to the Earth Summit+5 talks.
Proposals: Governments have agreed that input by major groups into work on sustainable development should continue to be strengthened.
For more information, contact:
UN Department of Public Information
Development and Human Rights Section
Tel.: (212) 963-1786
Julie Thompson, tel. (212) 963-4295
Pragati Pascale, tel. (212) 963-6870
Bill Hass, tel. (212) 963-0353
Fax: (212) 963-1186
E-mail: vasic@un.org