What's New @ Ramsar

Update on progress towards the World Summit on Sustainable Development ("Rio+10") [français]  [español]

The World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD), so far known as the "Rio+10" Summit, will be held in Johannesburg, South Africa, on 2-11 September 2002.

The UN Commission on Sustainable Development, established as the mechanism to implement Agenda 21 at the UN level, is acting as the Preparatory Committee for the Summit. Ramsar was represented at the the first Prep Com meeting in New York on 30 April-2 May by the Secretary General. The Prep Com formally recognized "the secretariat of the Convention on Wetlands . . . as an intergovernmental organization to participate in the preparatory process for the WWD with the status of observer".

The 1st Prep Com dealt mostly with the process of preparations for the Summit. The substantive meetings will take place in January and March in New York, and in May, at ministerial level, in Bali, Indonesia.

It is intended that each country should undertake a national preparatory process for the Summit. Some countries have already launched their processes, but many have not yet done so. As readers are aware, the Bureau has transmitted to all Ramsar Contracting Parties the document entitled "Agenda 21 and the Ramsar Convention" and has invited them to use it in their preparations for the Summit. Some delegations in New York contacted by the Bureau were aware of the document; many were not.

In addition there will be a series of regional meetings "which are to occur in the period of August-November 2001, and which will formulate regional platforms that would provide a regional assessment of the implementation of Agenda 21, outline key policy issues, priorities and follow-up actions, and provide substantial inputs to the preparatory process for the Summit, along with forward-looking examination of what should be achieved in the next decade with regard to areas they identify as priorities and to determine how each region will contribute to and what it will need from the international community in terms of the means of implementation; and to forward their views on international cooperation for sustainable development at the regional and global levels."

The key Prep Com meeting will be the one to take place in January. The UN Secretary General has been invited, "in preparation of his comprehensive report for the first substantive session of the Preparatory Committee, to take fully into account the views expressed by the participants in the Committee's organizational session, as well as the results of national, subregional, regional and inter-regional preparatory activities, including by major groups as identified in Agenda 21, for the Summit, and, on this basis, to indicate, inter alia, possible main themes which could be addressed by the Preparatory Committee and be in the focus of the Summit, bearing in mind the need to reflect the fact that economic development, social development and environmental protection are interdependent and mutually reinforcing components of sustainable development and should be treated in a balanced manner, and the need for concrete proposals aimed at facilitating the operationalization and implementation of sustainable development pursuant to Agenda 21 at all levels, and the need to address cross-sectoral issues and means of implementation in an integrated and comprehensive manner." The emphasis is ours, to indicate that the main themes of the Summit will be derived, to a large extent, from the proposals that will reach the UN Secretariat in the documents for the January 2002 meeting.

The Prep Com also decided "that the preparatory process will also take into account the results of the . . . meetings of the Conferences of Parties of the UNCED-related and other relevant global conventions, and the replenishment of the GEF." (Again the emphasis is ours. The reference to "other relevant global conventions", absent in the original draft, was added by some Ramsar-friendly countries.)

Finally, of particular interest to Ramsar, is the decision of the Prep Com to invite "all intergovernmental processes relevant to the Summit, including the International Environmental Governance process launched by the Governing Council of UNEP, to submit their progress reports/results to the Preparatory Committee at its second session and their final results to the third session, so that they can be fully considered in the preparatory process."

This International Environmental Governance (IEG) process is looking, inter alia, into the question of the modus operandi of the Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs). The Bureau is actively participating in this process, to ensure that the Convention's views and interests are fully taken into account, lest only the UN-related agreements be considered. This has not been the case so far, and Ramsar has been accepted and perceived as a very active partner. UNEP has produced a document analyzing the current situation of the MEAs (reprinted on the Ramsar Web site) with some preliminary recommendations. This process will continue and Ramsar is expected to make further contributions and attend a number of relevant meetings.

Finally, the Bureau participated last week in a Summit-related meeting in Brussels organized by the European Rio+10 Coalition with the support of UNEP and the European Commission. The Coalition is a consortium of major environment and development NGOs and businesses in Europe, with very good access to the European Commission. This was a good opportunity to insert the Convention into yet another Summit-related process with particular access to the EU. The main questions put to this meeting were: 1) How can the Summit make a difference for the world's poor? and 2) What initiatives do Europeans in particular have to offer?

The Ramsar Secretary General chaired the session on "Poverty and Environment" and in his introduction to the session he said that the MEAs should also be viewed as useful instruments in the quest for poverty eradication. As a result, the conclusions of the meeting include a section on "Link anti-poverty action plans and MEAs - The Ramsar Convention and anti-poverty action plan, a pilot initiative of the Ramsar Convention with the European Coalition support". The eventual shape of this pilot initiative has yet to be worked out with the coalition, and suggestions from the Ramsar network are welcome.

In conclusion, Ramsar's main interest in these processes is to ensure that the Convention is fully recognized as an instrument for sustainable development on equal basis as the UNCED-related and other UN-related Conventions. If this is achieved, the Convention will have more chances to be taken into account in political processes and funding mechanisms at the national and international level. While these efforts may appear alien, or at least remote from the daily work on the ground to achieve wetland conservation and wise use, they are essential to make the latter possible and more effective.

Thus, the Ramsar network is urged to keep track of these processes and to use every opportunity to make the case for the full recognition of the Convention’s work as an essential part of global efforts. This includes an active search for opportunities to make contributions to the national processes in preparation for the Summit as well as participation, if the opportunity arises, in the regional meetings that will be taking place between August and September 2001.

-- reported by Delmar Blasco, Secretary General

For further information about the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, please contact the Ramsar Convention Bureau, Rue Mauverney 28, CH-1196 Gland, Switzerland (tel +41 22 999 0170, fax +41 22 999 0169, e-mail ramsar@ramsar.org). Posted 18 May 2001, updated 28 May 2001, Dwight Peck, Ramsar.