Interesting/Emerging Issues in Participatory Forestry

World Summit on Sustainable Development,
Johannesburg, August 26 to September 4, 2002

Contributed by Sharmistha Bose

The 'World Summit on Sustainable Development' (WSSD), also known as Rio+10, will bring together thousands of participants from over 130 countries, including the heads of states and governments, national delegates and leaders from non-governmental organisations (NGOs), businesses and other major groups to focus the world's attention on meeting difficult challenges in sustainable development, including improving people's lives and conserving natural resources in a world experiencing ever-increasing demands for food, water, shelter, sanitation, energy, health services and economic security. The main idea behind Rio+10 is to review how the objectives set out in the Rio Conference held in 1992 can be achieved in a better way and bottlenecks, if any, removed so that one can identify quantifiable targets for successfully implementing Agenda 21 (see box).

Box 1: Top Nine Comprehensive Agenda for the World Summit: Report of the UN Secretary General on Implementing Agenda 21 Making globalisation work for sustainable development Eradicating poverty and improving livelihoods in rural and urban areas Changing unsustainable patterns of production and consumption, including a fourfold increase in energy efficiency over the next two to three decades Improving health through safe and affordable access to fresh water, a reduction in lead in gasoline and improved indoor air quality Providing access to energy and improving energy efficiency by developing and using more renewable and energy efficient technologies and changing unsustainable energy consumption patterns Managing, on a sustainable basis, ecosystems and biodiversity by improving the indicators and the management systems including addressing the problems of overfishing, unsustainable forestry practices and land-based marine pollution Improving freshwater supply management and more equitable distribution of water resources Providing financial resources and environmentally sound technologies Political will to initiate major changes in the way policies and programmes for sustainable development are designed and implemented Such practical steps will be needed to establish the credibility of the Summit in carrying forward the sustainable development agenda in meaningful and measurable ways

The 10th Session of the UN Commission on Sustainable Development, known as CSD 10, is acting as the preparatory committee for the Summit. It has already held its four preparatory meetings, commonly known as the PrepComs. The fourth meeting was held recently on May 27-June 7, 2002, in Bali, Indonesia, which was the penultimate stop in the WSSD process to set up the final agenda for the Summit.

During the fourth session of the PrepCom, the following issues were discussed:

• Intergovernmental processes on (a) Elements of the political document of the Summit (b) Sustainable development governance, and any other outstanding matters related to the "implementation document", and (c) Organisational matters of the Summit
• Multi-stakeholder Dialogue Segment (two days at the beginning of the Session in accordance with the decision of the first Session of the PrepCom)
• High-level (ministerial) Segment (three days at the end of the Session in accordance with the decision of the First Session of the PrepCom)
• Continuation of presentations/elaboration on outcomes

The issues to be considered in Johannesburg are being identified and agreed at each level through a participatory process involving the Major Groups who can join forces effectively at the Summit to confront the real challenges of sustainable development.

EXPECTATIONS FROM THE SUMMIT
Three outcome documents are expected:

• A political declaration that expresses new commitments and direction for implementing sustainable development
• A negotiated programme of action that will guide government implementation
• A non-negotiated compilation of new commitments and partnership initiatives for specific actions

Developing countries also seem determined that WSSD place their concerns central to a development model that is different from that followed by the West. Some issues for discussion, especially important for developing countries, are:

Poverty
Since Rio, there has been little attempt at addressing poverty on the international forum, except for a few concrete proposals emerging from the preparatory meetings on the issue. Many southern countries feel that the global community must draw dimensions to the link between environmental regeneration and rural poverty in developing countries. In many poor countries, the root of rural poverty lies in the link between natural resources and the rural economy. It is, therefore, essential that the Summit's dialogue on poverty identifies these linkages and incorporates the priorities for action identified by local grassroot groups.

Box 2: Salient points from the PrepComs already held

First PrepCom (April 31-May 2, 2001, in New York) A Bureau composed of 10 members was elected from among all States, with two representatives from each of the geographical groups Progress in preparatory activities at the local, national, subregional, regional and international levels, as well as by the Major Groups was assessed Specific modalities for the future preparatory meetings were decided Process for setting the agenda and determining main themes for the Summit in a timely manner was put in place Second PrepCom (January 28-February 8, 2002, in New York) Based on the various reports submitted to the Bureau, a draft report was submitted for consideration to the third PrepCom. The report focused on: Major accomplishments and lessons learned in the implementation of Agenda 21 Major constraints hindering the implementation of Agenda 21, and proposed specific time-bound measures to be undertaken, and institutional and financial requirements, and identification of the sources of such support Third PrepCom (March 25-April 5, 2002, in New York) Prepared document containing the results of the review and assessment, as well as conclusions and recommendations for further action. This document was taken up at the final PrepCom for information to the Summit and formal adoption A proposal was also submitted on the provisional agenda and possible main themes for the Summit based on the results of the preparatory activities carried out at the national, subregional and international levels, considering also the input from the Major Groups

Globalisation
While it is acknowledged that globalisation has brought economic benefits to certain sections of society while surpassing the poor of developing countries, guidelines on how best to address this issue at the Summit are yet to be discussed. A main drawback to Rio's programmes and globalisation has been the declining level of official development assistance (ODA) to developing countries, which increasingly fell during the 1990s. The Rio Summit had called for donor countries to contribute 0.7 per cent of their gross national product (GNP) as ODA to ensure the implementation of its programmes. Only four countries - Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands and Sweden - have been able to deliver this promise so far. The main emphasis of the preparatory meetings has been on "urging" industrialised countries to honour the commitments.

The North's high consumption levels are a main concern for many developing countries. Roundtables already held have emphasised that the consumption patterns of North America and Europe deprive developing countries of resources for sustainable development. The roundtable for East Asia and the Pacific called for engaging in policies based on the "polluter pays principle". The Central and South Asian roundtables, on the other hand, recommended that the Summit call for reduction of military spending and redirect such expenditure to social and environment programmes. The roundtable for Latin America and the Caribbean stated that mobilising capital from residents abroad could also be an important source of financing for development programmes.

One of the critical dilemmas for the South is how to generate wealth without becoming locked into the ecologically obsolete technologies, such as fossil fuel combustion dominant in the North. Equally taboo are discussions of measures to address the North's massive 'ecological debt' to the developing world (eg, the costs of climate change borne by the poor).

Ten years after the Earth Summit, little has been done by the North to put 'its house in order', and hence little has altered in the predominant trajectory of development currently stimulated by trade and investment deregulation.

Water
Privatisation of water and the relationship between the private and public sectors in water management will be a key focus of the summit discussions.

Forests
The Second Session of the United Nations Forum on Forests was held at the Headquarters from March 4-15, 2002, in which the focus was on the global efforts to promote sustainable forest management. The Forum reviewed current trends and practices to determine successes and failures in forest management, and how additional resources could be mobilised to stave off further deforestation and forest degradation. The Forum stressed on the importance of addressing policies in other sectors as well, such as environment, agriculture and transport since pressure on forests came from diverse sectors. The reverse was also true that forest protection led to development. Financing forestry was also considered a major issue regarding sustainability.

Despite some of these limitations, the Johannesburg Summit offers the first real opportunity in a decade to galvanise the international community - business, civil society, government and intergovernmental organisations - around a raft of issues that are of paramount importance if we are to achieve sustainable development goals. A crucial challenge is to present sustainable development as a set of choices that is relevant for everyone and a set of policies and workable action plans that can guide future development.

INDIA'S PREPARATION FOR JOHANNESBURG
The Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) has initiated several activities to make an objective assessment of India's performance on the benchmark of Agenda 21 and to learn from its appraisal. These activities range from gathering different perspectives and involving various stakeholders for inputs into WSSD, to preparing a national strategy for creating awareness about the Summit in particular and sustainable development as a whole, to attending conferences and roundtables and offering inputs. For instance, India participated in the deliberations at the Asia Pacific Roundtable on Sustainable Development held in Phnom Penh during November 27-29. The Centre for Environment Education (CEE) is organising regional and national consultations to identify issues that are critical to the needs of India, and which must be addressed at the Summit. Regional workshops at northern, northeastern, central, western, eastern and southern regions of the country are being held. The consultations also discuss Indian approaches to sustainable develop-ment and lessons learned and experiences, consolidating India's efforts both at the policy and the field level towards sustainability.

At the Delhi Sustainable Development Summit 2002 (DSDS) held from February 8-11, and organised by the Tata Energy Research Institute (TERI), the following issues and recommendations were made:

• Recognise the pivotal role of business and industry in sustainable development and accord to it the priority it deserves
• Foster an enlightened, transparent and participatory mode of governance
• Secure definitive commitments towards increased official development assistance
• Liberalise trade and facilitate movement of labour to achieve true globalisation
• Promote innovation in socially responsible technology and encourage its spread worldwide so that its benefits are reaped by all
• Ensure universal but appropriate education designed to serve as the true foundation of a sustainable, equitable and progressive society
• Guide the overall course of development away from the vision dominated by material prosperity, competition, and short-term concerns to a path that leads to well-being, cooperation, and long-term prosperity for all
• Support a holistic approach to natural resource management based on an understanding of the dynamic interactions between people, especially the poor, and the environment, and an explicit delineation of rights and responsibilities that encourages the involvement of local communities

Ultimately, India's main interest in the Summit will be to protest against the prevailing patterns of production and consumption, especially of the industrialised countries, which is unsustainable and should be changed as it threatens the very survival of the planet. Rio+10 should be able to come up with concrete action that corresponds to the agreed commitments and elicit actions from the developed countries to fulfil their oft-repeated commitment to provide developing countries with financial resources and environmentally sound technologies on a concessional basis.

CONCLUSION
WSSD can indeed become a ground for accomplishing a lot to put the world back on the tracks of sustainable development. However, this optimism is bound to be followed by a degree of scepticism if the hidden undercurrents can be sensed. By undercurrents, one means the baggage that each country brings due to its already existing status in the global power politics, economic position and the ability to bargain for itself. This inadvertently brings up the North-South divide. Issues such as poverty, scarcity of natural resources, health, education, etc, still remain to be tackled for most of the developing world and commitments to be kept by most parts of the developed world. Only a real intention to bring about sustainable development without ignoring the economic interests, power position and social responsibility of some favourably endowed countries can assure that the decisions reached at the Rio+10 Summit are indeed actualised.