Network 2002 – June Issue
Contents: 
Salim’s Summit Synopsis
Editorial
News
Stakeholder Priorities for Prep Comm IV
Partnerships to Fuel Sustainable Development Implementation Efforts
Type II’s Explained
WSSD Leader’s Political Declaration
Centre Stage at Summit for Land, Property & Development
Diary Dates
What’s in Next Months Network 2002

Salim’s  Summit  Synopsis 
An Interview with the WSSD Chairman 
  Prep. Comm. IV is fully underway. With Ministers due to join us next week to sign off on what will be the outcomes of the Summit, we invite Professor Emil Salim, Ambassador to Indonesia and Chair of the Summit to offer his views on the process so far. Toby Middleton reports. 
Q. Ambassador, in concrete terms, what can the summit deliver? 
ES. The finalisation of the Bali Commitment and second to get the elements of the political declaration. Thirdly, partnerships that are introduced and taken by all stakeholders. Q. As the negotiations move forward the test is being revised. What is the value of this process if we begin to lose targets or fail to get interim targets? ES. Well if we don’t have targets, as well as a time bound basis, then it will not directly be in accordance with the General Assembly Resolution. So I appeal to both the delegates and participants not to remove the targets as that is one of the most important parts of the discussions.  Q. Do you feel that interim targets can assist the process? ES: Yes. The Targets are necessary as we are moving to imple mentation. Implementation is our clear cut focus which will enable us to be effective. Q. If I may I would like to move on to Type II’s, as they seem to be the innovation of this process. How to you insure that these type II initiatives don’t provide an escape route for governments who may wish to shift the burden of responsibility from themselves? ES. Point 1. This implementation programme provides a platform. It mentions, for example, how to achieve safe drinking water with poverty eradication. It talks for example how to produce clean energy and resource efficiency, Corporate Social Responsibility in changing the existing patterns of consumption & production. And it talks about preserving the environment. How do you do this> Now there are governments that are taking initiatives to invite the business angle, local authorities, stakeholders and civil society, and then come up with the agreement to implement this programme that has been agreed. In the implementation pro-gramme that has been agreed the same applies as to how to develop renewable energy resources or resource efficiency and conservation of natural resources. The type II is actually an implementation and a working out of like minded governments and stakeholders to implement these implementation programmes. Q. If I may just draw on the roll of the stake-holder process within the Commission on Sustainable Development we have had the Multi-Stakeholder Dialogue process. How do you establish the correct governance structures to see type II is carried forward beyond Johannesburg in a meaningful way? ES. It is important that we have these initiatives not in a straight jacket, so that the intention is that the stakeholders or partners  i.e those who want the implementation to have the freedom to find their own partners as well as being stimulated by the international agencies and the other institutions can be worked out from the bottom up. The implementation programme will  provide the guidelines for its own implementation. Q. Moving on to the fact that the WSSD Johannesburg summit provides a high profile stage for governments to ratify many of the multilateral environmental agreements that have been met since Rio and before, is there any value in this process if the WSSD does not deliver any new resources? ES. Well of course, the intention is that we expect new resources from Monterrey and there are commitments for these too. The intention is to create a programme that will make use of these commitments made at the Monter-rey Summit. Q. Do you feel that sustainable development has any future if it is only going to attract environmental ministers to its meetings in years to come? 
ES. Well of course it has a future, point one, in addition to environmental ministers it is also bringing development ministers as well in to the process. In fact the chairman of the UK delegation is from the economic development sector. This applies also to other delegations such as the South Africans amongst others. Point two, this is sustainable development that is not focussed just on environment but also on other issues and policies including science. In years to come I expect the merging of the streams to be more effective. 
Editorial 
  Beware, there be smoke and mirrors here. You may have just read encouraging words from our Summit Chairman, and els e-where in this newsletter you will hear more. You may be forgiven for getting the impression that the World Summit on Sustainable Development has plenty to offer from its unique mix of Type I, government negotiated text, and Type II partnerships. Though all is not as it seems.   As we end the first week of the Bali Prep. Comm., we have seen the chairman’s text cut, cut and cut again. Not, necessarily  in terms of length, but definitely in terms of previously agreed text and previously agreed targets. The chair’s text brought us in near the bottom rung of the ladder and, instead of climbing,  many governments have chosen to descend.   There has been much discussion about the links between Type I and Type II. There is certainly a great deal of anxiety about how the two are linked. Yet let us not forget that the Type II partnerships are an innovation of this process and should be pursued and developed to the full. As a multi-stakeholder journal, Network 2002 is in favour of developing meaningful roles and responsibilities for governments and stakeholders alike. However, unanswered questions remain about how any partnerships announced at the Johannesburg Summit are carried forward beyond its conclusion. Moreover, what is the criteria for partnerships? Definition of what can and cannot be included remains shrouded. Finally, surely you need a strong Type I government position, providing political commitments on critical issues, for the partnerships, designed for action, to have any meaning or focus.   Over the weekend we should get the first sightings of a Political Declaration for Johannesburg. On the one hand, this could help focus minds. On the other, focus on what?    Ministers arrive next week, and it will be interesting to see if this has an impact. Much of the negotiated text is likely to be left for their attention.    It is easy to become polarised. However, elsewhere there is light. UNEP’s third Global Environment Outlook report was recently launched. This report series has played a crucial role in helping to shape environment policy development in recent years. This report comes as a timely reminder of many of pressures the world faces. Is it too late to influence the summit? Time will tell.  Also the UN Special Session on Children delivered a new heads of state agreed plan of action on a range of issues. The session brought valuable multi-lateral commitments as well as interesting unilateral pledges.    With 3 months left until the Summit it is hard at this stage to see what will be on the table when we get there. Time for the (civil) servants need to start to bring things in from the kitchen  T.Middleton 

News, News, News...  
UNEP Launches Global Environment  Outlook 3 
  Over 70 per cent of the Earth's land surface could be affected by the impacts of roads, mining, cities and other infrastructure developments in the next 30 years unless urgent action is taken.    Latin America and the Caribbean region is likely to be the hardest hit with more than 80 per cent of the land affected, closely followed by Asia and the Pacific region. Here, over 75 per cent of the land may well be affected by habitat disturbance and other kinds of environmental damage as a result of rapid and poorly planned infrastructure growth.    Meanwhile more than half the people in the world could be living in severely water-stressed areas by 2032 if market forces drive the globe's political, economic and social agenda.    West Asia, which includes areas such as the Arabian Peninsula, is likely to be the worst affected with well over 90 per cent of the population expected to be living in areas with "severe water stress" by 2032.    However, the proportion of hungry people in the world appears set to fall. Under one future scenario hunger declines to as little as 2.5 per cent of the global population by 2032 - in line with the United Nations Millennium Declaration goals.    Concerted action involving governments, industry and individual citizens could also deliver deep cuts in emissions of the gases linked with global warming. Levels of carbon dioxide could, with sufficient public and private will, begin stabilizing in the atmosphere by 2032.    These are just some of the striking findings from the United Nations Environment Programme's (UNEP) ground-breaking Global Environment Outlook-3 (GEO-3) report. The study takes a unique look at the policies and environmental impacts of the past 30 years. It then outlines four policy approaches for the next three decades (Choices for the Future section of the news release) and compares and contrasts the likely impacts on people and the natural world.    Over 1 000 people, many from a global network of collaborating centres, have contributed to the preparation of GEO -3. The report says the planet is at a crucial cross-roads with the choices made today critical for the forests, oceans, rivers, mountains, wildlife and other life support systems upon which current and future generations depend.    GEO-3 concludes that a great deal of environmental change has already taken place in the past 30 years since the 1972 Stockholm conference which led to the creation of UNEP.    Improvements have occurred in areas such as river and air quality in places like North America and Europe. The international effort to repair the ozone layer, the Earth's protective shield, by reducing the production and consumption of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) is another notable success. But generally there has been a steady decline in the environment,   especially across large parts of the developing world.    The declining environmental quality of planet Earth and the apparent increase in strength and frequency of natural hazards such as cyclones, floods and droughts are intensifying peoples' vulnerability (GEO-3 Chapter 3) to food insecurity, ill health and unsustainable livelihoods, says the report.  
  The poor, the sick and the disadvantaged, both within societies and in different countries and regions, are particularly vulnerable. Everyone is vulnerable to some extent to environmental threats but there is evidence that the gap between those able and those unable to cope with rising levels of environmental change is widening.    It is estimated that the number of people affected by disasters climbed from an average of 147 million a year in the 1980s to 211 million a year in the 1990s. Global financial losses from natural disasters were, in 1999, estimated to cost over US$ 100 billion.    The level of weather-related disasters has climbed with some experts linking this to climate change due to human-made emissions. In the 1990s, 90 per cent of those killed were victims of events such as floods, windstorms and droughts.    Indeed behind nearly all the assessments and forecasts outlined in the report lies the spectre of global warming and its potential to wreak havoc on weather patterns over the coming decades.  GEO-3 says environmental degradation is also costing countries in other ways. India, for exa m-ple, is losing more than US$ 10 billion annually or 4.5 per cent of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) with human-induced land degradation alone causing productivity losses of around US$ 2.4 billion.    Declining environmental quality is also a rising health risk. Sewage pollution of the seas "has precipitated a health crisis of massive proportions", says the report.    For example, the eating of contaminated shellfish is causing an estimated 2.5 million cases of infectious hepatitis annually, resulting in 25 000 deaths and a further 25 000 people suffering long-term disability due to liver-damage.  GEO-3 concludes that one of the key driving forces has been the growing gap between the rich and poor parts of the globe. Currently, one-fifth of the world's population enjoys high, some would say excessive, levels of affluence. It accounts for nearly 90 per cent of total personal consumption globally. In comparison, around 4 billion people are surviving on less than US$ 1 to $ 2 a day.    World Leaders, Captains of Industry, You and Me: The World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD)    Klaus Toepfer, Executive Director of the UNEP, speaking at the launch taking place in London, United Kingdom, said: " I must pay tribute to the scientists and experts who have made this assessment possible. GEO-3, like its two predecessors, is truly a unique collaborative accomplishment. The latest report gives us even more pause for thought as it looks out 30 years to four possible futures. We can never know for certain what lies before us, the future is another country. But we know enough now to see how our actions or lack of actions might shape the environment and the inhabitants of this extraordinary blue planet by 2032.    "GEO-3 is neither a document of doom and gloom or a gloss over the acute challenges facing us all. It is the most authoritative assessment of where we have been, where we have reached and where we are likely to go. The facts in the report underline the huge amount of knowledge that has now been accumulated about the condition of Earth. It also highlights the successes of governments, industry, the public and others in trying to restore and sustain its damaged and beleaguered freshwaters, lands, wildlife, oceans and atmosphere, especially in those continents and countries that can afford it," he said.    "We now have hundreds of declarations, agreements, guidelines and legally binding treaties designed to address environmental problems and the threats they pose to wildlife and human health and well being. Let us now find the political courage and the innovative financing needed to implement these deals and steer a healthier, more prosperous, course for planet Earth. Ten years ago, governments met in Rio for the Earth Summit. In just three months, we have the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) in South Africa. This is a summit for sustainable development, but it is also a summit for the environment. Environment for Development is UNEP's motto, for without the environment there can never be the kind of development needed to secure a fair deal for this or future generations. We need concrete actions, we need concrete timetables and we need an iron will from all sides. It cannot be the responsibility of politicians alone. We are all shareholders in this enterprise. Only then can the promises made in Rio turn into a reality," said Mr Toepfer.  
UN Special Session on Children delivers global goals 
  The UN wrapped up its special session on Children, May 8-10, with unanimous agreement on a new agenda for the world’s children, including 21 specific goals and targets for child health, education and protection over the next decade, UNICEF announced.   Representatives from some 180 nations adopted the conference outcome document, entitled ‘A World Fit for Children’. More than 18 months of consensus-building resulted in a strong future agenda focussed on four key priorities: promo t-ing healthy lives; providing quality education for all; protecting children against abuse, exploitation and violence; and combating HIV/AIDS. Elusive language on child rights, reproductive health and other issues was resolved in good faith negotiating sessions that lasted right up to the final night.   “I am enormously proud and pleased at what has been accomplished this week,” said Carol Bellamy, Executive Director of UNICEF. “If leaders keep the promises they have made, we can bring about enormous positive change in the world in less than a generation.”  She listed the accomplishments of the week, as follows: 
·	A strong outcome document setting the agenda for children over the next decade; 
·	A powerful and unanimous statement to the leaders of the world from nearly 400 youth delegates, who held their own debates before joining the adults; 
·	A new partnership to provide better nutrition for children through the fortification of staple foods in developing countries; 
·	Individual acts of leadership such as the pledge by Peru’s president to cut military spending and re-direct public money to basic services for children. 
·	A global pledge campaign called ‘Say yes for Children’. 

Stakeholder’s Priorities for Prep. Comm. IV 
Women’s Priorities 
  At the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio women were formally recognized for the first time as key actors in achieving and maintaining sustainable development. Ten years later, despite the gains they have made at subsequent UN international conferences, women remain challenged by a global economic system that exacerbates poverty and environmental degradation. The future, as envisioned by women, must be built on the principles of peace and solidarity; equity and shared power; environmental integrity; social justice and respect for human rights, cultural and biological diversity.    In August, at the United Nations World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD)— in Johannesburg, South Africa, diverse women from all regions of the world will put forth a comprehensive blueprint of their dreams and goals for the future. Crossing issues, cultures and nations, Women’s Action Agenda for a Peaceful and Healthy Planet 2015 expresses core visions and values for a sustainable society. Following are highlights:    Peace is a prerequisite for sustainable development and steps must be taken to address the ecological, social, economic and political causes of conflicts, violence and terror. Women are calling for the universal ratification and implementation, without reservation, of the International Criminal Court. They are also calling for the implementation of Security Council Resolution 1325 and the promotion of non-violent forms of conflict resolution.   Left unchecked economic globalization driven by liberalized market forces, results in growing gaps between rich and poor, increasing poverty, violence and crime, and environmental degradation. Women are demanding that the neo-liberal paradigm governing the global economy be replaced with a sustainable, gender-sensitive, and environmentally sound development framework.    Earth’s biological diversity is threatened by the irreversible destruction due to production and consumption patterns driven by market forces. Women demand the implementation of all instruments to halt further destruction, including the Convention on Bio-diversity, and the Kyoto Protocol on global warming. Other actions include establishing systems of accountability for those responsible for polluting, mainstreaming gender in national and international sustainable development agencies and developing gender-disaggregated data.   Worldwide environmental security of is at risk, and people—especially those living in poverty—are exposed to toxic substances and radiation, lack clean, safe water and sanitation, or live in disaster prone areas. Women are calling for gender-disaggregated data on environmental health risks, increased access for young people to HIV-prevention information and services and the phasing out of the production and use of nuclear energy and toxic substances by 2015. Governments 
should aim to halve by 2015, the proportion of people with no access to safe drinking water as recommended in the UN Millennium Report.    Women’s participation in governance structures at local regional and international levels remains woefully low.  Governments and international institutions must commit to measurable goals and timetables to achieve critical mass (30%) of women in decision-making by 2003 and gender balance by 2005. A reporting mechanism to track progress should be established in the UN and Local Agenda 21 processes should to be engendered and  promoted as part of local government structures.   Women’s education is key to poverty eradication and slowing population growth but women and girls comprise the majority (65%) of the world’s non-literate. Women are calling for programs to achieve full literacy for all. They are also calling for gender sensitive education and the protection and integration of women’s traditional and indigenous knowledge in education, policy and decision-making processes.   Partnerships between governments, institutions and civil society should be built on principles of respect for human rights, transparency and accountability, inclusiveness, equal participation, and gender balance and equality. Women are calling for a clear and enforceable Partnership Code of Conduct along with the provision of financial and other capacity-building resources. 
Business Priorities  
1. To ensure a structured and productive participation in the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development, ICC and WBCSD are helping business organizations around the world to come together under the common theme of ‘Business Action for Sustainable Development’ (www.basd-action.net). Business aims to dialogue with governments and other stake-holders participating in the WSSD process - and integrate into the discussion a constructive analysis of the global business community’s achievements and its continuing role in delivering sustainable development solutions. Partnerships and Type 2 initiatives 2. Business solutions to sustainable development focus on concrete actions and deliverable results rather than process and procedures. Partnerships between and among stakeholders often deliver more effective and practical solutions than in isolation. Public-private partnerships are also an effective delivery vehicle for capacity-building, transfer of technology, and the linkage of official development assistance and foreign direct investment. 
3. A recent report ‘Putting Partnering to Work’, released by Business Partners for Development (BPD), describes ‘tri-sector partnering’, or strategic alliances for managing social issues, which capitalise on the expertise and experience of or-ganisations from across business, government and civil society. For example, a partnership can benefit from the project management and logistical expertise of the investing company; the strategic co-ordination and the ability to source funding of public services of the local government; and the capacity to mobilise community participation of local NGOs and community groups. 
4. UK Secretary of State for International Development, The Rt. Hon Clare Short MP, commented at the launch of the re-port, “no one government or organisation can afford to work in isolation. We need to recognise the different strengths and capabilities different organisations have and build partnerships and networks at the national and international level, which make the most of these different strengths”. 
5. World Bank President, James D. Wolfensohn, added, “this is new territory. This is a new way of thinking. And my hope is that we can engage business in this new approach as well because the currency of community development is not just money; it is knowledge and it is experience.”. 
6. The challenge is to link these ‘Type 2’ partnership initiatives to Agenda 21 and the UN Millennium Development Goals, and to ensure that Type 2 initiatives support, strengthen and implement the WSSD ‘Type 1’ process, agreements and outcomes. 7. Business views the following guidelines as necessary ingredients to ensure effective partnerships:   Include an appreciation of the three pillars of sustainable development – economic progress, environmental protection and social responsibility.   Involve a combination of partners drawn from governments, NGOs, business and other civil society groups, recognizing the importance of participation and partnership with other groups;   Pursue and demonstrate credible, measurable results and/or impacts, with milestones and transparency.   To have the greatest impact, it is desirable for projects to be replicable, transferable and inspirational – practical examples to be adapted and emulated elsewhere.  8. Organisations involved in partnerships are invited to submit, via the BASD website, details of suitable projects and initiatives, using an on-line facility.  
Local Authorities   
  Local governments and civic leaders are committed to creating sustainable cities and communities. Since the Rio Earth Summit, thousands of local governments worldwide have acted on the goals and targets outlined in Agenda 21, the Rio Conventions, the Habitat Agenda and the Millennium Declaration, particularly in the key areas of water and sanitation, energy and health. It is vitally important to recognize and tap this potential at the local level to accelerate implementation of sustainable development globally.   The outcomes of the Johannesburg Summit must recognize: · the importance of good local governance in creating sustainable communities; · the urban dimension of sustainable development and the interdependence of urban and rural areas; · the role of local governments in developing partnerships for sustainable development, working with national governments, international agencies, and civil society; · opportunities to promote and encourage diversified action at the local level.    Five strategies are proposed for joint action by all spheres of government in order to advance sustainable development locally and globally: 
1. Strengthen local government.  
2. Strengthen inter-governmental and intra-governmental cooperation.  

3. Foster international solidarity and cooperation. 
4. Build a new culture of sustainability. 
5. Accelerate the transition to sustainable communities and cities.    To effectively implement these strategies, the following actions will need to be undertaken by the international community: 
·	Involve local governments as equal partners in action-oriented national sustainable development strategies. 
·	Involve local government as an equal partner in the UN system, and acknowledge its unique role as a sphere of government, through the enhancement of initiatives like the United Nations Advisory Committee of Local Authorities. 
·	Build the capacity of local government to foster good local governance and sustainable development at the local level, through demand-led international support programmes and a partnership and policy dialogue between donors and local government. 
·	Promote local government's awareness of, and active commit ment to, the international development targets set out in the General Assembly's Millennium Declaration through the organisation of a world-wide Millennium Towns and Cities Campaign in partnership with the appropriate UN agencies. 
· Recognize and support international campaigns of local and sub-national governments aimed at building healthy, sustainable and resilient communities as effective mechanisms to meet commitments of international conventions and to protect global common goods, such as: a) Local Agenda 21: Establish long-term national campaigns to initiate and promote local-level sustainable development participatory planning processes, and introduce criteria for investment programs that consider the strategies and targets of action plans in the selection and design of projects for support.  b) Climate Protection: Support local government action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and increase energy efficiency through the implementation and expansion of the international Cities for Climate Protection Campaign. c) Sustainable Water Use: Launch an international program to facilitate the creation and implementation of national and local integrated water management plans. d) Sustainable Patterns of Consumption and Production: Set up action plans for sound public procurement at all levels of government and establish national collective procurement mechanisms in order to create more effective public demand for sustainable products. e) Management and Prevention of Disasters (natural and other): Develop local management capacity to create more resilient communities and cities and reducing their vulnerability. 
NGOs 
The Mulistakeholder Dialogue (MSD) to officially start Prep-Com 4 will be an unique (and last major) opportunity for Major Groups to influence the meetings outcome, despite running parallel to the informal intergovernmental negotiations. As the scope of negotiations are still wide open, a focussed discussion and input from the MSD cannot do anything but enhance the outcome. Besides, isn't Sustainable Development about involving "all relevant actors" in the decision-process?    The modalities given to the Major Groups have in reality left a barn door open for inputs to the negotiations, just waiting to be utilised. The specific themes given for the four segments of the MSD are: Sustainable Developmpent Governance, Capacity Building for Sustainable Development, Framework for Partnership Initiatives -- and as the last theme is "Future Priorities" any relevant issue connected to Sustainable Development can be brought up. The trick is to not turn the opportunity into a shopping list.   Preparing the MSD each of the nine Major Groups have written a dialogue paper, issued as official UN documents. Being the longest, the NGO's paper addresses 11 themes to be part of the two single-most important outcomes of the Johannesburg Summit: 
·	A Political Declaration that strongly commits to step up poverty eradication, with the Millennium Summit goal as a minimum, and boost sustainable development, including through improved institutions and mechanisms for speeding up implementation of Rio and other UN agreements. This should recognise the need for reshaping globalisation to achieve a new balance between economic, social and environmental development, and a realignment of power relations between and within States. 
· A concrete Johannesburg Plan of Action moving from “principle” to “action”, through a programme with clear targets, indicators, time frames, financial resources, coordination, institutional arrangements and necessary capacity-building. Clear mechanisms are needed for monitoring, enforcement and compliance, accountability as well as for improved civil society access to information and decision-making.   Using an over-arching concept such as a "Global Deal", priorities must be given to: Renew the North-South partnership and Vision that began at Rio; a “rights based” approach to natural resources; progress to be made at local, national, regional and international level regarding good governance, democracy with popular participation and stronger institutions; strengthen the existing framework for global governance of sustainable development, to create a more balanced global power structure with a far more active and internationally-oriented civil society; cooperation or “partnerships” that add to and support intergovernmental agreements dedicated to sustainable development, without pre-empting the role and responsibilities of the State; corporate accountability; fundamentally change the way industrial societies produce and consume; make trade a tool that serves sustainable development, incorporating social and environmental concerns; ensure finance for Sustainable Development; ratify all conventions relevant to Sustainable Development; and to funding commitments, resolution of the debt burden, genuine technology partnerships, capacity-building, support for implementation of the Convention to Combat Desertification, and address the impact of HIV/ AIDS, paying special attention to the least developed countries in Africa.   As the actual selection of NGO's to sit at the table during the MSD will take place in Bali, no predictions can be made of which themes to be specially emphasised. However, it is safe to predict interventions based on hands-on experiences in peoples daily lives, all too often neglected in international negotiations. 
  Torleif Jonasson, the Danish '92 Group  

Partnerships To Fuel Sustainable  Development   Implementation  Efforts  
      In a major departure from the standard international conference practice of concluding with only a negotiated consensus document, the outcome of the World Summit on Sustainable Development will include partnership in i-tiatives that will achieve direct results on the ground.    The partnership initiatives, all voluntary, represent a major advance in the idea that more than just governments are needed to implement sustainable development and that the resources and expertise from all quarters of society must play a part if the world is to seriously tackle problems arising from poverty, unsustainable consumption and development and the impact of human society on the environment.      In a speech delivered shortly before the Bali Prep-Com, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan, said, “At Johannesburg, Governments will agree on a common plan of action.  But the most creative agents of change may well be partnerships—among Governments, private businesses, non-profit organizations, scholars and concerned citizens.”      Many participants in the Johannesburg Summit process have endorsed the idea of partnership initiatives, and many are planning to launch such partnerships during the Summit.  Yet a number of participants have expressed doubts on the proposal, contending that initiatives could offer Governments an escape hatch to avoid making real commitments to sustainable development. Worse, many say the initiatives represent a sugarcoated attempt to privatize Government functions in the name of sustainable development.    
  “Partnerships are not a substitute for government action or responsibilities,” according to Summit Secretary-General Nitin Desai, “and they are not a subterfuge for governments to avoid making the necessary commitments to move the sustainable development agenda forward.”        Instead, Desai maintains that the partnership initiatives represent a truly innovative mechanism for expanding the scope and the size of implementation efforts, which he said have tended to be small, under financed, and unfocused.    
  “We have to start implementing sustainable development on a grander scale,” Desai said. “We have to move beyond a fragmented, ad hoc and pilot-programme type of approach. We have to think big and go to scale, so that we can start to see the pay-off, in economic, social and environmental terms, that sustainable development can bring us.”      Desai added, “Too often, conferences end with just a document.  Even when we have a strong document, we usually don’t have a way to translate the words of the text  into real action,” Desai said. “The partnership initiatives provide us with an unprecedented  opportunity to bring together the people who can bring clean water, electricity and health services to the communities that lack them in a sustainable manner.  A document, by itself, will not do that.”      Desai said he was mystified by the idea circulating that the partnerships were linked to corporations.  “I don’t know why people think that partnerships are just about corporations.  They are not.”  In fact, he said, many of the partnerships proposals that have been submitted to the Secretariat do not involve corporations at all, and one, for example, the Global Reporting Initiative, was a partnership initiative that aimed to set standards for corporate accountability and responsibility.      The point that is often missed, Desai said, is that corporations can pursue their business interests without the Summit and without entering into partnerships. “The partnership initiatives present an opportunity to connect the activities of businesses with the commitments made by Governments at the Summit.”      At the International Conference on Financing for Development held in Monterrey, world leaders agreed to reverse the downward trend in development assistance.  Significant commitments for major increases, over the coming decade, provide a sound base for the resources required to implement the plan of action on sustainable development that will emerge from Johannesburg.      
  “Linking this increase in assistance with the international financial institutions, and in some cases the private sector, provides the resources for implementation that we’ve all been looking for,” Desai said.  “The challenge for Bali is to lay the policy foundation so these resources can be used to benefit all.  Partnerships provide one of the key mechanisms to achieve this objective.”                                        by WSSD Secretariat  
"Type 2s"  Explained 
The Earth Summit 2002 process is taking an innovative approach to its outcomes – since January, we have "type1s" and "type2s". Although the "type 2 partnership initiatives" are not very well defined, and the dynamics between type 1 and type 2 are viewed very differently, Stakeholder Forum's Minu He m-mati is trying to explain what the "type 2 hype" is about: 
  The Earth Summit 2002 process is aiming to produce two types of outcome documents: 
Type 1: negotiated outcomes in two documents, for adoption by all Member States at the Summit: 
·       Johannesburg Programme of Action (PoA), or "Implementation Document". Since May 9, there is a new draft by the Chair of the Summit Bureau, Prof Emil Salim ("Chair's text"). 
·       Johannesburg Political Declaration – there is no draft available yet. 
Both documents are supposed to be negotiated at PrepComm IV in Bali. Type 2: Partnerships and initiatives to implement Agenda 21. 
These will not be negotiated by all present but agreed by the partners – governments, intergovernmental bodies, stake-holders – who are committing themselves to implementing the respective initiatives. The idea is "to enable all stakeholders to make concrete contribution to the outcome of the Summit by launching implementation initiatives" (FAQ Paper). Partnerships are seen as a vehicle "to improve the quality of implementation by involving those stakeholders whose activities have direct impact on sustainable development" (ibid.).  
Vice-Chairs Kara and Quarless held informal consultations at PrepComm III. Delegates and stakeholders discussed what partnerships should look like, how they should be developed, implemented and monitored, what their role within the Summit process and beyond should be, and which links between the type 1 and 2 outcomes should be developed. 
Links between type 1 & 2 
  All outcomes of the Summit shall be contributing to the implementation of Agenda 21, and close links between the two types of Summit outcomes are necessary.  
  There is a danger that such links remain lose – be it because the PoA and the Declaration remain unstructured and lack detailed commitments, or because a multitude of more or less relevant partnership initiatives will be accepted. There is also a danger that the development of type 2s drains the negotiating process of its energy and thus weakens the multi-lateral attempt to arrive at a strong and concrete global consensus.  
  But there is also a chance that the developments of type 2s will have a positive impact on the negotiations, demonstrating how the sustainable development agreements can be implemented. For that, the collection of type 2s needs to be balanced in terms of who initiates them, they need to be multi-stakeholder and equitable in nature, and they need to comprise big initiatives impacting on a global scale, as much as small, concrete ones which have proven to often deliver change in a more tangible manner. And they need to be as closely linked to the type 1 agreements as possible. However, keeping the PoA text very broad is not the solution to achieving the desired lin kages.  
  If type2s are indeed not meant to replace governmental action, there needs to be clarity of who (governments, stake-holders) has to do what, and commitment of those initiating and leading this process of commitment – governments. Partnerships are but one mechanism which cannot replace multilateral agreements and resources. 
Submission & selection 
  Currently, there are no strictly defined criteria for selection of Type 2 outcomes nor is thee a formal selection process. Rather, there are basic requirements and guidance from the Chair and the Vice-Chairs. These include that partnerships should be regional or international in scope, that they should have clearly defined targets, expected results and timeframe, arrangements for funding, monitoring arrangements, coordination and implementation mechanisms. Interested parties are invited to submit their initiatives to the Secretariat, for publica-tion on the official UN Summit website. It is expected that "the Bureau of the PrepCom will review the information provided by the partners and determine whether all the requirements have been met" (FAQ Paper). Modalities for presenting initiatives during the Summits first week shall be finalized at Prep-Com IV. 
Follow-up  
  Although type 2 partnerships shall implement their own "accountability mechanisms" (ibid) they will be expected to report back to the CSD. Details are being discussed at Prep-Com IV, within the discussions on sustainable development governance. Such mechanisms are certainly desirable, and could create a forum for joint monitoring, learning and replication – including of failed approaches and "bad practice". An intergovernmental and multi-stakeholder environment such as the CSD could provide a focused, open forum – the role, powers, and resources of which will need to be clearly defined.  
Creating type 2s  
  Governments and stakeholders are currently aiming to create partnership initiatives. Given a short time frame and lack of clarity on the type 1 outcomes, identifying the most desirable actions and relevant partners, creating the necessary trust, and identifying funding is an enormous challenge. Many stake-holders (and governments) are nowadays prepared to talk to each other, but joint action is a very different matter. 
An example of a process developing collaborative stakeholder action (which was conceived 8 months before the option of type 2s were created), is Stakeholder Forum's Implementation Conference. Multi-stakeholder advisory groups on freshwater, energy, food security, and health are identifying focus areas for joint action and possible partners, and Stakeholder Forum is facilitating the communication between possible partners (http://www.earthsummit2002.org/ic). Stakeholder Forum's recent book by Minu Hemmati Multi-stakeholder processes for Governance and Sustainability – Beyond Deadlock and Conflict (Earthscan) provides guidance in the form of principles and a practical check-list. 
More information 
  At the official UN website (http://www.johannesburgsummit. org/), there are several documents available that give more information about type 2s: FAQ page; partnership initiatives information sheet – for submission to the Secretariat; partnerships submitted so far; explanatory note by the Chair (February 2002); Vice-Chairs’ summary of the informal meetings at Prep-Com III; note for "Further Guidance on Partnership Initiatives" by Vice-Chairs Kara and Quarless (both April 2002). Governments, NGOs, Trade Unions, women, Indigenous Peoples, business, and others have also submitted their views over recent months (http://www.earthsummit2002.org/ic/process/ type2.htm). Stakeholder Forum has published its position on this matter during PrepComs II and III (http://www. earthsummit2002.org/ic/process/summit.htm), and is working on a revised position paper for PrepComm IV. 

The WSSD  Leaders “Political”  Declaration  
  While the main focus of the WSSD Prepcoms has been the “Implementation Text”, the second week of Prepcom IV in Bali will see the launch of negotiations on a Leaders’ “Political” Declaration - “Declaration” that is expected to be finalized by leaders in Johannesburg. One of the ministerial dialogues in Bali is also scheduled to discuss the contents of this Declaration.    Bearing in mind the difficulties experienced at Rio+ 5 in 1997 in New York, when both the implementation texts and Leaders’ declaration were negotiated simultaneously with the result that no declaration was agreed, the Chairman of the Bureau, Dr. Emil Salim, has attempted to ensure that discussions on the Declaration do not begin before negotiations on his Implementation Text are completed.  No draft text on the Declaration has been circulated, rather the Chairman has tasked two Bureau vice chairs to prepare draft elements based on input received from regional groups, individual delegations and major groups.  It is assumed that these elements will be among the inputs used by the Chairman in preparing a  first draft of the Leader’s Declaration.    As one of the two Bureau members engaged in this exercise, along with Ihab Gamaleldin of Egypt, I can confirm that most delegations and regional groups are focussing their efforts on preparing their positions on the Chairman’s new implementation text and the co-chairs new text on institutional arrangements for sustainable development governance. When contacted. some delegations were awaiting instructions while others were unwilling to provide any detailed input before the Chairman’s new implementation text appeared or was finalized as they viewed the Declaration as being an outgrowth of that text.  As a result, the input received by the two co-chairs has been more in the nature of general guidance than detailed text although some detailed text has been received both from countries and major groups.   As I am writing this article after compiling my input for the Chairman and before a first draft text of the Declaration has appeared,  I can only give my personal views on the form and substance of the Leaders Declaration.    In my view, the Declaration should be relatively short,  4-5 pages, and draw on the implementation text without attempting to be an executive summary of that document. It should focus on trends and issues of particular concern to world leaders and set out a future course of action in concise language that speaks clearly to the public in words that will be remembered.    
  It should not attempt to duplicate the Rio Declaration by setting down a number of new guiding principles, rather it should begin by recalling and reaffirming Rio and Millennium outcomes. As the Chairman’s Implementation Text also touches on issues dealt with by other UN conferences since Rio, consideration should also be given to mentioning their outcomes as well.    The Declaration should then go on to provide some analysis of the progress made since Rio drawing on the Secretary Ge n-eral’s report and other analyses that have appeared in recent months.  It should point out where progress has indeed been achieved but also make clear the implementation gap that remains and why.   
  The Declaration should then make mention of the developments since Rio that need to be taken into account in plotting a future course, such as globalization, the revolution in information and communication technologies, and the spread of HIV/ AIDs. As well, it should also make mention of several recent international conferences that have influenced the direction of some key issues to be discussed at the WSSD, e.g. climate change, trade and finance for development.   
  The Declaration could then set out the prerequisites for achieving sustainable development such as peace and security and good governance and the need by both governmental and non-governmental actors to mobilize resources at both the domestic and international levels.   
  Finally, the Declaration should attempt to highlight issues that are of major concern and set out a  future course of action on them while endorsing the programme of action contained in the agreed Implementation Text. In particular, leaders may wish to give particular attention to such issues as poverty alleviation, access to water and sanitation services, access to modern energy services, the needs of Africa, health, food security, improving resource management and good governance as well as the Millennium Summit Goals.    
Richard Ballhorn, Vice Chair & Canadian Government 
CENTRE STAGE AT SUMMIT FOR LAND, PROPERTY, AND DEVELOPMENT 
Aspiration and Reality: Building Sustainability, Johannesburg,  28-30 August 2002   A seminal conference for practitioners in land, property, construction and development will be staged in Johannesburg as part of the World Summit for Sustainable Development (WSSD).   
  The only event at the World Summit dedicated to confronting the sustainability issues facing these interrelated sectors, it will showcase tested solutions from around the world and seek their global implementation with a range of action-oriented outcomes and the support of the United Nations.   Titled Aspiration and Reality: Building Sustainability, the conference will attract a mix of the world’s most successful sustainable development practitioners and those wishing to learn from them, over three days of world-changing activity.  This will comprise a practitioners’ conference with high profile keynote speakers, an exhibition of world-class case studies, break-out sessions with targeted outcomes in four critical sustainability areas, side events and gala receptions.     Carefully planned and integrated into the many WSSD-related initiatives and events to take place in South Africa and around the world, the importance of this conference is recog-nised by Secretary-General of the United Nations, Kofi Annan, who has invited its findings to be presented at the UN’s main WSSD governmental conference on 2 September.    Dr Klaus Töpfer, Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and Executive Director UNEP will officially open the main conference on 29 August with a keynote speech on a sustainable future and the global challenges.   The conference already has the support of a million practitioners world-wide.  Under the leadership of the RICS Foundation - a global research charity concerned with sustainability in the built and natural environments - fourteen leading professional institutions have joined forces as the Global Alliance for Building Sustainability to co-organise the event.  Accountancy, architecture, construction, engineering, facilities and building management and town planning are among the practices currently represented.   Says David Fitzpatrick, Executive Director of the RICS Foundation; “This conference represents an unprecedented gathering of key people in these sectors – practitioners, policy ma k-ers and business leaders -  committed to working together to effect change”.      “It is a once in a decade opportunity”, he adds, “to learn, to network and to promote private sector sustainability achievements to the world and to those with the power to implement change.  We welcome and recognise as partners, delegates, exhibitors, speakers or sponsors, all those concerned with the knowledge and implementation of responsible environmental, social and economic practice.”   Issued by the RICS Foundation.  For further information please contact Alan Gilham/Laura Weston at the RICS Foundation on telephone +44 (0)20 7695 1568, e -mail earth-summit@rics-foundation.org or visit the website at www.rics-foundation.org and www.earth-summit.net 

Diary Dates, Events & Conferences 

25 May - 6 June Indonesian Peoples Forum. Bali, Indonesia. Contact: www.jakartapeoplesforum.org
27 May - 7 June World Summit on Sustainable Development Prep. Comm. IV. Bali, Indonesia Contact: www.johannesburgsummit.org
5 - 7 June International Meeting on Mountain Ecosystems. Huaraz, Peru. Contact: www.mtnfourm.org/calendar/events/0206imma.htm
10 - 13 June World Food Summit: 5 years later. Rome, Italy. Contact: www.fao.org/worldfoodsummit/
11 - 15 June International Conference on Water & Sanitation Services in Small Towns & Multi-Village Schemes. Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Contact: www.wsp.org/english/afr/addis/addis_desc.pdf
14 - 15 June From Rio to Johannesburg - A Reflection on the Institutional Foundations of World Trade. Geneva, Switzerland. Contact: catherine.minetti@iued.unige.ch
17 - 22 June6th Session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on Persistent Organic Pollutants. Geneva, Switzerland. Contact: pops@unep.ch
22 - 26 June G8 Summit. Kananaskis, Canada. Contact: www.g8.gc.ca
24 - 25 June UNEP Finance Initiative Roundtable for Economies in Transition. Budapest, Hungary. Contact: www.unepfi.net/ceit
8 - 10 July International Conference on Man and the Ocean - Conserving our Coastal Environment. Tokyo, Japan. Contact: http://landbase.hq.unu.edu/Conference/Programme.htm
14 - 19 July World Civil Society Forum. Geneva, Switzerland. Contact: www.worldcivilsociety.org/pages/1/en/presfor.htm
19 July - 11 August United World Colleges Youth Action Summit 2002. Utrecht, Netherlands. Contact: www.uwcyouthsummit.org
12 - 15 August Stockholm Water Symposium. Stockholm, Sweden. Contact: www.siwi.org/sws2002

What’s in next months Network - 2002…
·	Prep Comm IV - Outcomes & Analysis 
·	G8 Summit 
·	World Food Summit: 5 Years On 
·	Persistent Organic Pollutants 
·	The run up to Johannesburg