*EPF506 08/30/2002
U.S. Officials Cite Progress in Johannesburg Summit Negotiations
(Say mood among delegates is to seek solutions) (830)

By James Fuller
Washington File Staff Correspondent

Johannesburg -- U.S. officials say they are optimistic that delegates at the Johannesburg summit will successfully negotiate a plan of action for achieving sustainable development.

John Turner, assistant secretary for Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs (OES) at the Department of State, told reporters August 30 that the United States wants the summit to be a success, and that the "feedback" from developing countries and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) is that "no question the United States has been one of the leading elements in solving texts, reaching compromises and moving forward."

"In addition, I think we have taken the lead on commitments, on action -- and on prompting the world community to move beyond texts and words and to start committing itself to action," he said.

Jonathan Margolis, director of the OES Office of Policy Coordination and Initiatives, said the tenor of the negotiations themselves has been remarkably positive. "In fact, I wouldn't say that any country has really been isolated," he said. "Rather, the mood in the room is to seek solutions."

James Connaughton, chairman of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, referred to the scores of partnership proposals being announced at the summit -- partnerships among countries, businesses and NGOs, both for-profit and not-for-profit -- to fight global poverty in a new way.

"There is no isolation at this conference," he said. "It's actually incredible. The story unfolding is one of remarkable consensus."

United Nations spokeswoman Susan Markham reported August 29 that a total of 218 proposed development partnerships, with funding already committed, are on the table at the summit. She said these include 20 initiatives on water, 30 on energy and 31 particularly related to eradicating poverty.

"This is an excellent start," she said. "The idea behind these partnerships is to ensure there is movement towards sustainable development after the summit. We now know who is going to do what after we leave Johannesburg."

U.S. officials have announced a series of partnerships with other countries, industry and private foundations to address the developing world's most pressing needs, including energy supplies, hunger alleviation, clean water, AIDS prevention and treatment, and forest management. Among the U.S. initiatives unveiled August 29 are a $90 million project to help African farmers, a $53 million four-year project to expand efforts to protect the Congo Basin forests in Central Africa, and a $43 million plan for a multi-nation project that will use U.S. energy industry expertise to provide energy for poor communities.

U.S. officials said an excellent example of how the summit negotiations are moving forward was an agreement reached by negotiators on a provision calling for restoration of depleted fisheries no later than 2015. U.N. studies have shown that three-quarters of the world's fisheries are presently fished to their sustainable levels and beyond.

Turner called this agreement "a breakthrough," saying that he was pleased that the United States is leading the global effort to address "the really serious depletion of our fish stocks and marine resources."

He said that "through a painful process at home," the overcapacity of fishing fleets in the United States was being addressed, and through international agreements the United States is trying to get other nations with large fishing fleets "to come together to make our oceans and marine resources more sustainable."

Summit Secretary-General Nitin Desai said that it was absolutely necessary that government commitments to implement sustainable fishing be complemented through partnerships by and between governments, fishermen, communities and industry. "We have no choice but to work together on this," he said.

Negotiators also reached agreement on a provision that calls on countries to ratify the Convention on the Law of the Sea and other conventions that promote maritime safety and protect the environment from marine pollution and environmental damage by ships.

However, summit negotiators remained deadlocked over calls by developing nations for an end to farm subsidies in developed countries totaling about $300,000 million a year, or about six times aid payments to poor states.

In another disagreement, the United States opposes a plan favored by the European Union that would call on nations to ensure that renewable energy sources account for 15 percent of the world's total energy production by 2010.

"A number of countries are pushing for a target on renewable energy, and a number of other countries have said they don't think that a target is the way to go," Margolis told reporters.

"If you look at the energy sources countries use for their economies, those sources can come from a wide variety of sources," he said. "It wouldn't be appropriate to have the same target for all countries for that reason. You have to take into account that different national circumstances might require a different response, and while renewable energy might work well in one country, other countries will have to rely on other sources."

He said "there is no question" that the U.S. strategy is to encourage the cleaner use of existing fuels and the promotion and expansion of renewable energy, "not only within our system, but also helping other countries develop renewable sources."

(The Washington File is a product of the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)

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