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THE FUTURE OF MULTILATERALISM
Address by Dr Claude Martin,
Director General of WWF International at WSSD
HIGH -LEVEL SIDE EVENT OF HEADS OF STATE OR GOVERNMENT
THE WORLD SUMMIT ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
3 September 2002
In the recent past, NGOs have often been accused of inhibiting economic
growth and wanting humanity go back into the caves. Ironically today we feel
some governments are withdrawing into their own national caves out of short term
economic interests, rather than showing a willingness to address those
crosscutting root causes that prevent sustainable development and poverty
eradication. A world of free trade without strong counterveiling
intergovernmental institutions that are empowered as effective actors will never
be able to arrive at the global goals of Rio and Johannesburg.
According to WWF's Living Planet Report, if current trends continue, the
ecological footprint will increase to twice the Earth's regenerative capacity
over the next 50 years. The poor of the world will have to bear the brunt of the
resulting resource degradation. Who would have predicted when the Climate Change
Convention was signed in Rio, that 10 years later we would already see severe
effects on many ecosystems with melting ice masses in the Arctic regions
threatening the lives of many indigenous peoples, coral bleaching incidents and
tropical storms wrecking the economy of coastal populations and many small
islands states, and drought and inundations particularly in poverty-stricken
areas? What, if anything, would emphasize more strongly the need for a
multilateral system to address such global issues.
Today, we feel disillusioned that the negotiations we followed over the last
ten days often resembled a "race to the bottom", to the extent that we
had to be lucky not to go back on previous commitments - the Rio Principles and
the Millenium Goals. Governments should be the legitimate voice of people and
should recognize the great differences between nations, cultures and economic
circumstances. They should act in solidarity rather divide and rule. For this to
happen, the world needs clear objectives, targets and time-tables! Here, in
Johannesburg, we have seen many companies asking for a clear set of rules and
operating principles, contrary to common belief, alongside NGOs whose work for
sustainable development depends on it.
The result of this Summit calls into question whether such events can make
any meaningful contribution to implementation, when the dynamics of negotiation
means that we risk loosing sight of the bold visions with the result being the
lowest common denominator. Our disappointment with the official result of the
Summit, however, does not mean that this event was not useful. We have seen an
unprecedented diversity of positive new public-private partnerships and local
initiatives that were triggered by the Summit process. The constructive element
of this Summit has more than anything else been the manifestation of people who
have understood that the prospects of future generations depend on the harmony
between people and nature, and are built on equity and the reduction of poverty.
The contribution to sustainable development of many NGOS, has been
significant and is often under-rated. Since Rio we have created market
mechanisms such as the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) or the Marine
Stewardship Council (MSC); we have forged important partnerships with
corporations and helped establish sectoral environmental and social standards.
We have worked together with intergovernmental institutions such as the UN and
the World Bank and we have supported regional government collaborations in
resource management. Finally, we have run many thousands of environmental and
sustainable development projects funded voluntarily by millions of individual
supporters. But that will not be enough - we need something innovative to take
us further.
In the preparations for Johannesburg and during the Summit we have seen that
a number of governments have stepped forward with progressive proposals and have
been willing to show leadership that goes beyond their economic interests.
Unfortunately, the intergovernmental process has not caught up with what is
happening in the real world to the degree necessary for a truly coherent system
which puts sustainable development at the center.
However, we see opportunities and a way forward that would not allow the
laggards to jeopardize the prospects of the entire world community. We envisage
new constellations of enlightened governments, intergovernmental institutions,
environmental and development NGOs, forward-looking companies and creative
thinkers, who would address among themselves issues left unresolved here in
Johannesburg. We foresee that such constellations and alliances would:
1. Engage in concrete field and policy based sustainable development programmes,
2. Build momentum at the regional and subregional level,
3. Create new market instruments that promote sustainable development solutions,
4. Forge new policy alliances which can mitigate the current flaws in the
multilateral system.
We believe that a majority of people of this planet share a common concern
for future generations. As the pressure on natural resources rises and the
inequities sharpen, this will foster a further growth of NGOs. People will look
to those leaders from all sectors of society who make a leap forward, and commit
to concrete solutions based on an ethical long term interest for the planet and
its people. We shall pursue this agenda with vigour.
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