Fourth Bureau

DRAFT Note on the outcome of the fourth meeting of the Bureau of CSD-10
acting as the Preparatory Committee for the World Summit on Sustainable Development
(New York 1-2 October 2001)

1. The Fourth meeting of the Bureau took place in New York on 1-2 October 2001. The meeting was chaired by H.E. Mr. Emil Salim, Chairman of the Preparatory Committee. The following Vice-Chairs participated in the meeting: H.E. Mr. Kiyotaka Akasaka (Japan), Mr. Ositadinma Anaedu (Nigeria), Mr. Richard Ballhorn (Canada), H.E. Mr. Lars-Göran Engfeldt (Sweden), Mr. Ahmed Ihab Gamaleldin (Egypt), Mr. Jan Kära (Czech Republic), H.E. Mr. Alexandru Niculescu (Romania), Ms. Diane Marie Quarless (Jamaica), Ms. Maria Viotti (Brazil) and Ms.Jeanette Ndhlovu, the ex officio representative on the Bureau from South Africa. Ms. JoAnne DiSano, Director of the Division for Sustainable Development, staff from the WSSD Secretariat and officials from Canada, Indonesia, Japan, South Africa and Sweden also attended.

- take stock of the state of preparations for the Johannesburg Summit, particularly at the regional and sub-regional levels,

- consider further specific details of the programme of work during the second session of the Preparatory Committee for the Summit (New York, 28 January – 8 February 2002);

- meet with representatives of the UN Office of the Coordinator of Humanitarian Affairs to discuss links between WSSD and UN activities in the area of natural disaster reduction;

- meet with the Bureau of the Executive Board of UNDP and the Bureau of the Preparatory Committee for the International Conference on Financing for Development to discuss linkages between preparations for the Summit and the other two intergovernmental processes, in particular how these processes could support each other and achieve synergies;

- discuss further activities of the Bureau in the period leading to the second session of the Preparatory Committee.

I. State of preparations for the Summit, in particular at the regional and sub-regional preparations.

3. The Bureau was briefed by the Secretariat on the work underway in preparations for the Summit. Work was underway in collaboration with the UN Department of Public Information on the public information campaign for the Summit. A number of awareness raising and public outreach activities were being undertaken with a view to involving in the preparatory process the broadest range of non-governmental and professional constituencies, including those who historically were not actively involved in sustainable development. The UN official Summit web-site was being redesigned to focus more on substantive issues. Work was also under way for preparation of the Secretary-General’s report, the “trends report” and other documentation to be submitted for consideration at the second session of the Preparatory Committee.

4. The Bureau underscored the importance of establishing close links between the official programme of the WSSD and various “satellite” events of stakeholders planned in Johannesburg in conjunction with the Summit. The Bureau was informed that the Secretariat was facilitating information exchange among the organizers of various activities. It was agreed to discuss this matter in greater detail at one of the next meetings of the bureau. This would include presentation by South Africa on the state of preparation of “satellite” events.

5. Members of the Bureau exchanged views on the state of preparations at the regional level. The Bureau welcomed positive outcomes of the Regional Preparatory Meeting in the ECE region, including the adoption on 25 September 2001 of Ministerial Statement to the Summit. The Bureau noted that preparations in the ECE region were very complex due to great diversity of countries being part of that region. Nevertheless, it was felt that the meeting resulted in a broad range of ideas and agreements, which would enrich the global preparatory process and serve as strong evidence of the efficiency of the “bottom-up approach” in the WSSD preparations. It was underscored that commitment of the ECE region, which included many of the most economically developed countries of the world, to international cooperation in support of sustainable development would be crucial to the success of the Summit.

6. Some of the cross-cutting themes that emanated from the ECE meeting were sustainable management and conservation of natural resources; environmental health; making globalisation work for sustainable development, including matters related to international trade and finance, as well as links between globalisation and social issues; better governance and democratic decision-making processes; as well as education, science and technology. While the meeting recognized the importance of international development targets as well as targets contained in the UN Millennium Declaration, it also confirmed that setting international targets proved to be a very difficult task.

7. The Bureau noted that at the ECE meeting the proposed concept of the “Global Deal” was intensively discussed and an understanding was reached to further elaborate and clarify this idea. The outcome of the ECE meeting also addressed a number of issues related to strengthening institutional framework for sustainable development. In this context reference was made to the discussion on the global economic governance in the preparatory process for International Conference on Financing for Development. The process was exploring possible ways of strengthening international economic and social institutions that form two important parts of a stronger system of international sustainable development governance. The ECE meeting also benefited from strong involvement of major groups, which made a number of interesting proposals. The summary of these proposals was circulated to the Bureau members.

8. Members of the Bureau were informed on the efforts being made within other regional groups, in particular in the African group, to ensure that regional preparations result in high-quality substantive outcomes. A continuing challenge was to ensure that regional platforms build on sub-regional inputs. Another challenge was to involve ministers responsible for economic and development issues in the preparatory meetings.

9. Some of the sub-regional meetings in the African region, like the SADC meeting held in Mauritius on 17-19 September 2001, demonstrated a strong potential of involving stakeholders in WSSD preparations. A strong emphasis was placed in SADC meetings on social aspects of sustainable development, poverty eradication, impacts of globalisation, matters related to financing including the role of ODA and debt-relief, the need to diversify energy mix, gender issues, as well as the role of sub-regional economic co-operation and integration in addressing natural resources management issues, for example shared water resources. The meeting identified a number of significant gaps in the environmental agenda, like lack of comprehensive legal framework in the area of chemicals and wastes. Other issues requiring attention include climate change, freshwater, land degradation and desertification, among others. Links with peace, security and political stability were also highlighted at this meeting. Participants in the meeting also felt that the proposed “Global Deal” idea should be better defined and further clarified.

10. Members of the Bureau underscored link between the WSSD preparations and the New Initiative for Africa. There was also a strong expectation that the forthcoming G8 Summit in Canada will contribute to international efforts and co-operation in support of sustainable development in Africa. The Secretariat informed the Bureau on its close collaboration with the UN Office of Coordinator for Africa and the Least Developed Countries.

11. The Bureau was informed on the state of preparations in the Latin American and Caribbean as well as Asian regions. In the LAC region, preparations were in full swing for the Regional PrepCom to take place in Brazil in November 2001. Strong emphasis was placed on the issues of finance (a panel of Finance Ministers during the PrepCom was being organized), capacity building, and science and technology. There was also a growing feeling in the region about the need to translate growing awareness of sustainable development issues in to concrete policies, actions and legal frameworks.

12. As for the Asian region, the Bureau noted that in addition to several planned sub-regional intergovernmental meetings, two important additional activities were forthcoming: an international meeting organized by Global Environmental Action (the largest NGO in Japan), and the ECO-Asia Conference, both of which were expected to provide inputs to the regional preparations for the Summit.

13. The Bureau was also briefed about the priorities enlisted by the participants of the sub-regional meeting of the South Asian region recently held in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Elimination of chronic poverty, mitigation of population pressures, sustainable urbanisation, sustainable management of natural resource endowments and securing of economic base were described as some of the most important issues requiring urgent attention. To address these problems, a number of action-oriented ideas were also presented. One such proposal was about the de-centralisation of GEF through the establishment of and regional GEFs.

14. A number of important initiatives were also discussed under the aegis of ASEAN and will be brought to the attention of Heads of State and Government at the forthcoming ASEAN Summit. Issues of elimination of poverty, human security (in all its aspects), population growth and urbanization were among those themes that strongly feature on the agenda. A view was expressed that sustainable development agenda became even more relevant in light of tragic events resulting from terrorist attacks on New York and Washington since it provides a framework for addressing many of the underlying causes of radicalism and extremist.

15. It was recalled that the “brainstorming meetings” scheduled to take place on 15-16 January 2002 would provide an opportunity to discuss the main themes emanating from the regional preparatory meetings. The Bureau agreed to discuss these ideas at its next meeting in November 2001 with a view to preparing for the “brainstorming meetings” in January. In this context it was agreed that the Bureau would analyse the outcomes of regional meetings and attempt to identify some possible central themes in order to facilitate discussions in January. The January meetings could also provide an opportunity to discuss new emerging ideas like the “Global Deal” with a view of getting better global understanding of this proposal and ensuring its meaningful contribution to progress towards sustainable development after Johannesburg. The Bureau agreed to discuss this idea in-depth at its next meeting. An additional and even earlier opportunity to discuss such ideas and initiatives will be offered by Panels with the Chairs of Regional Roundtables of Eminent Persons and with NGOs to take place on 29-30 October 2001 during WSSD discussions in the UN GA Second Committee and just prior to the Bureau meeting [1] . The need to explore the legal aspects of possible “tri-partial” agreements involving non-state partners was also highlighted.

16. The Bureau reiterated the crucial importance of an integrated treatment of “economic”, “social” and “environmental” pillars of sustainable development at all stages of preparations for the Summit and in its expected outcomes. In this context the Bureau stressed the need for much more active involvement in the WSSD process of ministers and institutions dealing with economic and social issues.

II. UNEP-IEG Process

17. The Bureau discussed the outcomes of the latest IEG meeting which took place in Alger in September 2001. It was noted that the meeting concluded with a positive result including the identification of several thematic “clusters” for further in-depth discussion, like ways of strengthening Global Environmental Forum; links among MEAs, and strengthening the financial base of UNEP. The next stage would be preparation of a negotiating text by the President of UNEP Governing Council and informal consultations in the lead to the next meeting.

18. The Bureau reiterated that while the UNEP process was expected to result in practical ideas with regard to strengthening environmental governance, Johannesburg Summit through its preparatory process, has to find effective ways of strengthening the overall system of governance for sustainable development, which, in addition to its environmental aspects includes most important economic and social components.

19. Links between the institutional debate in WSSD and in the context of preparations for the International Conference on Financing for Development were also reiterated (see paragraph 7 above). Links between strengthening of institutions and availability of financial resources for sustainable development were also underscored.

III. Links between preparations for WSSD and UN activities in the area of natural disaster reduction

20. The Bureau was briefed by the representatives of UN Office of Coordinator of Humanitarian Affairs on the links between natural disaster prevention, preparedness, mitigation and relief and the objectives of sustainable development. Specific links between natural disasters with such issues as climate change, poverty, migration, unsustainable human settlement development and national capacity building were particularly underscored.

21. The Bureau was also briefed on OCHA’s work with UNDP, UNCHS and other organizations of the UN system with a view to integrating natural disaster concerns in their activities, particularly at the national level. A hope was expressed that links between natural disasters and sustainable development would feature in the outcomes of the Johannesburg Summit.

22. The Bureau expressed its strong interest in UN system’s work in this area and invited OCHA to actively contribute to the Summit’s preparations.

23. The Bureau was informed that as the result of current security arrangements at the United Nations Headquarters, the access to UN premises during the session of the PrepCom may be restricted, in particular with regard to representatives of major groups and other NGOs. The Bureau noted that the Secretariat was actively exploring possible arrangements that would allow active involvement of NGOs in the session in accordance with established traditions in the CSD and decisions of the General Assembly on the participatory nature of the preparatory process for the Summit. The Bureau invited the Secretariat to keep the Bureau informed on this matter.

24. The Bureau continued consideration of proposals from the Secretariat on organization of the second session of the Preparatory Committee. The Bureau recalled that in accordance with decisions of the organizational session of the Preparatory Committee, the second session had to engage in-depth discussions and result in a substantive outcome to be captured in the Chairman’s text which would form the basis for negotiations during the Committee’s third session. The Chairman’s text should not be limited to an assessment of progress and lessons learnt but also address constraints encountered along with possible time-bound measures to overcome such constraints. Hence, organization of work during the second session should be conducive to securing such an outcome.

25. Consideration was given to possibility of organizing discussions during the second session, including contributions from governments, major-groups, and international organizations around a number of broad themes/clusters. In selecting such themes/clusters it was noted that there was a need to ensure an integrated approach and pay due attention to the means of implementation. Moreover, it was felt that the themes should not repeat thematic sectoral areas, which were recently discussed in-depth in the CSD since there will be a considerable risk of repetitive discussions and renegotiation of Agenda 21 with little value added. It was also agreed that before all regional preparatory meetings take place and the report of the Secretary-General was finalised it would be difficult to select main substantive themes around which discussion could be organised.

26. As a result of its deliberation the Bureau agreed that the following general considerations should be taken into account in organizing work during the second session.

- All dimensions of sustainable development – economic, social and environmental – should be reflected when addressing each cluster of issues;

- Relevant goals and targets outlined in the UN Millennium Declaration should be fully taken into account;

- Themes emerging from the regional preparatory processes should give direction for identification of main themes/clusters

- Accomplishments, lessons learnt and constraint in the implementation of Agenda 21

27. The Bureau agreed to decide on the remaining arrangements and outstanding issues related to the organization of work during the second session at its next meeting.

28. The Bureau was briefed about UNDP activities in the area of sustainable development and in support of the Summit. These included support to activities at the country level with particular emphasis on capacity-building; promoting growth and development with a focus on equity, sustainability and human security; supporting links between policy development work and country-level activities; carrying out work in a number of areas related to environment and sustainable management of natural resources; and undertaking analytical work with a focus on lessons learnt and good practice. As for the WSSD process, UNDP was supporting countries in preparation of national assessments; actively collaborates with UNEP, Regional Commission and DESA in support of regional and sub-regional preparatory meetings; and promotes partnerships with the private sector and civil society organizations.

29. The Chairman of the Executive Board of UNDP welcomed an opportunity for the two Bureaux to meet to exchange information and ideas. In his view progress towards sustainable development varied greatly from one country to another and from one region to another. Johannesburg Summit offered a timely opportunity to take stock of progress achieved in ten years after Rio, identify constraints and lessons learnt, and on the basis of experience gained suggest the way forward. He also felt that sustainable development calls for holistic, multi-disciplinary and integrative approaches, and it would be difficult to limit discussions in Johannesburg to few issues at the expense of others.

30. Members of Bureau underscored the significant role UNDP played in the area of sustainable development, particularly in support of local and country-level activities. The discussions focused on possible ways of further enhancement of UNDP’s contribution to the preparatory process, in particular on the “developmental side” of the Summit’s agenda. This could be done through more active involvement in the preparatory meetings of ministers and institutions, which focus on economic and development issues, as well as of the private sector; organizing additional meetings and consultations to generate new ideas and proposals, for example in such areas as capacity-building, finance and technology; and broadening support to national preparations through Capacity 21 programme. It was also felt that future role of UNDP in the implementation of the outcomes of the Summit, including the level of resources made available to the Programme, need to be considered as part of the preparatory process.

VI. Meeting with the Bureau of the Preparatory Committee for International Conference on Financing for Development.

31. Members of the two Bureaux welcomed the opportunity to meet with each other to exchange information and discuss linkages between the two intergovernmental processes and achieve possible synergies.

32. It was recalled that Agenda 21 provisions with regard to financial resources, including commitments related to the ODA, formed an important part of the global partnership for sustainable development emanating from the 1992 Rio Summit. It was also highlighted that many of the issues discussed in the Financing for Development process were closely related to the preparations for the Johannesburg Summit, and that the final stages of preparations for WSSD should build on the outcomes of the FfD Conference. It was noted that, for example, the draft final document prepared by the FfD Facilitator contained a number of interesting ideas like possible establishment under the UN aegis a world economic body, at the highest political level, to promote economic and social development. Such ideas, along with UNEP’s International Environment Governance process, contribute to one of the important objectives of the Johannesburg Summit, namely finding ways and means of strengthening international institutional framework for sustainable development. Similarly, the draft document addresses the important role the private sector can play in promoting socially responsible and environmentally sound development, while Johannesburg process in a somewhat similar manner builds on active involvement of and partnerships with various stakeholders, including the private sector, in support of sustainable development. Another issues under consideration, which linked the two processes, was the question of mobilising resources for eradication of poverty, as well as financing of "global public goods". While noting these observations, the Co-chair of the FfD PrepCom stated that the draft prepared by the Facilitator, including some of the concepts and ideas contained therein, were not yet discussed in the Preparatory Committee of the FfD Conference.

33. It was stressed that if the FfD process resulted in a strong and unequivocal commitment by donors and financial institutions to international co-operation along with practical solutions that would secure additional financial support to development efforts, as well as finding most effective ways of using existing resources, such an outcome would be of great value for the success of the Johannesburg Summit. It was also highlighted that FfD process deals with mobilisation of resources at all levels - private and public and domestic and international. Successful results of the FfD Conference may also help to avoid negotiations on similar concepts in the WSSD. A point was made that two processes should be seen as strongly supplementing each other: - while FfD process focuses on “how resources can be mobilized”, the Johannesburg process considers ways of “how these resources can be well spent”.

34. It was also stressed that both processes should be based on considerations of equity, commitment, joint responsibility and partnership for a better World, and should also support the implementation of targets agreed upon in the UN Millennium Declaration.

VII. Meeting with representatives of the UN Department on Public Information

35. Representatives of DPI briefed the Bureau on their on-going work and plans with regard to public information campaign in connection with Johannesburg Summit. It was recalled that the Preparatory Committee at its first session underscored the importance of proactive public information campaign, at the national and international levels, to promote the Summit and its outcome with a view of raising the awareness at all levels regarding the significance of sustainable development. It was stressed that the current UN regular budget, as well as proposed budget for the next biennium do not provide additional resources to DPI in connection with the Summit, and that without additional funding it would be impossible to carry out this important task.

36. Members of the Bureau underscored the importance of supporting DPI with adequate resources from the UN budget and agreed to follow-up on this matter with their delegations in the Fifth Committee and in their respective regional groups.

VIII. Further activities of the Bureau.

37. The Bureau reconfirmed the following activities for the period leading to the second session of the Preparatory Committee:

4-5 October 2001 – Workshop organised by UNITAR and DESA as a contribution to the preparatory process for the Summit.

29-31 October - Consideration of WSSD preparations in the Second Committee of the UNGA. Briefing by the Chairpersons of the Regional Roundtables (29 October).

1-2 November 2001(to be confirmed) – Fifth meeting of the Bureau in conjunction with the 56^th session of the UN General Assembly, followed by a briefing for delegations and other interested parties.

16-17 January 2002 – Brainstorming sessions with delegations on the main thematic outcomes of regional preparatory processes in preparation for the second session of the Preparatory Committee.

[1] A concern was raised with regard to an overlap in time between the second Committee discussions of WSSD and the Marrakech meeting of the COP of UNFCCC.