Summary: Working Group on Environment, Trade and Sustainable Development

State of Preparation of the World Summit on Sustainable Development

As a way to look forward to the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg in August 2002, Daniel Alexander from the Institute for Integrated Rural Development introduced the main issues of Agenda 21 and the drawbacks and opportunities for NGOs since the 1992 Rio Summit. 

The session was co-presented by Ms. Juanita Castaño from the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and by Mr. Bernard Geier of the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements. During the presentation they described the state of preparation of their respective NGOs for the Johannesburg World Summit on Sustainable Development.
After a brief discussion about the inherent difficulties in defining “sustainable development” and “sustainable agriculture”, Mr. Geier presented the movement for organic agriculture. He underscored the importance given to the issue at the 1992 Rio Summit and stressed the need to discuss it seriously at the 2002 Johannesburg Summit, as has been suggested by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

Ms. Castaño described Type I expected outcomes from Johannesburg, which are government agreements to which countries are committed, once they have been adopted, even though the agreements are not legally binding. There are two dimensions in Type I outcomes: plan of action and political preparation.

Ms. Castaño further underscored the necessity to coordinate the Doha, Monterrey and Johannesburg results to achieve a voluntary agreement between civil society and government, as partnerships are only useful if they are complementary. Ms. Castaño noted that current US policies make further progress a challenge (e.g. refusal of the US to sign the Kyoto Protocol). By contrast, Japan, Canada and New Zealand have been very supportive.

Outcomes of Johannesburg likely to be recommendations, rather than binding agreements
One participant pointed out that the outcomes of Johannesburg were not likely to result in significant action because the expected agreements were not going to be legally binding for the countries who adopt them. Therefore, these looked-for agreements are really only recommendations. The same participant suggested paying closer attention to WTO agreements, which are legally binding.

Another participant observed that alternative treaties should be prepared in advance of the Johannesburg Summit. Despite the fact that treaties should be signed by governments, alternatives should be ready since governments are not quick to sign formal documents.

Conclusions
The presenters concluded that there is a need to find funding mechanisms and to implement short-term agendas. Although they recognized that it would be difficult, they also stressed the importance of finding a way to impose legally binding commitments on countries related to their production and consumption paths.

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