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Today's EarthWire WSSD news feed:
5000 Volunteers Assigned to World Summit
AFRICA: Civil Society Prepares for World Summit
The State Of The Environment: Past, Present, Future?
Trade Unions Call for Stronger "Social Pillar" for World Summit - WSSD
5000 Volunteers Assigned to World Summit Johannesburg, 7 August 2002: The training of 5000 volunteers for the World Summit on Sustainable Development is nearly complete. Over 3000 have been trained since May. JOWSCO processed over 17 000 applications from all sectors of South African society from MD's and CEO's of top companies, professionals, students, youth, both skilled, unskilled and unemployed as well as the aged and the disabled. Thirty-year old Dan Monyane is a volunteer from the Limpopo Province. He graduated from the University of the North four years ago and has never had a job in his life. "I saw the advert for volunteers in the media and jumped at the opportunity to serve my country, despite the fact that I would rather work for pay. I will gain useful experience and it will hopefully open doors for me. The worst part of my unemployed life, is the fact that my walk down the street to buy a newspaper is the highlight of my day," he says quietly. The volunteers are divided into two service groups, The SA Host Group is made up of 1000 volunteers who will interact directly with the delegates in places like the airport, hotels, Summit venues, transport and Ubuntu Village. They will wear a special badge and their training emphasizes customer care as it seeks to promote South African hospitality and national tourist destinations as well as to elevate national pride. The rest of the volunteers will be deployed in various aspects of the Summit such as at information kiosks, the immigration help desk, call centers and translation services. Communications Executive Thandi Davids said that, "It was heart warming to see the sheer scale of enthusiasm from the public which made the selection process even more difficult for us because of the quality of applicants. JOWSCO basically considered what skills were required to host an outstanding world class Summit and chose the best applicants on a first come first serve basis. We are proud to announce that we have included the frail in our society. We have 1% senior citizens, 2% disabled, 60% females, 97% unemployed, 40% men and only 3% of the total are in gainful employment." Most of the volunteers come from the Gauteng Province and are studying tourism. The volunteers will be provided with a locally designed WSSD uniform. They will work in two shifts from 06h00 to 14h00 and 14h00 to 22h00. They will receive a R75 daily allowance, plus one meal and will be picked up from specific transport hubs to their various destinations. Volunteers Co-ordinator Paulita de Schmidt said, "Ever since we started with the volunteer programme, we have been faced with a variety of challenges that we did not anticipate. Over 60% of the volunteers did not have or know how to open bank accounts. That was tricky since we have to pay strictly by cheque, we had to negotiate with Standard Bank to assist in this regard. Another issue was the UN recognized languages. All our volunteers can speak English and quiet a few speak German and Portuguese. Unfortunately these languages are not part of the six official United Nations languages which are French, Russian, Spanish, Mandarins, Arabic as well as English. It was a pleasant surprise to meet an African woman who speaks Russian, French and Spanish fluently. Idah Makukule is a Psychology and Anthropology student at RAU from Springs. She is part of the SA Host Group because she speaks Spanish. The hip-looking twenty year old has very long white dread locks. "I lived in Chile for a year as an exchange student and I am going to use this experience as part of my research. Unfortunately, my funky hairdo will have to go, I am quiet attached to it now and I will miss it, comprendo?" she concludes with a big smile. The United Nations Volunteer Programme has seconded three officers to assist the WSSD volunteer programme. Dr. Bonga Maphalala holds a PhD in Finance and will be responsible for the programme's finances. Sibusiso Mazibuko and Nokwanda Dambuza are responsible for the recruitment, placement and co-ordination of all the volunteers. Photo opportunities and interviews with the volunteers are available. SOURCE: Bronwyn Scharneck, Media Manager, Johannesburg World Summit Company (JOWSCO)Tel: +27 82 907 7749, E-mail: bronwyn@wssd2002.com AFRICA: Civil Society Prepares for World Summit By Anthony Stoppard JOHANNESBURG (IPS) 18 July 2002 - The Pan African Conference of Civil Society Organisations will be looking for alternatives to the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) - a programme to kick-start the economic and social development of the continent - during its meeting in Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire. The conference, which runs from Wednesday to Friday (Jul 17-19), is being held to develop a political declaration and programme of action for African civil society organisations, ahead of the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD), scheduled to be held in South Africa in August. The WSSD will look at ways to ease global poverty while protecting the environment and conserving the world's natural resources. African civil society is likely to insist that the WSSD must focus on ways to alleviate poverty on the continent - if it wants to protect the environment, says Nzwana Konco, the Africa Process Manager for the Global Forum - the meeting of international community and non-governmental organisations at the summit. The top issues for African civil society are poverty alleviation, access to water and land for the poor, and the ending of hunger and conflict on the continent. ''We've included protecting the environment and other issues, but they are not as prominent,'' explains Konco. The civil society declaration is also likely to be very critical of NEPAD. African civil society has insisted that they have not been thoroughly consulted about the programme. South African President, Thabo Mbeki - one of the driving forces behind NEPAD -- has acknowledged that there could have been better consultation with civil society about the programme. However, he has sharply criticised them for not coming-up with practical ideas on how to improve it, or what they will do to develop the continent. Konco says African civil society organisations will be working out practical alternatives at their conference - and these will be ready in time for the WSSD. However, he points out that civil society is more concerned about who will be funding NEPAD. In terms of the programme, African countries have to commit themselves to good political and economic governance in return for better trade and aid deals from the developed economies. African civil society fears that this will put the European Union (EU) and the United States in a position to use their trade and aid packages to force African governments to adopt conservative economic policies - which normally include cutting spending on social development services. The chances are that the African civil society conference will reject NEPAD - in its present form. Many civil society environmentalists and economists are also concerned that NEPAD is focussing on mega-infrastructure development projects for the continent - often considered bad for the environment and not financially sustainable. Standard Bank chief economist, Iraj Abedian, believes the planned infrastructure is a necessity for economic and social development of Africa. ''Unless Africa can compete in the global economy, there is not going to be any economic growth or social development - and the two cannot be separated,'' he says. He adds that it is inevitable that the development projects must take place on a continent-wide scale. ''Africa was chopped up into countries by colonial powers without any regard to economic considerations. We need to look at the continent and see what makes economic sense - and then development can filter down to smaller regional and district blocs,'' he explains. In the meantime, Mbeki is one of a handful of heads of state that has turned-up for the Third Summit of the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group of States. The ACP is meeting in Fiji from Jul 18 to Jul 19. South Africa sees the ACP Summit as an opportunity to further consolidate the positions of the developing countries on ACP-European Union trade negotiations, the WSSD, NEPAD and the use of subsidies on agricultural products by the EU and the United States. The ACP is important for NEPAD because it includes 48 Sub-Saharan African countries. There are also 16 Caribbean and 15 Pacific States in the grouping. South Africa's foreign economic policy - which includes NEPAD - is attempting to secure access to the markets of wealthy countries for goods and services from the developing world, and boosting trade between ACP, South American and Asian countries. Source: TerraViva-Europe Daily Journal Vol.4 No.138, Published by Inter Press Service news agency. The web version of TVE is available on: IPS-TVE UNEP The State Of The Environment: Past, Present, Future?
London/Nairobi, 22 May 2002 - 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. Photo: Klaus Toepfer, Executive Director, UNEP (Courtesy UNEP) Click here for the full press release on the GEO3 report. Click here to download the report chapter by chapter. Source: UNEP
Trade Unions Call for Stronger "Social Pillar" for World Summit - WSSD Trade unions have provided the Chair and government negotiators of the 4th UN WSSD (World Summit on Sustainable Development) Preparatory meeting, set to commence in Indonesia next 27 May, with proposed amendments, aimed at strengthening the abilities of workers and trade unions to implement the eventual outcomes of the WSSD next August. "We are very concerned that after WSSD, workers and trade unions are supported in their efforts to implement the Summit outcomes at the workplace and public policy levels", stated a joint letter issued from the International Confederation of Free Trade Union (ICFTU) and the Trade Union Advisory Committee of the OECD (TUAC), which was delivered to the Indonesian Chair of the UN Prepcom IV meeting, Dr. Emil Salim. "We urge you to help introduce language in the final text that promotes worker participation in decision making and takes advantage of the workplace as a focus of action and implementation", said the two top world trade union bodies, emphasising that such an approach "is the only guarantee of meaningful production and consumption changes that must take place in the decade to come". Trade union proposed amendments are available in a PDF file at:Click here
The letter also expressed concern that the social dimension of sustainable development be properly integrated with environmental and economic proposals for WSSD. "In particular, employment measures must become a key feature of plans to eradicate poverty and address the world's unresolved equity, gender, access and age issues". ICFTU and TUAC understand that poverty eradication, resource uses, water and public health issues will be of great concern to everyone at the Indonesia meeting, and they have suggested changes the text that negotiators will be adopting, to show how workers and trade unions can become involved in addressing these, as well as other matters related to chemicals, forestry, agriculture, oceans, climate change, tourism, HIV/AIDS, education, as well as trade, investment and corporate accountability. A 25 member trade union delegation will participate in a multistakeholder dialogue at the Prepcom IV meeting, which will focus on identifying concrete implementation measures, through effective partnerships. Trade unions are worried that unless the final adopted text gives assurances of support for real participation of Agenda 21 Major Groups, the credibility of the dialogue process could be jeopardised, and the ability to implement real change, undermined.
Source: Lucien Royer, ICFTU/TUAC, E-mail: LRoyer@Compuserve.com
Questions and comments raised by US NGOs for the US Delegation to the WSSD on US positions at the Fourth Preparatory Committee meeting in Bali
For the US Citizens Consultation meeting May 16, 2002, Washington, DC Following are questions and comments sent to the Citizens Network to present to the US delegation to the WSSD, for their briefing at the citizens consultation meeting scheduled for May 16. While these questions represent a diversity of interests and concerns, the answers are of interest to a wide audience of US citizens looking to the World Summit for concrete steps and hopefully solutions to the serious threats facing its peoples and ecosystems. We look forward to the Administration's responses and the discussion of how best to address these concerns. Public participation and access to information and justice 1. What specific and concrete legal, policy, and institutional frameworks are the U.S. advancing to ensure public access to information, participation, and justice in all domestic sectors? 2. What options are the U.S. delegation advancing to improve public access to information, participation, and justice in international financial institutions and export credit agencies? 3. What is the US position on rights of indigenous peoples to information on how development projects impact their environment and ways of life? 4. What is the US position on the call for expanding the state department annual report to include information on the role of US-based TNCs in promoting human, labor and environmental rights in countries covered in the report? Sustainable production and consumption 5. It is widely recognized globally that high consumption of natural resources is not sustainable and causes widespread depletion of natural resources, degradation of life support ecosystems, loss of habitat and biodiversity, increased vulnerability to floods, and high emissions of environmental pollutants and greenhouse gases. The U.S. is the world's largest economy and ranks at or near the top in per capita consumption, if not absolute consumption, of all natural resources. In what specific ways is the U.S. prepared to pursue global leadership towards sustainable development and economic transformation by reducing its own consumption and promoting more sustainable uses of natural resources in developing countries with large populations? 6. Will the US support the EU call for a ten-year work program on sustainable production and consumption, with progress regularly monitored and reported by the CSD? What is the US position and conditions on this proposal? Energy and climate 7. Even though the Senate energy bill does have some tax incentives for conservation, the emphasis is on increasing fossil fuel production. In 1997, in the Programme for the Further Implementation of Agenda 21, the US agreed on the need "to encourage the reduction and the gradual elimination of subsidies for energy production and consumption." Considering the US increases in subsidies for fossil fuels and nuclear power, as well as its recent increases in agricultural subsidies, what is the US explanation for this contradiction? What is its current position on eliminating destructive subsidies? Will the US be willing to support the call for transparency, monitoring and national reporting on subsides and national subsidy reform efforts -- particularly on energy subsidies? 8. There is a modest requirement in the Senate bill for utility companies to gradually increase their use of renewable energy sources by 2020. What are the possibilities of the US making a bigger commitment to promoting use of renewable energy in developing countries, to help bring energy to the 2 billion people now without electricity? 9. What is the US position on the Worldwatch Institute's call for a voluntary Global Climate Compact that challenges business leaders to commit to greater energy efficiency, renewable energy and use of hydrogen and fuel cell technologies? Corporate responsibility and accountability 10. Corporate responsibility and accountability are referred to several times in the Chair's paper. How does the US define the difference between these two concepts and the kinds of policies needed to promote them? 11. What is the US position on the proposal for a binding convention on corporate accountability? 12. Will the US support the proposal for creation of a CSD working group or taskforce to explore the proposal to "develop a framework for transnational corporate accountability" in the recent paper on Institutional Framework for Sustainable Development? Partnerships 13. What is the U.S. Government's view of partnerships and the relationship of partnerships to government commitments and actions to achieve sustainable development? 14. What is the U.S. Government doing to promote these partnerships in order to implement the principles of Agenda 21 and other international commitments? 15. In addition to integrating governance into sectoral Type 2 partnerships, will the U.S. advance a Type 2 governance initiative? If so, what is it? If not, why not? Governance 16. Will the U.S. support the development of non-binding global guidelines on good governance? 17. Both Agenda 21, the Programme for the Further Implementation of Agenda 21 and recent papers for the WSSD have called for national sustainable development strategies. Yet the US has consistently neglected this task. What is the current position of the US on developing and implementing a US sustainable development strategy? 18. Another step to promote policy coherence and implementation is the Agenda 21 call for national sustainable development councils. While the US did create a President's Council on Sustainable Development, it did not link its activities to the CSD or Agenda 21, and disbanded in 1999 without any significant follow-up to its recommendations. What is the current US position on re-establishing a US Council on Sustainable Development or, better, an Office of Sustainable Development charged with implementing Agenda 21 commitments, as called for in the Institutional Framework for Sustainable Development paper? Source: Jeffrey Barber, Citnet General Discussions List, Citnet
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