Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2002-09-25-Speech-3-009"
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"en.20020925.1.3-009"2
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". – Mr President, we welcome this opportunity to present the Commission's assessment of the outcome of the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg concluded three weeks ago.
Poverty eradication was the over-arching theme to which we linked all the concrete issues. The Union argued that we had to show real commitment by setting quantifiable targets, with timetables and monitoring mechanisms, in the Implementation Plan.
Let me now focus in particular on some key achievements reached in Johannesburg, which Mr Haarder has already mentioned, but which I think are worth noting again.
The first element I would like to highlight is that a set of new targets has been agreed as part of the Implementation Plan.
I will mention five. First, halving by 2015 the proportion of people lacking access to basic sanitation – this currently stands at three billion people, half of the total world population. This new target complements the Millennium Development Goal on access to clean water.
Second, a commitment to minimise harmful effects on human health and the environment from the production and use of all chemicals by 2020.
Third, a commitment to halt the decline of fish stocks and restore them to sustainable levels no later than 2015.
Fourth, a commitment to begin implementation of national strategies on sustainable development by 2005.
Fifth, a commitment to halt the loss of biodiversity by 2010, as earlier agreed by the parties to the Biodiversity Convention. The endorsement by all Heads of State and Government is a major achievement.
The agreement to establish a ten-year framework for programmes on sustainable consumption and production, with industrialised countries taking the lead in this global effort, is another important result.
On globalisation, as has been said, the summit agreed on concrete actions to enhance the role of trade for sustainable development, for example by encouraging trade in environmentally friendly and organic products from developing countries and by strengthening international action for corporate responsibility.
It is in a way rather early to make a definitive assessment of the outcome. Time and our own committed efforts will tell if this summit will deliver where Rio de Janeiro did not. As we said repeatedly at the end of the negotiations, we have the words and it is now the duty of all of us to turn these words into effective deeds.
The EU’s objectives on energy were addressed in the Council Presidency Conclusions of 30 May 2002, in which the EU reaffirmed its commitment to facilitating the achievement of the millennium development goal of halving the number of people in extreme poverty, and other millennium development goals, by 2015, through the provision of adequate, affordable and sustainable energy services.
In line with its general position in favour of a focused and result-oriented implementation plan, the European Union also supported, among other things, the establishment of a quantitative, time-bound target to increase the proportion of renewable energy within the overall energy mix.
Although we were ultimately not able to get a specific target for renewable energy sources in the Action Plan, we did reach an agreement to increase urgently and substantially the global share of renewable energy sources. We also agreed to take joint actions to improve the access of the poor to energy. Those agreements will be regularly evaluated and their progress reviewed.
In addition, the European Union launched a 'coalition of the willing' on renewable energy. This includes countries and regions willing to set themselves targets and timeframes for the increase of renewables in the energy mix.
This coalition maintains pressure on the unwilling, and should give a boost to the development of renewable energy throughout the world. Significantly, this coalition will set a renewable energy target representing a floor as opposed to a ceiling.
Linked to this, there have been positive developments on climate change. Those who have already ratified Kyoto have confirmed their commitment to entry into force at the earliest possible date and others are urged to join as soon as possible. The announcements made by Poland, as well as by the Russian and Canadian Prime Ministers, mean that the Protocol should enter into force very soon.
The European Commission spoke with one strong voice in Johannesburg. As Commissioner for the Environment, I shared with Poul Nielson (Commissioner for Development) the responsibility as
in the preparations for Johannesburg. We both participated in the high-level negotiation sessions at ministerial level at the WSSD Summit. Coordination was further enhanced by the presence in Johannesburg of the President of the Commission.
I am now pleased to hand over to my colleague Poul Nielson who will speak, amongst other things, about the need for follow-up and implementation of our WSSD commitments.
I will not over-simplify and try to sum up the summit in one word as either a success or a failure, but overall the Commission believes that we can be satisfied with the results of Johannesburg. We succeeded in adding new momentum to the cause of sustainable development and the outcomes of the summit take us in the right direction.
Of course people will draw comparisons with the Rio Earth Summit of 1992. The immediate assessment of some NGOs and others in the period after Rio was that it had been a failure. Now it has come to be seen as a defining moment in the fight for sustainable development.
The Rio Summit was very different from Johannesburg in some important respects. Most importantly, the political climate in 2002 is very different from ten years ago. Against a difficult political backdrop it fell largely to the European Union to champion the cause of sustainable development in Johannesburg. We were, you might say, almost the only engine in this whole process.
Let me remind you of how the European mandate was determined. In preparing for the summit, the Commission issued two specific communications, one in February 2001 entitled 'Ten years after Rio: preparing for the World Summit on Sustainable Development in 2002' and a second communication in February 2002 entitled: 'Towards a global partnership for sustainable development'.
Building upon these communications the Council adopted several sets of conclusions in 2001 and 2002 in which the European Union's negotiating platform for the World Summit on Sustainable Development was defined.
It is worth noting specifically the Development Council conclusions of 30 May 2002, which list in detail the EU’s priorities. The European Parliament also issued its opinion in a resolution adopted on 16 May 2002.
In substantive terms, we worked to undertake further steps towards the implementation of the Millennium Development Goals, in particular the goal of halving the number of people living in extreme poverty by 2015."@en1
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