In this issue:

World Youth Forum to Convene in Vienna

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Forest Panel Draws Wide Attention

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COP-2 Move to Bonn Dominate FCCC Summer

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New publication at OSCAL

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GA Assesses UN-NADAF Implementation

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Convention Set to Enter Into Force

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HLAB Focuses on Energy, Transport and Water

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One Year After Beijing

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Efficiency Review Phase I Concluded - Implementation Underway

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Information Fair

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Rolodates

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General Assembly Documents on the UN Gopher/Online Access to Economic and Social Council Resolutions 1996

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The tripartite meeting will be held at the Vienna International Centre from 25 to 29 November 1996, co-hosted by the Austrian Federal Youth Council (OBJR). The main objectives of the Forum is to promote the implementation of the United Nations World Programme of Action for Youth to the Year 2000 and Beyond through the identification and promotion of joint youth policies and projects.

The Austrian Chancellor Franz Vranitsky and the Director-General of the United Nations Office at Vienna will open the Forum on 25 November 1996. UNFPA, represented by Mr. Hiro Hudo, Deputy Executive Director, will participate in the opening, in view of that Fund's leadership role in support of the Forum. Approximately 500 people are expected to attend the opening, including the diplomatic corps in Vienna; 350 will participate in the subsequent meetings of the five-day Forum.

The meeting is expected to produce a report and networking arrangements based on recommendations adopted by the Forum for joint action regarding youth policy, youth communications, youth training and youth projects proposed by the Forum's working groups. The results will be included in a report to be submitted to the General Assembly at its fifty-second session in 1997 through the Commission for Social Development. Meanwhile, extra-budgetary funds have been granted by Governments to the United Nations Youth Fund to finance selected joint projects adopted by the Forum which promote the implementation of the Programme of Action.

The World Youth Forum of the United Nations System is the principal platform of youth and youth-related organizations meeting under the aegis of the United Nations General Assembly. The following are its objectives:

• To provide a forum to strengthen youth efforts, enhance youth involvement in the decision-making processes of the United Nations system, and to develop joint youth policies, projects and programmes;

• To establish more effective and efficient channels of communications and modes of cooperation between and among youth and youth-serving organizations and the youth-related organizations and agencies of the United Nations system and other youth-related intergovernmental organizations;

• To promote the implementation and monitoring of the United Nations World Programme of Action for Youth to the Year 2000 and Beyond and other policies and programmes related to youth, based on the objectives and the priority areas of these policies and programmes and the interests of young people.

• youth policy coordination (day 1)

• youth communications (day 2)

• youth training (day 3)

• youth projects (day 4)

• and youth recommendations (day 5)

This system of co-management between youth NGOs and the youth- related organizations and agencies of the United Nations system is reflected not only in the working group discussions, but also in the composition of the Bureau, which will consist of 12 youth NGO co-chairs and 12 UN system co-chairs to direct the overall work programme of the Forum and its follow-up.

Other IGOs, such as the Youth Forum of the Inter-American Development Bank (YF/IDB), the Commonwealth Youth Programme (CYP), the Council of Europe's European Youth Centre (CE/EYC), the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) Youth Committee, will also play an important role in this Forum, participating in both plenary panels and in working groups.

Senior officials of Member-States will participate in a special plenary panel on the final afternoon to comment on the results of the Forum and on future youth work in their respective regions. So far, Mr. Antonio Jose Seguro (Secretary of State for Youth, Government of Portugal); Ms. Salma Waheed (Secretary of State for Youth, Government of Pakistan); and Mr. Dionisio Siudifonya (Vice- Minister of Youth, Government of Angola) have agreed to participate in the panel.

Several Member-States have made financial contributions for this effort: Austria (US$125,000), Sweden (US$200,000) and the Netherlands (US$60,000). The Austrian grant was earmarked for the participation of representatives of youth NGOs in the least developed countries to attend the Forum; the Swedish grant for the appointment of an associate expert on youth to work in the Youth Unit (DPCSD/DSPD) to help prepare for and follow-up the Forum; and the Netherlands' grant for operational projects to be designed by youth NGOs at the Forum and carried out in a joint way with the UN system partners especially in the developing countries. Among the youth-related programmes of the UN, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) has taken a leading role by allocating US$60,000 for an "International Youth Essay Contest on Promoting Responsible Reproductive Health Behaviour: The Youth Perspective" in support of the World Youth Forum of the United Nations System.

Bill Angel, DSPD

For further information, please contact: DPCSD/DSPD Youth Unit Room DC2-1314
Tel: 1-212-963 1380 / Fax: 1-212-963 3062
The Web page of the youth programme is at: http://www.un.org/dpcsd/dpcsd/unyin.htm

The first question in relation to the IPF: "are we moving towards an international convention on forests?" does not as yet have a clear answer although some groups, such as the European Union, are beginning to have a position (i.e. in favour of a convention), and to make this known. Several countries who were either dead against or very much in favour, have either modified or softened their position. The Panel is now ready to discuss the pros and cons of a convention in a meaningful manner at IPF IV, when the Panel will conclude its work.

The second question: "what will happen after IPF IV?" is also beginning to surface. There is "talk" of some kind of a "second phase," a "son/daughter of IPF" for two or three to five years. So far, there is general agreement that an international policy forum on forests is needed and that the excitement that IPF has caused among countries in this respect will not disappear by the middle of 1997 when the Earth Summit Review is over.

In the meantime the Panel's mandate includes complex and difficult technical, policy and political issues including approaches to the formulation of national forest programmes, technical and financial cooperation, the productive functions of forests, trade in forest products and the environment, the conservation of biological diversity, the role of forest in mitigating global climate change, and respect for the rights of indigenous people and forest dwellers. All of this is now contained in about 80 pages of bracketed text, which will be the main body of the report of IPF III.

An unprecedented number of Government-sponsored initiatives were carried out in support of the Panel's work in the short six months period between IPF II (March 1996) and IPF III, involving in many cases North-South co-sponsors and creating new partnerships such as between the Governments of Switzerland and Peru; Cape Verde, Portugal and Senegal; Denmark and South Africa; Germany and Indonesia; and others. IPF Secretariat staff was involved in many of these as members of organizing committees, keynote speakers, and providing general support to a successful outcome. Very interestingly, a study sponsored by the Government of Norway points out that the world's forests, if properly managed, can provide for the needs of mankind in the foreseeable future. The challenge facing the world today is to further develop and apply the concept of sustainable forest management to all types of forests on the planet.

As was expected, an intensive discussion took place on institutional arrangements. The work of the Panel has already greatly enhanced the cooperation among all actors involved, especially in the informal, high-level Interagency Task Force on Forests, and active NGO participation. How this institutional cooperation should be further enhanced and how the intergovernmental work on forests would continue after completion of the Panel's two year mandate will be among topics for discussion and negotiations at the fourth and last session of the Panel in February 1997. Among the options suggested are:

at the intergovernmental level:

• continue with the IPF

• establish a mechanism similar to the IPF with a redefined mandate

• strengthen the Committee on Forests (COFO) of FAO; and

• continue with the informal, high level Interagency Task Force on Forests

• transform the IPF Secretariat into a more formal arrangement

• merge forest functions of existing institutions, such as FAO, UNEP and UNDP, into a new institution

Tage Michaelsen IPF Secretariat, DSD

The aim was to take stock of progress, review the implementation of the Convention, and adopt organizational decisions.

It went far beyond this agenda, however, by producing a major political statement: the Geneva Ministerial Declaration. The large participation by officials further underscored the importance that governments attached to this event. While the Berlin COP last year welcomed more observers and journalists, COP-2 boasted more delegates -- over 900 of them, including some 80 ministers.

Also present were some 600 observers from environmental groups, businesses, local governments, and other organizations. Forty special events were held on such issues as the potential health effects of climate change, the insurance industry's concerns about climate change damages, and the development of new energy technologies. These observers and events greatly enriched the broader debate.

The second event was the secretariat's long-anticipated move to Bonn. Staff members started packing their boxes for Bonn shortly after the close of COP-2. The majority of staff members reported to work in Germany on 1 August, with a small number remaining in Geneva through the end of the year.

The Secretariat's new offices are located in Haus Carstanjen, a building officially handed over by the German government to the UN Secretary-General in June 1996. Formerly home to the Ministry of Finance, the Haus is situated along the Rhine in the city's so-called "government quarter". Other tenants include the United Nations Volunteers (UNV), which arrived from Geneva in June, and the Bonn office of the United Nations Information Centre (UNIC).

Please keep in touch. You will find us at:

Office Location:
Haus Carstanjen,
Martin-Luther-King-Strasse 8
D-53175 Bonn, Germany
Postal address: P.O. Box 260 124
D-53153 Bonn, Germany

Telephone: (49-228) 815-1000 (plus direct dial for all staff members)
Telefax: (49-228) 815-1999
E-mail: secretariat@unfccc.de (plus direct e-mail for all staff, e.g. jmartin@unfccc.de for Jean Martin)
Web site: http://www.unfccc.de

Richard Kinley, FCCC

The 100-plus page report includes 25 case studies and an executive summary focussing on lessons learned, and the major concerns of autonomy, performance, and accountability.

For further information, contact Ruth Engo, OSCAL, NGO focal point, Room DC1-1048
Tel: 963-4780 / Fax: 963-3892

The review had been called for by General Assembly resolution 46/151, by which UN-NADAF was adopted and its calendar for follow-up, monitoring and evaluation fixed. It was led by the Ad Hoc Committee of the whole established by General Assembly resolution 50/160.

The task of the Ad Hoc Committee was two-fold:

• first, to assess and review, but not to renegotiate, the key elements of NADAF as they appear in 1996, and in so doing to highlight the nature and extent of implementation, by each of the main partners, of those areas which fall under their responsibility;

• second, to consider measures that can be taken, separately or together, by the main parties, namely African governments, their bilateral development partners, the United Nations system, the multilateral financial institutions, the NGOs and other interested parties, to accelerate the implementation of UN-NADAF.

• commitments by African countries; and

• commitments by the international community.

The final conclusions recognised the rapid globalization and liberalization of the world economy, as a fact that presents opportunities and challenges, as well as uncertainties, especially for the poorest countries. For Africa, with 33 of the 48 LDCs, there is, no doubt, a risk of further marginalization. Hence, a call for urgent action was made to support Africaþs efforts to integrate fully into the global economy, through trade facilitation, market access and economic diversification measures.

Whereas the General Assembly in 1995 only called on Paris Club creditors to implement the Naples terms, "expeditiously and in a flexible manner," the Ad Hoc Committee to review UN-NADAF called on these creditors to go beyond the Naples terms for the poorest and most heavily indebted countries, and looked forward to a favorable outcome of the September 1996 meetings of the Interim Committees of the World Bank and IMF which are to consider the draft Framework of Action on the multilateral debt.

The Mid-term Review also stressed the fact that the UN System- wide Special Initiative should be seen as an operational arm of UN-NADAF. The Special Initiative should also be a means for mobilizing resources for the implementation of the other priority areas of UN-NADAF.

Ambassador Hisashi Owada of Japan, Chairman of the Ad Hoc Committee of Whole, placed the Mid-term Review under two important guiding principles:

• global partnership; and

• shared responsibility

The Ad Hoc Committee decided that the final review and appraisal of the UN-NADAF should be conducted in 2002.

Makha D. Sarr, OSCAL

The Web site of OSCAL is at: http://www.un.org/dpcsd/oscal

Our colleagues on the Geneva-based Secretariat of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee for the Convention share the sense of accomplishment thus expressed by the Secretary- General: "The vision of international solidarity for the sustainable development of arid lands is turning into commitment for concrete action. Given the gravity of the problems arising from desertification, I believe that the entry into force of the Convention will be a turning point in our efforts to deal with them".

It is estimated that desertification puts at risk the livelihood of more than 1 billion people, and about 135 million may be in danger of being driven from their land.

Under-Secretary-General Nitin Desai, addressing the Committee at its 9th session in early September in New York, noted how the Convention was one of the first to embrace the comprehensive approach to environmental problems envisaged in the 1992 Earth Summit's Agenda 21.

The first Convention of the State Parties will be held in Rome, in the Fall of 1997.

Ninth Session of the Negotiating Committee

The INCD functions between the conclusion of the Convention and its entry into force. It is preparing the first Conference of the State Parties (COP-1)

With regard to the Global Mechanism to promote the mobilization of financial resources, the Committee decided to submit a text on the function of the Mechanism which included three options for the paragraph on the mobilization and channeling of such resources. Representatives of Ireland, on behalf of the European Union, and Costa Rica, on behalf of the Group of 77 and China, regretted that an agreement on the functions of the Mechanism had not been obtained, and urged the participants to make more progress on the next session.

The Committee decided to adopt a series of procedures for the communication of information and review of the implementation of the Convention. It requested the interim secretariat to identify bodies performing work similar to that envisaged to be undertaken by the Conventionþs Committee on Science and Technology and to report on possible areas of cooperation.

The Committee decided as well to consider at the tenth session the identification of the institution to which the Conference of the Parties would institutionally link the Convention's permanent secretariat. Regarding its location, the Committee decided to request the interim secretariat to present a document comparing the offers of Canada, Germany and Spain to host the permanent secretariat.

The Board agreed that they would focus on three sectors - energy, transportation and water resources - and on full-cost pricing and other measures to promote long-term sustainable use of resources for development. There was general agreement that sustainable development of these sectors would only be possible if the prices of energy, transportation and water reflected social and environmental costs as well as the full economic costs involved. This would imply substantial price increases resulting from such measures as subsidy removal, carbon taxes, tradable pollution permits or water rights.

Social development would require that such price increases be accompanied by other measures to ensure that low-income people and rural communities have access to the resources they need for development, including through cross-subsidization of basic social services where necessary. Carbon taxes, for example, could be invested in development and distribution of small renewable energy sources for rural areas where connections to conventional electricity grids are too expensive. The political viability of price increases may require that environmental tax revenues be used to compensate affected industries through measures such as reductions in payroll taxes, which would encourage employment as well as promote sustainable resource use.

In the case of transportation, the Board agreed that raising the cost of private automobile use is often inadequate by itself to change transportation habits. Revenue from taxes on transportation, such as fuel taxes and road usage and parking charges, should therefore be invested in attractive and efficient mass transit systems, complemented by urban traffic management systems that reserve road lanes for buses and other high-occupancy vehicles.

The Board thus recognized the need not only to identify policy instruments that would promote sustainable development, but also to create imaginative policy packages that are socially equitable and provide net benefits to as many groups as possible.

The Board will meet again in Monaco from 14 to 17 January 1997 to adopt its final report. In the meantime, the ideas considered at the September meeting will be elaborated in drafts to be prepared by the Secretariat and the Rapporteur - David Pearce, an environmental economists at University College London - and circulated to other Board members for comments and further revisions. The final report will be submitted to the Commission on Sustainable Development in its role as preparatory committee for the June Special Session of the General Assembly to review progress in implementation of Agenda 21.

Ralph Chipman, DSD

First Anniversary of Beijing Women's Conference

Among the women from around the world who gathered at UN Headquarters on Monday, 9 September 1996, to commemorate the first anniversary of the FWCW were some of the pioneers for the advancement of women. In his statement the Secretary General saluted these women and others not present who worked to serve future generations. The Secretary-General pledged himself to work to make the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action a reality, calling on governments and individuals to help the UN in its mission "to support peace efforts for men and women; to integrate an awareness of gender issues in all our work worldwide and to make equality of opportunity a reality worldwide and at the United Nations".

Speakers at the event included the United States Secretary of Health and Human Services, Donna E. Shalala, who co-chaired her Government's delegation to the Beijing Conference; Ugandan lawyer and activist Florence Butegwa, who has championed women's rights at the national, regional and international levels; and three of the five women heads of United Nations programmes: Dr. Nafis Sadik, Executive Director of the United Nations Population Fund; Carol Bellamy, Executive Director of the United Nations Children's Fund; and Elizabeth Dowdeswell, Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme. The moderator was Judy Woodruff, CNN anchor and senior correspondent.

The event also featured an open discussion with hundreds of representatives of non-governmental organizations. Participants discussed the impact of the Women's Conference and ways of uniting, networking and mobilizing for meaningful change. The Special Adviser of the Secretary-General on Gender Issues, Rosario Green was present. The directors of the International Women's Tribune Center, Anne Walker; UNIFEM, Noeleen Heyzer and INSTRAW, Marta Due¤as-Loza intervened during the discussion and Angela King, Director of DAW made the concluding statement.

Oliva Acosta, DAW

The Efficiency Board issued a progress report to the Secretary- General on the Secretariat-wide efficiency reviews on 16 September. With close to 400 review exercises completed, the widely publicized report strongly suggested the UN has taken significant strides to achieve both substantial cost savings and "better value".

Our department's recommendations, in the areas of documentation, NGOs and publications, will be carried out within the coming year and thereafter. Recommendations which have been or are being implemented include:

• documentation planning form introduced on pilot basis

• conventions for electronic mark-up of manuscripts developed and to be tested and phased in

• consolidated report on poverty delivered to and well received by ECOSOC

• Commission on the Status of Women consolidating its reports to its next session from 14 to 5

• subgroup established, consultant hired and systems development underway for common database on NGOs

• departmental board to be set up in the area of publications

Along with the welcome improvements the efficiency exercise is ushering in, the department has also benefitted from the impetus this exercise has given to a problem-solving dynamic within DPCSD. All efforts will be made to preserve this dynamic throughout the implementation period.

In addition to the departmental efficiency reviews, DPCSD has participated in cross-cutting, Secretariat-wide reviews of documentation and travel. With regard to the latter, the department has already taken steps to notify Member States about meeting schedules in time for their representatives serving on functional commissions to utilize APEX tickets.

Other cross-cutting reviews in the works, according to the Efficiency Board report, are on information technology, revenue- generating activities, publications, printing, procurement, implementation of the Secretary-General's human resources strategy, simplification of financial and personnel rules, performance management and measurement, internal management reporting, setting priorities and cost-effective approaches to carrying out programmes and mandates.

The DPCSD efficiency review teams were comprised of the following staff members:

DOCUMENTATION

Issue No. 1: - Document Preparation Form

Issue No. 2: - Electronic processing of documents within DPCSD

Issue No. 3: - Integrated or consolidated reports

Issue No. 4: - External peer review mechanism.

Leader: Miles Stoby. Members: William. Bunch, Mieko Ikegame, Robert Kehlhofer, Sarbuland Khan, Luciana Marulli-Koenig, John Mathiason, Kenneth Ruffing, Patrick Spearing.

PUBLICATIONS

Issue No. 5: - Publications content and dissemination

Issue No 6: - Publications production.

Leader: Luciana Marulli-Koenig. Members: Tarcisio Alvarez- Rivero, Zehra Aydin, Robert Huber, Patricia Kenny, Sarbuland Khan, Micheline Sevan, Kristen Timothy, Mary Pat Williams Silveira.

NGOs

Issue No. 7: - Common Database on NGOs

Issue No. 8: - Information dissemination to and from NGOs

Issue No. 9: - Accreditation of NGOs.

Leader: Joke Waller-Hunter. Members: Barbara Adams (NGLS), Zehra Aydin, Farida Ayoub, Ruth Engo, Leona Forman (DPI), Gloria Kan, Sarbuland Khan, Luciana Marulli-Koenig, Yao N'Goran, Kristen Timothy, Xiaokun Xu.

DPCSD members of cross-cutting review teams:

Travel: Patricia Kenny

Documentation: Miles Stoby, William Bunch, Luciana Marulli-Koenig, Judith Brister, Patrick Spearing.

Action Manager: Under-Secretary-General Nitin Desai

Review Coordinator: Jean-Claude Faby

Assistant to the Review Coordinator: Judith Brister

Office of the Under-Secretary-General

The findings of the efficiency reviews are posted on the DPCSD bulletin boards accessible via cc:mail.

The report states that the Secretariat has identified the $154 million savings required to allow the Organization to live within its General Assembly mandated $2.608 billion budget cap. It has achieved a zero budget growth and reduced staff by nearly 10 per cent. Regarding actions taken, those under way, and challenges ahead, the Efficiency Board's report is broken into eight chapters: Better service, Better value, Better management, Managing programmes, Managing people, Managing money, Managing information, and, Still more to do. The Chairman of the Efficiency Board, Under-Secretary-General for Administration and Management, Joseph Connor, noted that the report was aimed at keeping the UN budget down.

The Permanent Representative of the United States to the UN, Ambassador Madeleine Albright said the Board's report provides workable answers to complex problems. The United States representative said the ideas contained in the report not only simplify existing procedures but provide a blueprint for re-engineering UN operations and programmes with one objective of making the UN work better for less.

The report sells for $4.95 and has the Sales No.: 96.I.28