Commonwealth News and Information Service (London)
20 February 2002
press release
London — The Commonwealth Consultative Group on Environment (CCGE) has stressed the importance of identifying key, achievable goals for discussion at the forthcoming World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD). The key areas include fresh water and sanitation, energy and global warming.
Other major issues the CCGE would like to see on the summit agenda include the linking of official development assistance to the promotion of investment; a particular focus on the needs of Africa (especially Sub-Saharan Africa); and support for regional initiatives - such as the New Partnership for Africa's Development - and the Barbados Programme of Action for Small Island Developing States.
These were some of the recommendations of the eighth meeting of the CCGE which comprises Commonwealth environment ministers and senior officials.
The meeting, which took place on 12 February 2002, was convened ahead of the Seventh Special Session of the UN Environment Programme/Global Environment Ministers Forum in Cartagena, Colombia. The Group focused on what it hoped would be achieved at the WSSD. It sought to address global inequality in practical ways and, at the same time, promote a positive role for globalisation in sustainable development. The WSSD takes place from 26 August to 4 September 2002 in Johannesburg, South Africa.
The Group's recommendations are to be presented to Commonwealth Heads of Government when they meet in Coolum, Australia, from 2 to 5 March 2002. The Coolum meeting "presents an important opportunity to discuss and indicate strong support for a successful summit on sustainable development, especially since it will take place in a Commonwealth country," said Mohammed Valli Moosa, South Africa's Minister for Environmental Affairs, who chaired the CCGE meeting.
Dr Indrajit Coomaraswamy, Acting Director of the Commonwealth Secretariat's Economic Affairs Division, which organised the CCGE meeting, said: "Ministers identified important areas where political will and action was required to make globalisation a positive force for sustainable development: greater market access for developing countries; the removal of perverse subsidies; mechanisms to promote investment in developing economies; and the levels and effectiveness of finance for development."
Ministers felt that an important focus for the World Summit would be poverty eradication, and stressed the need to integrate the three pillars of sustainable development: environmental, economic and social.
They noted that governments working alone could not implement the recommendations from WSSD and recognised that existing Commonwealth networks were a valuable asset for building partnerships. These include the intergovernmental network (Commonwealth Secretariat), civil society, professional bodies (Commonwealth Foundation), private sector (Commonwealth Business Council) and local government (Commonwealth Local Government Forum).
The Commonwealth Consultative Group on Environment is the association's primary intergovernmental forum for consultations on environmental and sustainable development issues. (ADF3)
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