DAILY BRIEFING ON SPECIAL SESSION OF GENERAL ASSEMBLY

Press Briefing

DAILY BRIEFING ON SPECIAL SESSION OF GENERAL ASSEMBLY

Samsiah Abdul-Majid, spokeswoman for the President of the General Assembly, began the briefing on the special session on the review of implementation of Agenda 21, by announcing that at the beginning of this morning's plenary the President "with sadness informed the Assembly of the death of Jacques-Yves Cousteau". She then read the following statement:

"Mr. Cousteau was a giant of a man in promoting development and environmental issues. Mr. Cousteau saw the world as being linked and committed himself to understanding the multifaceted aspects of this overall linkage between nature and humankind".

Also taking part in today's the press briefing was Jean-Claude Faby, Chief of the Office of the Under-Secretary-General for Policy Coordination and Sustainable Development.

Continuing, Ms. Abdul-Majid said there had been 22 speakers at this morning's plenary and 21 were expected this afternoon.

At 9:30 this morning, the President had received the "Preserve the Planet Earth Trophy" in a ceremony in the Public Lobby at Headquarters, she continued. A member of the Rotary International from Mexico, Jorge Rojo, had presented the trophy. He orchestrated an ecological marathon which, since 1992, had fostered 1,000 community-based environmental projects. The presentation marked the end of the journey of the "Preserve Planet Earth" ecological marathon.

Referring to a question asked at yesterday's briefing about the letter from Cambodia, she said the President was currently consulting with Member States. The letter had been released as document A/51/930.

Ms. Abdul-Majid said that in response to requests from the media, the President had issued a read-out yesterday evening on the round table on "Cooperation between Governments, Private Sector and the UN in Meeting Sustainable Development Objectives", which he had organized and hosted with the Executive Director of the World Business Council on Sustainable Development, Bjorn Stigson, as a side event of the Earth Summit + 5. Copies of the read-out were available at the Media Centre in Conference Room 1 and at the Spokesman's Office on the third floor.

The round table was attended by important representatives of governments, private sector, United Nations officials, academics and NGOs in their personal capacity, she said. The President said that it was an initial attempt by all sectors to explore the prospects of building a collaborative relationship in the context of meeting sustainable development objectives. It was a confidence-building measure which allowed for an elaboration of views from different perspectives.

"Further discussions on the diverse viewpoints were needed to establish a framework of cooperation, the elements of which would include the following:

-- That the Commission on Sustainable Development would be the focal point of interaction for governments, the private sector and other stakeholders in operationalizing sustainable development;

-- That there would be readiness on all parts to volunteer information and experience, both positive and negative, to be jointly examined;

-- That future discussions would consider objective scientific findings and international standards;

-- That government and private sector would undertake their expected roles, governments in the context of directing and regulating sustainability and the private sector accepting corporate responsibility;

-- That there would be no hindrance of access to information; and

-- That the four active sectors, the governments, private sector, NGOs and academics would actively be involved in further discussions and in fleshing out the elements of framework of collaboration."

The framework of cooperation would be necessary to facilitate participation of the private sector in the programmes and projects undertaken by relevant bodies of the United Nations.

The above ideas would have to be brought for consideration and possible acceptance by the Commission on Sustainable Development."

Ms. Abdul-Majid said the Committee of the Whole had finished listening to statements on the implementation of Agenda 21 and today it would continue informal consultations on cross-sectoral issues from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. in Conference Room 5; on the draft political statement from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. in Conference Room 3; and on sectoral issues from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. in Conference Room 6. Also available in the Media Centre was a list of some of the paragraphs the Committee considered in informal consultations so far this week.

Ms. Abdul-Majid then announced briefings today by non-governmental organizations in Room S-226.

At 1:15 p.m. the Francophone Non-Governmental Organization Coalition; at 3 p.m. NGO Coalition -- "UN Reform: NGO participation, the future of UNEP".

Tomorrow, at 1:15 p.m. NGO Coalition -- "Energy and Climate: NGOs react to United States speech".

Special Session Briefing - 3 - 25 June 1997

Ms. Abdul Majid said she was assuming that the press briefing of the Spokesman for the Secretary-General had referred to the speech by the United States President William Clinton, adding that he was scheduled to address the Assembly at 5:30 p.m.

Owing to time constraints, members of the World Health Organization (WHO) panel held yesterday had not been able to respond to all questions. They would answer correspondents' questions and their names were available in the Spokesman's Office.

She then announced several side events which would take place today: at 1:15 p.m. an executive briefing by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) on greening of the industry; an MIT presentation on Global Partnerships on Technological Innovations for Sustainability; the launching of the guidelines on biodiversity by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development and the World Conservation Union.

At 5 p.m. discussions on prevention of lead poisoning in human settlements would be held in the Dag Hammarskjold Library Auditorium; and at 6:15 p.m. a round table on indigenous peoples in Conference Room 3 and a presentation of the book Mountains of the World; a Global Priority in Rooms 5 and 6.

Mr. Faby said four separate negotiating processes had taken place yesterday, some of which were continuing today. Yesterday, the ministerial group on finance, co-chaired by the Foreign Minister of the United Republic of Tanzania and the Minister for Development Cooperation of the Netherlands, heard views on the main contentious areas. The discussion focused primarily on official development assistance (ODA) and on the establishment of a mechanism to deal with financial issues in the future. The co-chairs summarized the results of the meeting, and on the basis of that summary, they were scheduled to provide an aide memoire to the Chairman of the Committee of the Whole to facilitate his work in the ongoing negotiating process on the matter.

Mr. Faby went on to say that the discussion had been quite general and had dealt with the following issues: the Rio targets; the feeling of the participants regarding reaffirming the validity of those targets; the use of ODA; and declining ODA flows and possible agreements to reverse them. There seemed to be some sympathy for the establishment of a financial mechanism, but its composition and functions had not been dealt with and would have to be elaborated further.

Yesterday afternoon, at the meeting of the Contact Group on Forests, chaired by Bagher Asadi (Iran), there was "a bit of a stalemate" in the discussions, Mr. Faby said. The stalemate was the result of the European Community and Canada's insistence that the negotiating process on a convention should start immediately. Other governments did not agree with their position

Special Session Briefing - 4 - 25 June 1997

and preferred that discussion on forests continued, for the moment, without a commitment to engage in negotiations on a convention. This morning a meeting was being held at the ministerial level to pick up on the issue. Mr. Faby said he did not know the results of that meeting, but said his feeling was that there would be a compromise on that issue either today or later in the week.

The group on cross-sectoral issues had met last night, Mr. Faby said, and it would continue its work today. The details of the text on finance were still being negotiated in that meeting, even thought an attempt was being made at the ministerial level to shape consensus or agreement on that issue.

The Committee of the Whole also met yesterday and continued its discussion on the political declaration, Mr. Faby said. The process was slow. At the meeting yesterday, the Committee went through approximately seven paragraphs, and additional language had also been suggested in those paragraphs. There had been no agreement so far. One should not be pessimistic about the final outcome, however, as it was quite normal to have a bit of a lull in the middle of negotiations.

There was a single sheet available indicating what paragraphs in the document had been agreed upon and which paragraphs required further negotiations, Mr. Faby said. It was available in the Media Centre, but it should be read along with the main document. The sheet did not include the results of the ministerial contact groups.

Asked if there had been agreement in principle on the need for the funding mechanisms for Agenda 21, Mr. Faby said the question of the commitments made at Rio and their status were being considered as part of the ministerial discussions. The ministers were trying to illicit from the participants whether there was readiness to continue and reaffirm those commitments.

Had there been any progress at all in terms of developed countries agreeing to commit 0.7 per cent of gross national product (GNP) to foreign assistance? a correspondent asked. Mr. Faby said in the discussion yesterday some developed countries, citing economic problems, described their difficulties in entering into such a commitment at this point. They also said that it would be difficult for them to evaluate how their economic situation would evolve over time. On the other hand, other countries pointed out that they would increase their assistance to other groups, such as eastern European countries. Therefore, even though their ODA to developing countries might remain stagnant, it would not be the only accurate gauge of their assistance to the rest of the world.

Special Session Briefing - 5 - 25 June 1997

Which countries objected to the proposals on the forest convention, and what were their objections? a correspondent asked. Mr. Faby said the positions were very nuanced. Several countries had reservations about engaging into an international obligation regarding what they believed to be the sovereign rights over natural resources. Other countries believed that a convention exercise should not be entered into now because it would yield a weak instrument. Some countries thought negotiations would yield an instrument that would emphasize the trade aspect more than it should and not deal with the conservation aspect as much as it should. Still other countries believe that in addition, or in parallel, to those problems the instrument might be watered-down and the negotiations would consume valuable time, thereby sacrificing the opportunity to deal with forests in a concrete way.

Was there a report on the meetings? Mr. Faby said it was an informal meeting, but the subject was also being considered this morning during the ministerial meeting in order to try to resolve the question.

Asked why the statement by the President of the United States William Clinton had been postponed from 10:00 a.m. tomorrow morning to 5:30 p.m., Ms. Abdul-Majid said that a request had been received, and it seemed that Mr. Clinton would not arrive at the airport until 5 p.m.

When had that request been submitted? a correspondent asked. Ms. Abdul- Majid said she heard of the request this morning.

Replying to a question regarding the issues being discussed by the Group of 77 and China at its meeting today, Ms. Abdul-Majid said it was meeting on cross-sectoral issues and the draft political statement. It would discuss the paragraphs that had not been agreed upon.

A correspondent said there had been some discussion at one time to link forests with other existing conventions, such as those on climate change and biodiversity. Had that discussion been left behind? Mr. Faby said some governments were not comfortable with the parallelism of international instruments dealing with related issues. The number of conventions on sustainable development resulting from Rio did call for some kind of coordinating mechanism. The United Nations did what it could to ensure that related issues were understood by all people in a similar manner, but, down the line, the issue would have to be dealt with in an institutional context.

How would the recommendations and summaries from the ministerial meetings be incorporated into the negotiations and what effect would they have? Mr. Faby said ministerial meetings were a vehicle to breakdown basic political issues. When it came to drafting, it was not clear how a general agreement on broad issues, such as how to deal with ODA, might translate into the specific aspects of the text, such as the mechanism on finance. It would be up to the Chairman of the Committee of the Whole to suggest modalities to

Special Session Briefing - 6 - 25 June 1997

incorporate the results of the ministerial meetings into his own negotiations on the specifics of the text.

Had there be an exchange of notes between the President of the Assembly and the Permanent Mission of China regarding its opposition to the creation of a tribunal on Cambodia? a correspondent asked. Ms. Abdul-Majid said she did not know of any exchange of notes, verbal or otherwise.

How were negotiations on the climate change issue progressing? a correspondent asked. Mr. Faby said the climate issue was still to be resolved. It was part of the sectoral issue on atmosphere, and the work was continuing. There was pressure on groups that were negotiating sectoral and cross-sectoral issues to come to an agreement as soon as possible. But whether or not they would do so today or on Thursday, he could not say.

Asked if there had been any progress on the proposal for the aviation fuel tax, Mr. Faby said it was an unresolved issue.

Were the precautionary principle and the principle on the non- transference of harmful substances, as agreed upon in Rio, being fully discussed? Mr. Faby said there had been a progressive development in international law resulting from sustainable development initiatives, including the Rio Conference. Those two principles had been incorporated in a variety of instruments and, including certain international treaties and conventions, and as such had become conventional law. They were not at the core of the difficulties in the current text.

What about the notion of prior consent regarding the principle on the non-transference of harmful substances? the same correspondent asked. Mr. Faby said that, as far as he was concerned, was not an issue in the current text. The two principles had been accepted in a variety of areas.

Asked if negotiations on the document would be held on Friday, Mr. Faby said he hoped not, as the package was scheduled to be adopted on Friday, 27 June.

Had the United States requested that the work on climate change in the meeting on sectoral issues not be completed until after Mr. Clinton's speech? Mr. Faby said he was not aware of any specific request. Several various negotiating groups had expressed interest in hearing some of the statements in the plenary before moving forward.

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