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EARTH SUMMIT

Debate Over ”Rio Declaration” Could Begin New North-South Dialogue

by Martin Khor
CONTINUING differences between Industrialised and Third World countries are threatening the suites# of the Earth Summit to be held In June tn Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
These differences doml naled the live weeks of the fourth preparatory committee for Prepcom 4) meeting held 2 March 3 April in New York
The outcome was generally disappointing for the South, as the key issues of Its getting access to extra financial resources and environmentally sound technology were unrv solved and have to taken to Rio for the heads of govern ments and states to Orxi solu Uona. If any
The meeting did make sub stantlal progress In agreeing to programmes in some specific environmental area# such as combating desertification and promoting sustainable agneu! ture. ft also produced a draft of a Rio Declaration on environ ment and development
But Southern governments remain discouraged by the lack of political will in the North, and especially the US. to commit Itself not only to funding the prog famines but to a new global partnership In which the South can be given a more effective say.
The UN Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) process has however proved useful In bringing North and South together In frank dialogue Such discussions. sometimes emotionally heated, have been rare since the decline of North-South communications. In the decade of the 198Os.
Much is at stake, for UNCED is expected to come up with agreements on a wide range of complex and Important Issues that could well set the framework for international relations In general (and North-South relations in par ticular) for many years to come.
Although the original North-Inspired idea was to have the Earth summit focus on global environmental prob lems (to mark the 20th an nfversary of the 1972 Stockholm environment meet Ing). South countries insisted that it should equally discuss development Issues.
And rightly so: In a world where incomes are so unequally distributed. It would be impossible to solve envi ronmental problems without simultaneously tackling the development Issues of poverty, basic needs fulfillment and external debt reduction.
Indeed, at the Prepcom meetings In the past year.
there has been little argument over the fact that the world faces an increasingly alarming environment crisis, and that drastic measures are needed to reverse the trend. Climate change, ozone layer loss, de ■edification. water pollution, deforestation, air pollution and so on are widely accepted as serious problem# threatening Earth's survival
It is also agreed that the ecology crisis l# linked to unsustainable patterns of consumption and production (in UNCED jargon) and that these patterns must now change so as to attain sustainable devel op ment.'
The raging controversies of UNCED lie rather In where the necessary changes will take place, who will bear the cost of transition, and what Is the real meaning and implications of sustainable development' These form the heart of North South differences In approach towards UNCED
If the environment crisis is linked to economic patterns, then there have to be changes in economic, technological and even cultural behaviour In tackling the crisis. For Instance, there should be less energy use overall, a switch to environmentally sounder technology, less deforestation The crucial question Is. how will the burden be shared between and within countries of economically adjusting to ecologically sound patterns of production and consumption?
South countries have been arguing in the Prepcom meet Ings that the North is historically (and presently) primarily responsible for depleting and polluting the world s resources and should therefore take a correspondingly major responsibility In bearing the costs of adjustment. This Implie# that the North must commit itself to changing Its own production and consumption patterns and reduce its wasteful use of
world resources, as well as help the South to change to ecologically-friendly development models.
Southern countries are afraid that if the North does not accept it# responsibilities, ft would put the onus of blame on the South instead, and make use of environmental protection as another Instru ment to further dictate the economic and social pollcle* of developing countries Already wrecked by external debt, low commodity price*. rising poverty and a host of aid and loan condlttonallties Imposed by the World Bank. International Monetary Fund and bilateral aid agencies, the South can III afford to carry the main part of yet another economic burden
That might well happen if. through UNCED and other fora, the North succeed# in defining sustainable develop ment' as something that must be done tn and to the South, whilst It can carry on Its wasteful lifestyle and Inappropriate production systems.
The South finds this unacceptable and argues that the North must Instead cut down on Its wasteful use of resources so that the South can have some environmental space to develop out of poverty
Ai the Prepcom 4 meeting this North-South clash of perceptions (and policy prescriptions) dominated the negotiation# tn several core areas, especially the Earth Charter (remained the Rio Declaration, a statement of key environment/development principles) and financial resources to implement UNCED # Agenda 21 (the comprehensive action programmes to be signed in Rio)
The Rio Declaration became the subject of the most Intense intellectual and political debates between North and South throughout the five
weeks of the Prepcom 4 meet Ing. Its 27 principles, that will be the political basis for UNCED* other document# and follow-up activities, were finally agreed to practically In the meeting# last hours. However, changes can »t1ll be made at the Rio Summit and the debate could well reopen.
As the Prepcom chairman Tommy Koh of Singapore, put It. the 27 principles form a vary delicate balance as a pack age deal, and any attempt to amend any part of the declare lion could unravel the whole package
The general acceptance of the Declaration draft (only Israel objected, to reference# to resource# of people under occupation) can be considered a success for the South since the basic format and main principle* put forward by the Group of 77 (representing de vefoplng countries) and China were finally accepted
Originally the Northern countries aranted a short, po etlc and Inspirational Earth Charter stressing that we all live in one arorld and It was everyone s duty to protect the environment.
The O-77-China hoarever objected to the one arorld' concept, arguing that the causes and responsibilities for resolving environment prob lems must be differentiated as between North and South
This I* an Important point because although we may live in one world biologically and environmentally. there are un fortunately at least two worlds socially and economically, the arorld* of the rich and the poor Single-prescription police (such as we must all consumer less) are misleading and even unfair tn tht* two arorld* situation. A doctor would ask a malnourished man to eat more and an obese person to eat less; a single policy dictate for both to tighten their belts could cause the
poor man to starve to death, whilst the obese man may atW be over-consuming.
The move towards sustainable development must therefore first and foremost Involve the cutting of wastage In the North, and not the cur tailment af the South • right to development (although the pattern and quality of that development should be appropriately modified)
A# the 0-77 spokesman Tariq Hyder of Pakistan, put It at the Prepcom: We agree the environment is Important, but the question Is how we define and achieve sustainable devel opment. A developed country with U9« 18 OOO per capita In come annually might stabilise output at 920 OOO and cal) tt sustainable
It may then tell Southern countries with 9300 per capita Income that they are spoiling the world * resources They should be given some aid for "sustainable development" to bring them up to 9500 per capita and then ask that they remain at this level
This kind of freezing of in comes with such a wide North South disparity was simply not acceptable, Hyder said This was why the South Insisted on differentiating the roles that North and South had to play
Initially. Northern delegation* strongly resisted what they saw as blame being placed on them for global environmental problems, and the United States could not accept the right to development as a principle Eventually, after weeks of tong negotiating sessions. the Southern view pre vailed, being Incorporates in such areas of the draft declaration as:
• Principle 3 : The right to development must be fulfilled so a* to equitably meet developmental and environmental need* of present and future generations.'
• Principle 5. stating that poverty eradication I* Indi# pensable for sustainable devel opment to decrease income disparities and meet the needs of the majority and
• Principle 7 : Tn view of the different contributions to global environmental degrada Hon States have common but differentiated responsibilities The developed countries acknowledge the responsibility that they bear In the Interna tlonal pursuit of sustainable development in view of the pressure* their societies place on the global environment and of the technologies and 9n#n rial resources they command.
The relative progress reached on the Rto Declaration saved the Prepcom from an otherwise embarrassing failure to reach accord on other key area*: financial resources, technology transfer, and many parts of Agenda 21 that are •till tn dispute Prospect* that two convention* ton btodtver •tty and climate change) will be ready for signing at the Rio Summit also took Increasingly dim
The debates over the Earth Charter/Rio Declaration have hoswver been a valuable process the South wag able to coordinate and articulate Its position and several Northern delegations were 1n the end able to accept some of the fundamental points
The Prepcom discussions • Iso more sharply clarified what sustainable development should be. and should not be It should not be a tool used by a minority to maintain their economic privileges and protect wasteful lifestyle*
Sustainable development does not only mean that the present generation must conserve resources to allow future generation* to meet their need*. It also mean* that the unsustainable consumption CHerns of a minority should altered so as to free resources that should be used to fulfil the needs of everyone In this generation Itself as well as future generation*
Suatalnable development thus requires both inter and intra generational equity as Its cornerstone Without the acceptance of this principle. It Is difficult to see how Interna tlonal for for that matter national) consensus can be reached to resolve environ men tad problems. — Third World Network Features
Marttn Khor is director of the Third World Network and participated in the recent UNCED preparatory commit tee meeting In New York.