The following are the main points from the draft plan of implementation put to world leaders for their approval yesterday.
• Water and Sewerage: Halve, by 2015, the number of people living without access to clean drinking water and decent sanitation.
• Energy: Take action to help the poor gain access to electricity and "substantially increase" the global share of renewable energy; but no percentage or deadline are set.
• Wildlife Loss: Work to achieve "a significant reduction" in the planet's loss of biodiversity by 2010.
• Aid: Says countries need a substantial boost in development help and urges rich countries, but without setting a deadline, to make "concrete efforts" to give 0.7 per cent of their national income in development aid, a target first set in 1970 and which has been met by only five countries.
• Fisheries: Restore depleted fish stocks by 2015 at the latest, "on an urgent basis and where possible".
• Chemicals: Ensure that by 2020, chemicals are made and used in ways that minimise harm to the environment and human health; promote sound management of hazardous waste.
• Precautionary Approach: Reaffirms that a state has a duty to protect the environment from a new product, even if there is no conclusive evidence that it could damage the ecosystem.
• Good Governance: Encourages developing countries to establish "transparency and accountability" in its financial system, but does not tie this to a boost in aid for them, and says democratic institutions, the rule of law, the fight against gender inequality and an encouraging environment for investment are essential.
• Poverty Eradication: Calls for the creation of a World Solidarity Fund to eradicate extreme poverty, whose modalities would be determined by the UN General Assembly, and to which contributions would be voluntary.
• Trade: Restates the willingness of rich countries to negotiate an agreement by January 1st, 2005 within the World Trade Organisation for "substantial improvements in market access" for Third World food products.
• Subsidies: Reaffirms rich countries' position that they are willing to launch WTO talks on eventual phaseout of all export subsidies as well as "substantial reductions in trade-distorting domestic support".
• Globalisation: Praises globalisation for encouraging trade and growth and raising living standards, but acknowledges that there are "serious challenges, including serious financial crises, insecurity, poverty, exclusion and inequality" and that developing and former Soviet economies "face special difficulties".
• Private Capital: Encourages "public-private partnerships" in which private capital, skills and technology can team up with governments and non-government organisations in sustainable development.
• Responsibilities of rich: Stands by the notion of "common but differentiated responsibilities", which means rich countries should take up more of the financial burden than the poor for achieving the plan's goals.