87. Since WSSD the UK has participated in a number of international gatherings which have considered how to maintain the WSSD momentum and ensure that the Johannesburg commitments are effectively implemented worldwide. The UK has been working through the well established European and UN fora as well as events such as the Delhi Sustainable Development 2 conference in February 2003 which considered the outcomes of the Summit from the perspective of the developing world.[98]

European Follow-up

88. A range of EU Council formations meeting post-WSSD reaffirmed their commitment to the Johannesburg Implementation Plan and considered its implications.[99] The UN Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) fifth Ministerial conference "Environment for Europe" (Kiev, May 2003) particularly considered WSSD implementation in the Caucasus region.[100]

89. The General Affairs and External Relations Council (GAERC) agreed to seek the urgent development of an international framework of programmes on sustainable production and consumption patterns. It will review and take stock of preliminary EU work on the follow-up to Johannesburg.[101]

90. The Environment Council of October 2002 effectively called for the Commission, Member States and other Council formations to give some backbone to the Johannesburg Implementation Plan and ensure that the EU took the lead in making "demonstrable progress" towards sustainable development both globally and in the EU region itself. It reaffirmed the EU's commitment to implement existing goals and targets exceeding the requirements agreed at the global level in Johannesburg and also stressed the importance of ensuring that WSSD commitments were effectively integrated into EU policy and processes. For example, the work of the other Council formations, in the EU Sustainable Development Strategy, and the Cardiff Process.[102] The Council invited the Commission to introduce an annual stock taking of the Cardiff process and to consider including the conclusions in its forthcoming synthesis reports if possible starting in 2003. [103]

91. These are welcome conclusions but progress towards ensuring that sustainable development is at the heart of EU policy-making remains slow. DEFRA views the implementation of the EU's Sustainable Development Strategy as the key to ensuring that this happens in a co-ordinated way. As a result, the UK has been pushing to ensure that the strategy is given a high, political priority within the EU and was particularly "intent" on ensuring that it received sufficient profile at the Spring European Council in March 2003. In the event, the Council did observe that worrying trends in resource use and environmental degradation had not been reversed since the Strategy was launched and a "new impetus" must be given.

92. The World Summit commitments have led to renewed calls by the EU Environment Council to ensure that sustainable development is at the heart of EU policies and policy-making processes. We urge the UK to maintain its efforts to ensure that sustainable development permeates beyond the realms of the EU Environment Commissioner and Environment Council and is effectively integrated across the full range of EU governance.

UN Institutional Reform

93. The Johannesburg Implementation Plan calls for "measures to strengthen sustainable development institutional arrangements at all levels" including within the UN.[104] There has been international recognition that UN mechanisms, in particular the Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD) and the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), need to be reformed to be sufficiently robust to deliver effective follow-up on the Johannesburg commitments.[105]

THE UN COMMISSION FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT (CSD)

94. Along with UK Government officials, the Secretary of State attended the 11th session of the Commission on Sustainable Development in New York in May 2003.[106] The Commission is the main high level forum within the UN for considering sustainable development. This was the first meeting of the CSD since the Summit. The UK, through the EU pushed for reform of the CSD so that it could more effectively review and monitor progress towards sustainable development, catalyse the implementation of Agenda 21 and the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation (JPoI) and ensure that corrective action is taken to overcome any constraints on implementation.

95. The key outcomes were:

a)  In future CSD will organise itself into 2 year action orientated implementation cycles: the first review year looking at progress on the JPoI concentrating on a series of thematic clusters and the second "policy" year to consider what corrective action needs to be taken to keep on track to meet the JPoI commitments.

b)  A seven year cycle work programme was agreed where the main topics in the thematic clusters were: water and sanitation, energy for sustainable development, agriculture and rural development, sustainable consumption and production, fragile ecosystems (encompassing forests and biodiversity for example), oceans and fisheries and an overall review of progress.[107]

96. We welcome the UK's role in pressing for the reform of the UN Commission for Sustainable Development (CSD) and welcome the new monitoring and review arrangements which the CSD has adopted to assess progress against the Johannesburg commitments and sustainable development principles in general.

UNEP

97. The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) is the environmental watchdog in the UN family. [108] The JPoI calls for UNEP to strengthen its contribution to sustainable development programmes and the implementation of Agenda 21 at all levels, particularly in terms of promoting capacity building.[109] Mr Charles Caccia, the Chair of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Environment and Sustainable Development, Canada told us that in December 2002, various EU and Canadian Parliamentarians had written to the UN Secretary General expressing their concern that UNEP was not a fully fledged UN agency despite the fact that environmental protection and sustainable development issues, including climate change, increasingly command public attention. As a result, they felt that UNEP enjoyed a lesser status within the UN family compared to specialised agencies such as the World Health Organisation and UNESCO.

98. The Brussels European Council of March 2003 also suggested that a strengthening of international environmental governance, as called for at the Summit, might include an upgrading of UNEP into an UN specialised agency with a broadly based mandate on environmental matters.[110]

99. We believe that the status of UNEP should be enhanced to reflect its important role as the key UN facility relating to environmental protection and sustainable development. We would like to see the UK Government actively support and progress such reform.

99   For example, the General Affairs and External Relations Council (30 September 2002) the Agriculture and Fisheries Council (15 October 2002), the and the Environment Council (17 October 2002). 1. The Agriculture and Fisheries Council on 14/15 October 2002 fully associated itself with all the commitments made at both Doha and Johannesburg and committed to take them into account in deciding upon the future course of the Common Agricultural Policy and the Common Fisheries Policy. Back

100   See www.unece.org/env/wgso/index_kyivconf.htm. Back

101   GARC met on 30 September 2002 and was the first EU Council formation to assess the outcomes of WSSD and outline follow-up plans. Back

102   Under the UK EU Presidency, the Cardiff European Council of June 1998 invited all relevant formations of the Council of Ministers to establish their own strategies for giving effect to environmental integration and sustainable development within their respective policy areas. This process of environmental policy integration has become known as "The Cardiff Process".  Back

103   See Environment Council Conclusions, 17 october 2002, http://ue.eu.int/pressData/en/envir/72808.pdf. Environment Council Ministers also held an informal discussion on WSSD follow-up over lunch on the day of their meeting and exchanged views on follow-up initiatives at national level and Member States' engagement on the global follow-up process. Back

104   Johannesburg Plan of Implementation, September 2002, para 121. Back

105   Q 203. Back

106   CSD-11 took place from 28 April-9 May. The High Level Ministerial Segment was 29-30 April. Back

107   Ev 131, Question 3; See also a letter from EU and Canadian Parliamentarians to the UN Secretary General of 5 December 2002 expressing concern. Ev 149-150. Back

108   Its headquarters are in Nairobi, Kenya, with 650 staff and a budget of approximately $US80 million per year. Its activities include environmental monitoring and assessment, development of policy instruments and law, awareness raising and information exchange, capacity and institutional building, and technical assistance. Back

109   Johannesburg Plan of Implementation, September 2002, para 137. Back

110   Presidency conclusions, Brussels European Council, 20 & 21 March 2003. EN 8410/03, 5 May 2003. Back