Rio Plus Ten

Phil OKeefe, Neil Middleton

Description

The World Summit on Sustainable Development took place in Johannesburg, South Africa in September 2002. In this book, the authors look at the agenda established since the original Rio conference in 1992 and cover the events of the intervening years: global warming and the unfolding arguments over climate change, energy, water and sanitation, patents and many other issues. They examine what progress, if any, has been made.



Offering a critical analysis of the links between neoliberal economics and transnational organisations, the authors expose the poverty of so-called international protocols and resolutions which claim to offer solutions.



They show how, in virtually every case, these resolutions remain part of the problem of continuing poverty and environmental degradation in the non-Western world.
Acronyms and abbreviations

List of Tables and boxes

1. Introduction

2. What did they agree?

3. Cold water

4. Hot air

5. Other business

6. Development and duplicity

Appendix a: The Johannesburg Declaration on Sustainable Development

Appendix b: World Summit on Sustainable Development Plan of Implementation

Notes

References

Index

Sujets

• Sustainable Agriculture
• Environmental Protection
• Environmental Conservation
• Agriculture
• Nature

Informations

• Publié par: Pluto Press
• Date de parution: 20 août 2003
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781849641517
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

Rio Plus Ten

Politics, Poverty and Environment

Neil Middleton and Phil O’Keefe

P Pluto Press LONDON • STERLING, VIRGINIA

First published 2003 by Pluto Press 345 Archway Road, London N6 5AA and 22883 Quicksilver Drive, Sterling, VA 20166-2012, USA

www.plutobooks.com

Copyright © ETC (UK) Ltd 2003

The right of Neil Middleton and Phil O’Keefe to be identified as the authors of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN 0 7453 1955 6 hardback ISBN 0 7453 1954 8 paperback

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Middleton, Neil, 1931– Rio plus ten : politics, poverty and the environment / Neil Middleton and Phil O'Keefe. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0–7453–1955–6 (hardback) –– ISBN 0–7453–1954–8 (pbk) 1. World Summit on Sustainable Development (2002 : Johannesburg, South Africa) 2. Sustainable development. 3. Environmental policy––Political aspects. 4. Poverty–– Environmental aspects. I. O’Keefe, Philip. II. Title. HD75.6 .M534 2003 338.9'27––dc21 2003005372

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Designed and produced for Pluto Press by Chase Publishing Services, Fortescue, Sidmouth, EX10 9QG, England Typeset from disk by Stanford DTP Services, Towcester, England Printed and bound in the European Union by Antony Rowe Ltd, Chippenham and Eastbourne, England

Contents

List of Boxes and Tables ETC Abbreviations and Acronyms

Introduction

1. Origins

2. What Did They Agree?

3. Cold Water

4. Hot Air

5. Other Business

6. Development and Duplicity

Appendix A: The Johannesburg Declaration on Sustainable Development

Appendix B: World Summit on Sustainable Development Plan of Implementation

Notes References Index

vi vii viii

1

4

23

50

64

81

95

108

113

189 195 197

List of Boxes and Tables

BOXES

2.1 2.2

Key Outcomes of the Summit Key Commitments Agreed in the Implementation Plan

TABLES

1.1 1.2 2.1 2.2 2.3 3.1

4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5

Selected Indicators by Region in 1995 Environmental Indicators and Targets Ratification of the Rotterdam Convention Ratification of the Stockholm Convention Distribution of FDI – 1998 Population Figures for Regions Suffering from Severe Water Stress Comparative Electricity Production Comparative CO Emissions 2 GDP Projections Distribution of Known Reserves of Natural Gas Urbanisation

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27 28

17 18 37 37 47

52 65 66 76 78 80

ETC

This book is an ETC project. Founded in The Netherlands and now established in India, Sri Lanka, Kenya, Britain and Ireland, ETC exists to encourage and support local initiatives towards sustainable development. It is organised under the umbrella of ETC International, which is located in The Netherlands. It recognises that local knowledge and experience are the building blocks for any devel- opmental activity and that those communities for whom aid projects of any kind are constructed must have substantial influence on their design. Employing people from many and varied backgrounds, ETC can offer expertise in sustainable agriculture, agroforestry, energy, water supplies, humanitarian assistance, institutional development and extension courses. For further information write to ETC UK, 117 Norfolk Street, North Shields, Tyne and Wear, NE30 1NQ.

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Abbreviations and Acronyms

ACEM adaptive and collaborative environmental management AGTHM Association Génèrale des Hygiènistes et Techniciens ATC Agreement on Textiles and Clothes AWG A nglian Water CBD Convention on Biological Diversity CFC chlorofluorocarbons CSCE Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe (see OSCE) ECOSOC Economic and Social Council of the United Nations FAO Food and Agricultural Organisation of the UN FDI foreign direct investment GATS General Agreement on Trade in Services GATT General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade GDP gross domestic product GEF Global Environmental Facility GEO Global Environment Outlook GMO genetically modified organism GW giga-watts HCFC hydrochlorofluorocarbons HFC hydrofluorocarbons HIV/AIDS human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immune deficiency syndrome IACSD Inter-Agency Committee on Sustainable Development ICC International Criminal Court IFCS Intergovernmental Forum on Chemical Safety IMF International Monetary Fund INGO international non-governmental organisation IPCC Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change IUCN International Union for the Conservation of Nature LA21 Local Agenda 21 MDGs Millennium Development Goals MFAMulti-Fibre A rrangement NAFTA North American Free Trade Association NAS National Academy of Sciences (USA) NEPAD the New Partnership for Africa’s Development NGO non-governmental organisation

viii

Abbreviations and Acronyms

ix

OAU Organisation of African Unity ODAoverseas development aid OECD Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development OSCE Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (formerly CSCE, Permanent Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe) ppp parity purchasing power (as in pppUS$) Prepcoms Preparatory Committees (for the WSSD) SAGEP Société Anonymes de Gestion des Eaux de Paris SEDIF Syndicat des Eaux d’Ile de France SEI Stockholm Environment Institute SIAAP Syndicat Interdépartmental pour l’Assainissement de l’Aglomération Parisienne SIDS small island developing states TNC transnational corporation TRIPS trade-related aspects of intellectual property rights UNCED United Nations Conference on Environment and Development UNCTAD United Nations Conference on Trade and Development UNDP United Nations Development Programme UNEP United Nations Environment Programme UNFCCC United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change WCED World Commission on Environment and Development WEC World Energy Council WEHAB water and sanitation, energy, health, agriculture, bio- diversity WSSD World Summit on Sustainable Development WTO World Trade Organisation WWF World Wildlife Fund

Introduction

‘May you live in interesting times’, a commination variously attributed to, among others, the ancient Chinese and John F. Kennedy, would seem to have been visited upon us. The stuff of nightmares lies, apparently disordered, all about us: US unilateral- ism and its reckless and bloody interference in West Asia, of which its support for Israel’s onslaught on the Palestinians is a part; global warming leading to unpredictable, but certainly catastrophic change for most of the world’s population; the global predations of financial markets rendering the exclusion of the poor more absolute than ever before; environmental destruction and pollution on an unprece- dented scale; all of these elements and very many more are leading to increased social instability, the weakening of such democracy as may be found in the world and to what Gilbert Achcar has described, 1 in his book of that title, as the ‘clash of barbarisms’. By that he means the barbaric attacks, both military and economic, by the capitalist hegemonies of the developed world on weaker nations, to which those in desperate circumstances can only respond with puny, but also barbaric, acts of terrorism. The argument is familiar, but what Achcar offers is a brilliant analysis of the dynamic of ‘the new world order’ and of the forces of resistance to it. The origins of con- temporary troubles are complex and multiform so, too, are many of the responses to them, but, as we have argued elsewhere and argue 2 again in this book, they are patently linked. Above all, they have been brought together by the US’s latest and most preposterous imperial adventure and George W. Bush’s unconscionable hijacking of the atrocity of 11 September 2001 in its justification. All wars are waged against civilian populations and the US suggestion, limply backed by its UK supporters, that surgical strikes will limit the numbers killed is as absurd as it is monstrous: ‘cruise missiles ... are 3 to surgery what chain saws are to scalpels’. As in every major misfortune, it is the poor who will suffer most, the rich and powerful will largely be able to buy their way out. The victory of the capitalist world in the Cold War led by the US will cost us all dear, but it is important to recognise that the entirely reasonable gloom now enveloping us is not unremitting – sane voices can be heard. Protest over Iraq, both against the iniquities of Saddam and

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Rio Plus Ten

at the bombing of innocent Iraqis to get rid of him, is worldwide and cannot, without violent repression, finally be ignored, but there are voices elsewhere and many of them have long pre-dated the present crisis. Some of them may even be heard, no matter how inadequate they may be, among the bureaucrats and politicians in power in both the developed and the ‘developing’ world. This book is devoted to a discussion of these voices and what they have and have not achieved. Despite a widespread failure to act effectively, poverty and environ- mental degradation have been high on national and international agendas and we trace the battles to get them there. Part of that battle has been about priorities – should the environment or poverty take precedence in our concerns? We argue that the two are inseparable, but that purely, or even mainly, environmental agendas frequently ignore the needs and rights of poor people; the intimate relation- ship between the two issues must always be the point of departure. In support of this position we trace the story of the international commissions, conferences and summits that led to what might reasonably be called the two most significant public events in that progress: the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992 and, ten years later, the UN’s World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD), which took place in Johannesburg in 2002. It is our position that by ignoring the political and economic situation, the almost universal condemnation of the latter by international non-governmental organisations (INGOs) seriously missed the point. This failure arises from the acceptance by the INGOs of the fundamental policies of market-led economies – they talk of targets, of regulating markets and tariffs, of transferring technologies and managerial skills, in short they are demanding mechanisms for incorporating the poor into the world of global finance. Since our argument is that the inexorable demands of finance capital are directly responsible for the creation and maintenance of poverty, the proposition is oxymoronic. Our purpose is to discuss what actually happened at Johannesburg, its importance and its place in contemporary events. There are no obvious and immediate solutions to worldwide poverty and exclusion, nor to environmental degradation; predictions made about either in such a fragmented stage in history belong to the readers of tea-leaves, but it is our view that unless we are clear about the politics of those problems, solutions will never be found. The principal areas of concern to the WSSD were the Millennium Development Goals

Introduction

3

(MDGs) established several years ago and which promised massive reductions in poverty by the year 2015 and the principal means by which they might be achieved. Two issues became particularly important – the provision of clean water and safe sanitation for those who lack them and the provision of the energy needed for any serious development. The plan of this book is simple: it begins with a review of the origins of the Summit and some of the issues surrounding it and the second chapter examines the principal documents emerging from it: theJohannesburg Declaration on Sustainable Developmentand theWorld Summit on Sustainable Development Plan of Implementation. Chapter 3 deals with water and sanitation and Chapter 4 discusses energy. The fifth chapter discusses the other and, for the Summit at least, less central issues that emerged and the last is our theoretical analysis of the problems we face.

Note: This book was completed shortly before the United States– British invasion of Iraq.