DAILY PRESS BRIEFING BY THE OFFICE OF THE SPOKESMAN FOR THE SECRETARY-GENERAL
| Press Briefing |
DAILY PRESS BRIEFING BY THE OFFICE OF THE SPOKESMAN FOR THE SECRETARY-GENERAL
The following is a near-verbatim transcript of today’s noon briefing by Fred Eckhard, Spokesman for the Secretary-General.
Good afternoon.
**World Summit on Sustainable Development
In the negotiations on the final document in Johannesburg, some issues, such as outstanding targets and timetables, are being sent to a group of ministers for resolution. Forty-nine more paragraphs have been finalized but there are still several tough issues that are yet to be resolved, such as trade subsidies, globalization issues, and a target for providing proper sanitation.
Another area that still requires resolution is energy. Negotiations are continuing on setting a target for promoting renewable energy as part of the energy mix, an issue that cuts across various regions and negotiating groups. There is still disagreement on a timetable for phasing out subsidies for fossil fuels, and whether the Summit should encourage the launch of action programmes for energy on a centralized basis, or whether efforts should be more decentralized.
About 95 per cent of the final document has been completed, leaving only the most difficult and contentious issues, which would require intense negotiations and considerable compromise.
A number of announcements of new projects and initiatives have been made during the Summit. Yesterday, the United Nations Development Programme announced that it would launch the Global Village Energy Partnership, a 10-year implementation-based programme to catalyze country commitments to village energy programmes and guide policies and investment.
Then, the World Health Organization presented "Healthy Environment for Children: A Global Alliance of Children's Health and Environment", which will focus on issues as the quality of water and air, sanitation, insect and animal carriers, chemical hazards and passive smoking.
Also yesterday, the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) launched the world's largest encyclopedia on sustainable development. The Encyclopedia of Life Support Systems has been 10 years in the planning.
Among the press releases from Johannesburg is one from the United Nations Children's Fund, challenging world leaders to ensure that every school in every corner of the world is equipped with clean water and separate sanitary facilities for girls and boys.
We have press releases on each of these initiatives that I just mentioned available in my office.
**Genetically Modified Organisms
With some 13 million people in southern Africa estimated to be in need of urgent food assistance in the coming months, Dr. Jacques Diouf, the head of the UN Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), said today that the governments of those countries most affected should carefully consider current scientific knowledge before rejecting food aid which contains genetically modified organisms -- known as GMOs.
Speaking at a press conference in Johannesburg, Diouf said that while there were currently no international agreements relating to food aid containing GMOs, FAO and World Health Organization are working to develop appropriate standards.
Both organizations, Diouf went on to say, take the view, based on information from a variety of sources and current scientific knowledge, that the food being offered to southern African countries is not likely to put human health at risk and may be eaten.
The plight of millions in southern Africa must weigh heavily on the governments’ decisions, Diouf added.
He recognized potential risks about the unintentional introduction of GM maize varieties into the region and the potential risk to biological diversity and sustainable agriculture. There are, however, specific techniques, he said, such as milling or heat treatment, to avoid spreading GM maize into the local environment.
We have the full text of the FAO press release available upstairs.
**Secretary-General's Travels
The Secretary-General is staying behind in Mozambique to take a little private time this weekend while most of the rest of his staff has moved on to Johannesburg. He will join them in Johannesburg on Sunday, and then he will open [the high-level segment of} the World Summit on Sustainable Development on Monday.
He wrapped up his official visit to Mozambique last night by attending a dinner given in his honour by President Joachim Chissano.
At that dinner, the Secretary-General said he was moved by his first visit to the country as Secretary-General, which coincided with the tenth anniversary of Mozambique's peace agreement.
He said, "Mozambique's hard-won stability provides an example to every nation striving to rebuild after conflict and turmoil, not least in the African continent. You have shown that it can be done."
He said that Mozambique will be remembered as a success story, in UN peacekeeping and peace-making, as well as in humanitarian and electoral assistance, and in the climate of trust generated there since the war. He said its success is "the best possible antidote to the sceptics and cynics about Africa."
We have copies of his remarks available upstairs.
The Secretary-General will be making eight statements, I think, from Sunday evening through Tuesday morning in Johannesburg. Seven of them will be through Monday and the eighth will be on Tuesday morning. Of those seven, we have the texts of six that we are going to make available to you on an embargoed basis at
2 p.m. New York time. They will also be released embargoed to the press in Johannesburg at that time. The main text is his opening speech to the Summit and we have that one available in the six official languages.
So we'll try to get all of that to you at 2 p.m. today so you can take off early and go home for the long weekend.
**Security Council
There are no meetings of the Security Council scheduled for today. Sunday is 1 September, and therefore the Council's presidency will rotate and Ambassador Stefan Tavrov, the Permanent Representative of Bulgaria, will become President as of midnight Saturday.
I've been handed a note that Ambassador Tavrov has agreed to brief the press. We have scheduled that for next Wednesday morning following the Council's morning consultations.
**Ethiopia and Eritrea
The UN was informed by the International Committee of the Red Cross that yesterday the Red Cross accompanied 279 Ethiopian prisoners of war out of Eritrea, where they crossed the Mereb River bridge back into Ethiopia. With this release operation, the last Ethiopian prisoners of war registered and regularly visited by the Red Cross in Eritrea have been released and repatriated.
As you'll recall, the Secretary-General last week welcomed the reports that the leaders of Eritrea and Ethiopia would release the prisoners of war that each country has been holding. Their earliest release will no doubt contribute to the successful implementation of the peace process between the two countries, he said.
**Humanitarian Envoys Visit to Southern Africa
Beginning on 3 September, James Morris, the Secretary-General's Special Envoy for Humanitarian Needs in southern Africa and Executive Director of the World Food Programme, will be accompanied by Carolyn McAskie, the Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator, for a two-week mission to Lesotho, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi, Mozambique and Swaziland to review the humanitarian crisis facing some 13 million people. They will be joined on their mission by representatives from the World Health Organization, the United Nations Children's Fund and the Food and Agriculture Organization.
While visiting the six southern African countries most affected by the crisis, the mission will meet with government officials, representatives of the donor community, UN Country Teams, and NGO representatives to discuss the ongoing response to the crisis.
The mission will review the impact of HIV/AIDS on the crisis and assess how comprehensive assistance efforts are, with a view to identifying gaps in programming and funding.
The objectives of the mission include providing recommendations on how to improve the effectiveness of response efforts and identifying actions to be taken to support longer-term agricultural recovery and food security. The mission will also seek to mobilize the international community's support for a UN Appeal launched in July that asks for $611 million to provide the relief necessary to prevent southern Africa's current crisis from becoming a humanitarian catastrophe.
**Committee on Elimination of Discrimination against Women
The Meeting of States Parties to the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, or CEDAW, yesterday elected 12 experts to its Monitoring Committee. The 12 will serve four-year terms beginning 1 January 2003. The countries represented by the experts are Algeria, Bangladesh, Benin, Ghana, Hungary, Mauritius, Netherlands and Romania. Representatives from three countries were re-elected: Egypt, Philippines and Japan.
We have the details in a press release.
**UN Stamp Launch
The UN Postal Administration today launched a new set of six commemorative stamps in the World Heritage series. The stamps feature heritage sites in Italy.
As usual, the stamps are issued in each of the denominations of the UN Postal Administration.
Two stamps in US currency feature Florence and the Amalfi Coast. The two in Swiss francs feature Pisa and the Aeolian Islands and the Euro stamps feature Pompeii and Rome.
We have colour contact sheets and brochures with more information available upstairs.
**Signings
This morning, Japan became the thirty-first party to the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants and also deposited its instrument of acceptance for the 1997 and 1999 Amendments to the Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone layer.
Also this morning, China deposited its instrument of approval becoming the ninetieth party to the Kyoto Protocol to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.
**The Week Ahead
Just a reminder that Monday is a holiday.
**Sustainable Development
Finally our very last development commercial…
Today we're looking at agriculture or -- more specifically -- the New Rice for Africa known as NERICA.
Tomorrow in Johannesburg, in the margins of the World Summit for Sustainable Development, there will be a panel discussion on the benefits of this new rice and, more importantly, a tasting lunch of two varieties of NERICA.
One of the panellists will be Leyba Camara, a NERICA seed producer from Guinea. Mr. Camara's experience with NERICA began in 1999. After receiving training in how to handle this new product, Camara planted 18 kilos of seeds which produced 800 kilos of rice, of which he sold some as seeds to fellow villagers. By the next year he had planted 150 kilos and harvested 3.2 tonnes. The following year, 2001, he planted the same amount and increased the harvest to 4 tonnes.
NERICA, developed by the West Africa Rice Development Association along
with the UN Development Programme and the Government of Japan, has been
created through natural crossing, using conventional methods and some
biotechnologies. Its success is derived by combining the ruggedness
of the plant against weeds particularly, from its African side, and the high-productivity from its Asian parent. NERICA is not bio-engineered and is self-reproductive.
One of its most important features is that it matures in only three months-- about 50 days less than traditional varieties. This early maturation allows
Mr. Camara to do something he was not able to do before: plant an extra crop of casava, soybeans or cowpeas which increases his family's food security.
Mr. Camara says that the increased yield has allowed him to sell the rice at a good price when it's been traditionally scarce on the local market. With this increased income he's been able to buy school supplies for his children and agricultural tools for his farm.
The benefits of NERICA are not only noticeable in increased income and food security. It has a lasting impact on the environment as well. By enabling farmers to plant more than one crop before returning the land to fallow it aims to reduce slash and burn agriculture.
Through the efforts of Mr. Camara and other farmers, it's estimated that NERICA will save farmers in West and Central Africa $88 million in rice imports every year by 2005.
**Questions and Answers
Question: What are GMOs? And why are they harmful?
Spokesman: They are genetically modified organisms. Mr. Diouf says they are not harmful based on all of the available scientific evidence thus far. Not harmful to human health -- that is the view of Mr. Jacques Diouf, the head of FAO.
Thank you. Enjoy the nice three-day weekend and let's hope no crisis emerges to cut it short.
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