HEADQUARTERS PRESS CONFERENCE ON JOHANNESBURG SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT CONFERENCE

What had emerged to date was a fairly clear and common view on the outcomes sought by all countries from the World Summit on Social Development scheduled, to be held from 26 August to 4 September in Johannesburg, South Africa, Crispian Olver, Director-General, Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism of South Africa, told correspondents at Headquarters this morning

Mr. Olver was briefing the press about his country's approach to the Summit and its state of readiness for the event.  Also present at the briefing for South Africa were Onkgopotse J.J. Tabane, Head of the Ministry of Environmental Affairs and Tourism and Head of Communications, and Xolisa Mabhongo, a representative of South Africa's Permanent Mission to the United Nations.

At the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio, the international community adopted

Agenda 21 -- a global plan of action for sustainable development.  It also agreed on the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, a set of principles defining the rights and obligations of nations.  Agenda 21 integrated environmental and socio-economic concerns into a single policy framework.

The proposals set out in 1992 have since been expanded and strengthened at several major United Nations conferences.  The upcoming Johannesburg Conference presents an important opportunity for world leaders to adopt concrete steps and identify quantifiable targets for better implementation of Agenda 21.

Mr. Olver said that essentially there were three kinds of outcomes sought by the Summit.  One would be renewed global political commitment at the highest level on the implementation of Agenda 21, as well as a listing of programmes and actions needed to put this planet on to a more sustainable growth path.

The second outcome sought was a concrete programme of action.  The proposed programme would be organized around a number of key themes in the socio-economic and environmental pillars of sustainable development.  Such a programme would include setting targets, although many had already been defined in the Millennium Declaration.  Nevertheless there were certain targets, energy, for example, which needed to be discussed and which required clear coordination and implementation mechanisms.

The third outcome sought, often referred to as the Type II Partnership Outcomes, he described as a range of specific sectoral projects, programmes, commitments and partnerships that were not part of the formally negotiated United Nations text, but fell within the broader collection of the Summit's outcomes and outputs. 

In terms of what should be in the programme of action, Mr. Olver said emphasis had been put on getting each of the three pillars of sustainable development in focus.  There was, therefore, a clear set of economic programmes or commitments referred to as the economic platform for Johannesburg.  "In pushing that platform, we are guided by what we see as the greatest obstacle to sustainable development in the world today –- that is the problem of inequality and poverty", he said.

"We believe that we have to come up with an integrated set of measures that will attempt to address the negative consequences of globalization", Mr. Olver said.  That package of measures had to include such things as market access and changes in the terms of trade, as well as a number of World Trade Organization (WTO) issues, such as intellectual property rights and the phasing out of agricultural subsidies.  The platform also had to look at questions relating to financial flows, capital markets, debt relief, technology transfer and capacity- building.

Mr. Olver said that there was also a need for a set of social programmes, again focused around poverty alleviation and inequality, but which also integrated environmental and economic aspects.  "What we are seeing emerging are suggestions for programmes for energy and access to it, particularly for the 2 billion people in the world who at this moment do not have any such access.” 

According to Mr. Olver, there were also programmes on water, sanitation and access to water; food security and agricultural productivity; and health, including a global effort to eradicate HIV/AIDS and other communicable diseases such as malaria.  Regarding the latter, he said, "we believe we can eradicate it in the next decade if we put our minds to it".  Other issues which needed to be addressed were education -- particularly for women -- and literacy. 

On the environmental side, Mr. Olver said there were also a number of very important programmes, packages and initiatives under discussion.  In Africa, the issue of desertification, for example, was extremely important.  While there was already a convention on that issue, it was one without resources.  In fact, there had been no flow of resources into really crucial areas, such as land degradation and desertification.

Mr. Olver went on to say that "we are pushing quite strongly for a focus on oceans and marine resources –- one area that remains inadequately regulated". Access to the resources of the oceans, particularly fishing resources on the high seas, was extremely inequitable, he added.  It was based on historical precedent, and developing countries really struggled to get any part of those catches.

Mr. Olver said that in Africa a new and very important process was emerging in parallel with the Summit –- the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD).  It was a new programme being pushed by African heads of State.  His own President, Thabo Mbeke, had himself played an active role in championing the Partnership and getting it to the point it was at now.  The NEPAD basically adhered to many of the themes that he had touched on today.  It focused on the intellectual and technical expertise of Africa, was written by Africans, and sought to reposition the continent in terms of global economic relations.

"As far as we are concerned, NEPAD is the sustainable development programme for Africa and we will showcase it actively in Johannesburg", Mr. Olver said.  "We are very pleased that, in the discussions here, there seems to a very clear recognition that Africa should be given a special place at the Summit."

Turning to South Africa's state of readiness for the Summit, Mr. Olver said the substantive discussions were going well despite a slow start.  "From where we are sitting now, things are moving forward very actively, and I have been very impressed by the levels of mobilization by different countries", he said. "I think we can clearly say now that there really is quite a high level of commitment to Johannesburg at all levels, which will give us a solid product at the end of the day."

On the logistical side, Mr. Olver said that all plans had been completed. "We have detailed plans for security, accommodation, zoning, and transport.  We have also secured all the hotels in Johannesburg", he added.  The Santon area, which was the core location of the United Nations event, and where there were

25 top-level hotels providing accommodations for heads of State, was being turned into a high-security zone along with a policed no-fly zone over Johannesburg.  Eight thousand police officers would also be put on duty around the clock in the city.

Mr. Olver told correspondents that he would be presenting a detailed logistical plan on Wednesday morning in an open plenary session.

In terms of funding for the Summit, he said the budget had been finalized at 550 million rands (approximately $46,250,000).  The budget was for the total Summit package, which was a set of multiple side, parallel, and non-governmental organization events, various stakeholder initiatives, cultural experiences, opening and closing ceremonies and security.  "This is also post-11 September, so we have to make sure that our security planning is absolutely watertight", he said. 

Mr. Olver went on to say that so far 350 million rands of the budget had been raised, half of which was a contribution from the South African national treasury.  "We have reasonably good prospects for raising the rest since a number of donors have made commitments", he said.  "We have also embarked on a corporate fund-raising strategy and, while we think we will be on target, we are going to have to give it a bit of a push."

A correspondent noted that since Rio, Africa had become a continent in shambles.  Five hundred and fifty million rands was going to be raised without a problem, yet although Africa as a whole had difficulties in raising that kind of money, conference after conference was taking place.  The Africa Recovery Programme was going nowhere, and the last report on the continent indicated that the gross national product (GNP) was going down all over.

Mr. Olver said he would not agree that the Africa Recovery Programme was going nowhere.  The NEPAD was still in the process of development and being rolled out.  As he had emphasized earlier, the outcome of Johannesburg was viewed as being a set of concrete actions and resource commitments, which would roll out fairly substantive programmes.  "This is not an empty negotiation over a text in Johannesburg.  This is about real development issues and concrete implementation", he said.  If Johannesburg were successful, it would have a profound and lasting impact not only on Africa, but the whole developing world. 

Underscoring that the problem all along had been the resources to meet targets, a correspondent asked how far the preparatory committee had moved towards agreeing on resources to meet proposed targets.

Mr. Olver said, "we see Johannesburg as probably the most effective point in the international calendar over the next decade to try and mobilize further resources behind the sustainable development programmes negotiated at the Summit". 

It was early to assess whether there would be success in mobilizing resources, even though the countries of the North and South were committed to a successful outcome.  "I think everyone knows that a successful outcome has got to have those kinds of resources on the table", he said.

What had to be underscored, he said, was that government resources were only a small part of the overall resource package.  "What we are talking about if we want to address real growth and job creation in the developing world is how we leverage private sector investments and funds into the Johannesburg programme of action."  That was not something that could be closed in an international negotiation.  It was also not a matter of a United Nations negotiated text.  It was a far more complex and subtle package.  The issue was more one of "how do we use the resources to give incentives to encourage private investments into the kind of sustainable development initiative that we want", he said.

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