As the countdown for civic participation on final recommendations for sustainable development looms, the last round of official negotiations begins tomorrow with only 20% agreement on the final draft document for next week's Rio+20 summit.
Sources close to the negotiations have informed the BBC that the US and the G77/China groups are making mincemeat of The Zero Draft Document, dismantling The Future We Want with so many deletions and brackets that the talks are more about "punctuation than principles."
Russia, Japan, the EU and other participants are also decimating the document with protests over some of the major negotiating points.
"The Rio Earth Summit will not bring about the Future We Want, it will provide a stark and distressing reminder of the present we have," said Kumi Naidoo, executive director of Greenpeace International,"A world in which public health, human rights and sustainable development are subordinate to private profit, shallow national interest and 'business as usual'."< a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-18412306">BBC.
Reporting for Third World Network earlier today, Chee Yoke Ling writes “Common but differentiated responsibilities” under threat, in which he analyses how the US and other Northern countries are attempting to dilute "the principle of “common but differentiated responsibilities” agreed to in 1992. Ling provides a detailed preview of the negotiating document as it currently stands after negotiations in New York earlier this month and prior to tomorrow's final go round.Here's one example:
In Section III on “Green Economy in the context of sustainable development and poverty eradication” there was a long discussion on paragraph 51 which covers the general objective and Principles of green economy.The G77 inserted language to re-orientate the approach to “equity” and “the Rio Principles, in particular the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities”. These proposals were bracketed by most developed countries with the US asking to delete both concepts.
The US also suggested that reference to being “guided” by “all the Rio Principles” should be amended to “informed by the Rio Principles.”
In contrast, the G77 introduced language that green economy policies should be guided by Rio Principles, “in particular the Principle of common but differentiated responsibilities”. The Group said on the issue of “guided” or “informed” that there are so many things that inform but do not necessarily get applied in life and that it preferred the stronger language.
The US objected saying that “in no way” do the elements of the paragraph “‘guide our domestic policy making.”
Meanwhile, just three days remain for popular participation in the Rio+20 online Dialogues.
The final results, now narrowed down to 100 recommendations and ten categories, will be presented to negotiators at the beginning of the summit.*
The key categories are:
•Sustainable Cities and Innovation •Food, Nutrition Security •Water •Oceans •Forests •Sustainable Energy for All •Unemployment, Decent Work and Migrations •Sustainable Development for Fighting Poverty •Sustainable Development as an Answer to the Economic and Financial Crises • The economics of Sustainable Develoment, including Sustainable Patterns of Production and Consumption