Action points decided by the South Asia NGO consultation on WSSD, organised by CSE in New Delhi on November 22 and 23, 2001

At a meeting held in New Delhi on November 22 and 23, 2001, Towards WSSD: South Asian Strategies and Priorities, the following preliminary action points were decided in preparation for the World Summit to Sustainable Development.

It was agreed that the key challenges facing NGOs in the region in preparation for WSSD include

Awareness raising (among policy makers, politicians, media and civil society groups)
Building strong networks
Capacity building on global issues in the region
Developing political positions on key issues of concern

The key issues on which political positions are to be developed were identified by the group, under two separate headings – reactive issues, and proactive issues. While the former would include issues that will definitely be discussed at WSSD, and on which a regional position is required, the latter are issues of importance to the region.

Issues likely to be on the WSSD agenda, to which the group decided to react to, and develop political positions

a. International Environmental Governance (IEGs): Does the world need a new environment organization, should United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) be strengthened, or should status quo remain?

b. Negotiations on a forest convention, and an international instrument on freshwater: The group agreed that suggestions for an international legally-binding instrument on both issues should be opposed, as both represent resources that should be controlled by local communities, and not by international negotiations, which are often simply a face for vested industry interests.

c. A global convention on public participation, right to information and access to justice with regard to environmental matters, along the lines of the Århus Convention negotiated by the United Nations Economic Commission for Environment ( UNECE). Northern groups are likely to push for this convention to be adopted on a global scale. The South Asia group in New Delhi agreed that while such a convention would indeed be desirable, the international community should not simply adopt the existing convention. This is because the process of negotiating such a convention gave civil society groups in the North an unparalleled opportunity to interact with their governments in discussing the importance of these rights and their implementation, and such an opportunity should also be provided to Southern groups. Moreover, Southern governments should not be asked to simply ratify a convention that they have not negotiated, and thus have no ownership of.

d. Existing initiatives on poverty, such as those put forward by the World Bank, ADB etc.

Issues of importance to South Asia, on which the group must develop political positions

a. The concept of ‘ecological poverty’, which includes issues such as right to food, water security, right to employment, ecological regeneration; local and global democracy; migration to urban areas.

b. Global governance: The importance of developing a system that takes on board concerns such as equity and democracy; liability and compliance for rich and poor alike

c. Trade and globalisation

d. Promoting both ‘efficiency’ and ‘sufficiency’: On the one hand, the world should develop ways to promote efficient technology. This will require that developing countries are genuinely help to ‘leapfrog’ to cleaner technologies, rather than being asked to make investments in interim technologies that they will later be asked to replace.

On the other hand, there is a need for promoting ‘sufficiency’ –i.e. realising that the Earth’s limited natural resources allow only for limited use. Therefore, the Earth’s capacity to provide these natural resources, and to absorb pollutants such as greenhouse gases, should be shared equally between rich and poor nations, to ensure that both have an equal chance to develop. This includes the need for sustainable consumption in the North.

a. Urbanisation: the problems of pollution, natural resource conflicts, and public health
b. Right to information, and public participation