Outcome of the Southern Cone Subregional Prepcom
Santiago, Chile: 14 - 15 June 2001

CONTRIBUTIONS FORMULATED AT THE PREPARATORY MEETING OF THE SOUTHERN CONE FOR THE WORLD SUMMIT ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT INCLUSION IN A LATIN AMERICAN AND CARIBBEAN REGIONAL PLATFORM

The representatives of the Governments participating in the Preparatory Meeting of the Southern Cone for the World Summit on Sustainable Development:

1.         Made statements indicating that, since the time that the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development was held, public concern about the need to preserve environmental quality and achieve sustainable development has grown and strengthened and that this process has been greatly advanced by the reinforcement of democracy in the Southern Cone. Particular emphasis was placed on the methods, procedures and mechanisms which have been established to promote the participation of civil society in the formulation of public policies.

2.         Confirmed the full force and effect of the principles of the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, Agenda 21 and the Statement of Forest Principles, which were adopted at the 1992 Rio Summit, and their adherence to those instruments.

3.         Reaffirmed the sovereign right of States to tap their own resources pursuant to their own environmental and development policies and their responsibility to ensure that activities within their jurisdiction or control do not damage the environment of other States or of areas beyond the limits of national jurisdiction (Principles 2 and 13 of the Rio Declaration).

4.         Considered that the contribution made by each country’s environmental goods and services to the protection of the global environment should be duly recognized and valued.

5.         Confirmed that the external debt burden, constraints on market access and environmental deterioration caused by industrialized countries’ unsustainable production and consumption patterns impede the eradication of poverty and the achievement of social equity. They identified this as a priority task for their future agenda (Principles 5 and 8).

6.         Expressed their concern as to the importance of averting an abusive interpretation of the precautionary approach on the part of the industrialized countries which might lead them to use trade policy measures as a vehicle for arbitrary  or unjustifiable discrimination or as a disguised restriction on international trade (Principles 12 and 15).

7.         Maintained that, in order to ensure conditions of competitiveness for sustainable patterns of production, environmental costs should be internalized and distortions of international trade and investment eliminated (Principle 16).

8.         Emphasized the high level of adherence of the countries of the Southern Cone to international environmental agreements, both those approved at the Rio Summit (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Convention on Biological Diversity) and those negotiated subsequently (United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification in those Countries Experiencing Serious Drought and/or Desertification, particularly in Africa; the Convention on the Prior Informed Consent Procedure for Certain Hazardous Chemicals and Pesticides in International Trade; and the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants). They also reported on the progress achieved and the additional efforts needed for their effective implementation.

9.         Underscored the need for universal adherence to the Convention on Biological Diversity and the importance of fulfilling the obligations contained therein, while giving particular consideration to ensuring an equitable sharing of the benefits deriving from access to genetic resources and the protection of traditional knowledge.

10.       Also expressed their conviction as to the need to achieve universal adherence to the Basle Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal.

11.       Confirmed the importance of the joint statement issued by the Governments of Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Uruguay on 22 December 2000 concerning the maritime transport of radioactive waste across the Atlantic and the South Pacific.

12.       Reaffirmed their commitment to achieving the objectives set forth in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and, in taking note of the conclusions of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which confirm that the climate system is being altered as a result of human activity, announced their decision to move towards adoption of the necessary mechanisms to permit the entry into force of the Kyoto Protocol to that Convention as soon as possible and with the broadest possible participation of the international community.

13.       Urged the international community to continue its efforts to achieve the implementation of the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety and to adopt the relevant measures for its early entry into force with the widest possible adherence.

14.       Expressed their interest in strengthening the follow-up mechanisms for the Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer and the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer, particularly in view of the fact that the persistence of substances which were emitted in past decades and which contribute to the destruction of the ozone layer in the upper atmosphere are continuing to cause a thinning of the ozone layer in the southern hemisphere’s spring, with the consequent risks for the inhabitants and ecosystems of that region.

15.       Noted, in connection with the solution of global environmental problems -including those affecting the seas, oceans and atmosphere- and the promotion of sustainable development, the efforts being made in the countries of the region, despite economic difficulties and social challenges, and the need to ensure that industrialized countries comply with the commitments made in accordance with the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities (Principle 7).

16.       Having analysed the limitations that Governments have faced in their efforts to implement Agenda 21 and multilateral environmental agreements in general, agreed on the importance of defining mechanisms at the World Summit on Sustainable Development, which is to be held in Johannesburg in 2002, to ensure continuously available flows of funding for the transition towards sustainable development patterns. They emphasized, for example, the positive precedent established by the Multilateral Fund of the Montreal Protocol and the need to maintain the same conditions of assistance on a non-reimbursable basis for small- and medium-sized enterprises.

17.       Highlighted the need, in relation to the financial mechanisms of environmental conventions and, in particular, the Global Environment Facility (GEF), to expand the currently eligible operational areas in order to ensure that those mechanisms address the needs and concerns of the developing countries.

18.       Underlined the importance of adopting recommendations at the Summit in Johannesburg to increase the flow of financial resources, to ensure the transparency of GEF decision-making mechanisms and, in particular, to ensure an accurate interpretation of the guidelines approved at conferences held by the States parties to multilateral environmental conventions. For this purpose, provision should be made for a review of the parameters for allocating resources to implementing and executing agencies, as well as of the administration of the funds and of accountability and reporting mechanisms.

19.       Took note of the progress made in the countries of the Southern Cone in establishing intellectual property protection regimes, as one of the contributing factors for the creation of an appropriate environment for the receipt and development of new environmentally sound and energy-efficient technologies and production approaches, as well as the corresponding expertise. They emphasized the urgent need, at the Summit in Johannesburg, to press for the establishment of efficient methods to facilitate such transfers under favourable conditions and, in particular, on the basis of preferential financial mechanisms and fiscal treatment on the part of the industrialized countries.

20.       Underscored the countries’ efforts to incorporate sustainability into the design and formulation of public policies from the very outset, in particular economic and fiscal policies, and called for the fullest possible participation of civil society in the relevant planning processes (principles 4 and 10). They emphasized the importance of strengthening national and international cooperation mechanisms to build national and information-system capacities as specified in Agenda 21.

21.       Considered the advisability of making progress in rationalizing the international management of sustainable development in view of the proliferation and geographical dispersion of the forums and headquarters of the secretariats of multilateral environmental conventions and of intergovernmental organizations and the diversity of their information requirements. They determined that a recommendation could be made at the Summit in Johannesburg for a gradual transition towards the functional harmonization of different processes concerned with similar topics and objectives.

22.       Agreed that –as there has been a deepening since the 1992 Rio Conference of the globalization process, whose most disturbing feature is its incomplete and unbalanced nature, which reproduces old imbalances and creates new ones– the success of local management is directly linked to authentic global cooperation in promoting sustainable development. They also emphasized their determination that guidelines and mechanisms for achieving sustainable development should be strengthened at the Summit in Johannesburg, with full respect for the necessary balance among economic growth, social equity and environmental protection, which are essential components of a non-exclusionary globalization process.