Ethiopia, one of the poorest countries in the world, fought a rearguard action against 'big business' at the Earth Summit in Johannesburg and, by doing so, put many other countries to shame, writes Oisín Coghlan
Ten years ago at the Earth Summit in Rio the international community proclaimed the ambitious goal of achieving social and economic development for all, while safeguarding the environment for future generations.
Despite the commitment and determination of many delegates and NGOs at the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, we seem to have been running to stand still since Rio. On the issues of most immediate concern to a development organisation like Christian Aid there is little to show for the efforts of world leaders this time around.
On aid for poor countries, no additional money has been agreed. Leaders have also failed to acknowledge the massive shortfall in the aid that is necessary if the Millennium Development Goals are to be achieved. In the final plenary session last Wednesday the US even had the nerve to say it did not recognise the legitimacy of the UN target, agreed in 1970, to give 0.7 per cent of annual GNP in development assistance.
By contrast, Christian Aid welcomes the Taoiseach's reiteration in Johannesburg of "Ireland's absolute commitment to achieving, by 2007, the UN target of 0.7 per cent". But, given the slippage this year, with the Government missing its interim target of 0.45 per cent, we urge the Taoiseach to set out now the incremental steps between here and 2007.
Once these benchmarks are expressed in percentage terms, it removes aid from the horse-trading of the annual budget. Because the targets are relative to national income, an economic downturn makes them no more difficult to achieve than the boom of the last few years.
On trade, the summit went little further than wishing the World Trade Organisation well in its latest round of negotiations. The international community passed up the opportunity to lay down social and environmental aims for the WTO talks, which currently pressurise developing countries into opening their markets without due consideration of the impact on the poor and the environment.
No new resources for debt relief were agreed and a new report from Christian Aid and other agencies on the debt relief agreed so far says many poor countries will end up spending the same or more on repaying debts. Also the summit has failed to reaffirm the importance of relieving debt if the Millennium Development Goals are to be met.
During the 10-day conference, 60,000 Africans died of AIDS. A total of 28 million people in sub-Saharan Africa are living with HIV/AIDS, and yet a conference in South Africa on sustainable development had almost nothing to say on the subject.
THE Global Fund for AIDS, TB and malaria is still massively under-funded. To date, just $2 billion has been pledged over five years. This needs to be increased hugely, to between $7 billion and $10 billion. A poor person in a developing country has very little to be happy about after this meeting of world leaders.
For development organisations and campaigners there are a number of silver linings which cast some light on the battle-lines of the coming years. The final text on the international financial system, agreed after tortuous negotiations between the US and the developing countries, admits that current arrangements are not "transparent, equitable and inclusive" and that efforts at reform need to be strengthened. Few would have expected the US to have conceded as much.
This is grist to the mill of those calling for measures such as the Tobin Tax, to prevent vast speculative flows of financial capital undermining poor economies.
On Sunday night the UN came within seconds of agreeing that WTO rules always trump environmental and developmental considerations. Norway described it as a sad day for the UN and the chairman was about to bring his gavel down when St Lucia and then Ethiopia intervened with a previously unheard political passion to argue against WTO supremacy.
The mood changed and, with the support of other developing countries and, finally, the EU, the clause was removed.
In the run-up to the next ministerial meeting of the WTO in Cancun next year, those of us concerned that the WTO does not currently serve the interests of the poor will be working to ensure that this was a turning point and not the UN's last stand.
One of the only new initiatives to come out of the summit was the decision that more needed to be done to hold big business accountable to human rights and environmental standards. In manoeuvrings that went all the way to the White House and back to the final plenary, the US did everything it could to ensure that this undertaking referred only to existing voluntary initiatives which have continually failed to uphold standards. Thanks once again to Ethiopia, the final text leaves the door open for new legally-binding and enforceable rules for companies.
If more countries in Johannesburg had shown the moral fibre and political commitment of Ethiopia, one of the poorest countries in the world which just this week announced a looming food crisis, perhaps we would not be concluding that the Earth Summit was such a missed opportunity.
Oisín Coghlan is Policy and Advocacy Officer Christian Aid Ireland