Development and Social Progress

MAN, NATURE AND GLOBAL POLICY Background Note

                                          Secretariat of the Trilglav Circle, 17 October 2011

TRIGLAV MEETING, MANCHESTER, 22 OCTOBER 2011: MAN, NATURE AND GLOBAL POLICY

Summary Information on International Treaties, State of the Environment and Issues before the General Assembly (from United Nations sources)

                                I Main International Treaties on the Environment 

1 Convention on Long Range Transboundary Air Pollution

  • Adopted: 1979
  • Entered into force:1983
  • State Parties: 51; open only to the countries that are members of the United Nations/Economic Commission for Europe; the ECE includes the United States
  • Ratified by the United States
  • Has ten additional protocols and amendments to protocols

2 Vienna Convention for the Protection of Ozone Layer

  • Adopted: 1985
  • Entered into force: 1988
  • State Parties (open also to regional entities): 196
  • Ratified by the United States
  • Has one additional protocol, the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer (1987) and four amendments to this protocol (1990, 1992, 1997 and 1999)

3 Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal

  • Adopted: 1989
  • Entered into force: 1992
  • State Parties (open also to regional entities): 178
  • Ratified by the United States
  • Has one amendment (1995) and one additional protocol (1999)

4 Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment in a Transboundary Context

  • Adopted: 1991
  • Entered into force: 1997
  • State Parties: 45; open only to the countries that are members of the UN/ECE, the ECE includes the United States
  • Signed by the United State (1991), but not ratified 
  • Has two amendments (2001, 2004) and one additional protocol (2003)

5 Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes

  • Adopted: 1992
  • Entered into force: 1996
  • State Parties: 38; open only to the countries that are members of the UN/ECE; the ECE includes the United States
  • Not ratified, nor signed by the United States
  • Has one additional protocol (1999) and one amendment (2003)

6  Convention on the Transboundary Effects of Industrial Accidents

  • Adopted: 1992
  • Entered into force: 2000
  • State Parties: 40; open only to the countries that are members of the UN/ECE; the ECE includes the United States
  • Signed by the United States (1992), but not ratified

7 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

  • Adopted:1992
  • Entered into force: 1994
  • State Parties (open also to regional entities): 195
  • Ratified by the United States
  • Has one additional protocol, the Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Convention on Climate Change(1997) and one amendment to this protocol (2006)
  • The Kyoto Protocol came into force in 2005. It has 192 state parties. The United States signed the Kyoto Protocol in 1998, but has not ratified it. The commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol end in 2012.

8 Convention on biological diversity

  • Adopted: 1992
  • Entered into force: 1993
  • State Parties (open also to regional entities): 193
  • Signed by the United States (1993), but not ratified
  • Has two additional protocols, one on Biosafety (2000)and the other on Access to Genetic Resources (2010), and one “supplementary” protocol on Liability and Redress to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety(2010)

9 Agreement on the Conservation of Small Cetaceans of the Baltic and North Sea

  • Adopted: 1992
  • Entered into force: 1994
  • State Parties (limited geographical coverage): 10
  • Has one amendment (2003)

10 United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification in those Countries Experiencing Serious Droughts and Desertification, Particularly in Africa

  • Adopted: 1994
  • Entered into force: 1996
  • State Parties (also open to regional entities): 194
  • Ratified by the United States

11 Lusaka Agreement on Co-operative Enforcement Operations Directed at Illegal Trade in Wild Fauna and Flora

  • Adopted: 1994
  • Entered into force: 1996
  • State Parties (open to African States): 7

12 Convention on the Law of the Non-Navigational Uses of International Watercourses

  • Adopted:1997
  • Not yet into force
  • Ratified by 24 countries (September 2011); the United States has not ratified this Convention.

13 Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-Making, and Access to Justice on Environment Matters

  • Adopted: 1998
  • Entered into force: 2001
  • State Parties: 44; open only to the countries that are members of the UN/ECE; the ECE includes the United States
  • Not ratified by the United States
  • Has one additional protocol, the Protocol on Pollutant Release and Transfer Registers (2003) and one amendment (2005)

14 Rotterdam Convention on the Prior Informed Consent Procedure for Certain Hazardous Chemicals and Pesticides in International Trade 

  • Adopted: 1998
  • Entered into force: 2004
  • State Parties: 144
  • Signed by the United States (1998), but not ratified

15 Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutant

  • Adopted: 2001
  • Entered into force: 2004
  • State Parties: 176
  • Signed by the United States (2001), but not ratified

16 Protocol on Civil Liability and Compensation for Damage Caused by the Transblundary Effects of Industrial Accidents on Transboundary Waters to the 1992 Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes and to the 1992 Convention on the Transboundary Effects of Industrial Accidents

  • Adopted: 2003
  • Not yet into force; open to countries that are members of the UN/ECE; the ECE includes the United States; at this point, September 2011), only one country, Hungary, has ratified this Protocol. 

                                     II The State of the Environment

(as seen by the United Nations Environment Programme: Global Environment Outlook (GEO 4), Summary for Decision Makers, 2007)[1]

First observation: There is evidence of unprecedented environmental change at global and regional levels 

  • The Earth’s surface is warming. This is now evident from observations of increases in global average air and ocean temperatures,widespread meting of snow and ice, and rising global average sea level
  • More than 2 million people globally die prematurely every year due to outdoor and indoor air pollution
  • The “hole” in the stratospheric ozone layer over the Antarctic – the layer that protects people from harmful ultraviolet radiation- is now the largest it has ever been
  • Unsustainable land use and climate change are driving land degradation
  • The per capita availability of fresh water is declining globally, and contaminated water remains the greatest single environmental cause of human sickness and death
  • Aquatic ecosystems continue to be heavily exploited, putting at risk sustainability of food supplies and biodiversity
  • The great majority of well-studied species are declining in distribution, abundance or both

Second observation: These unprecedented changes are due to human activities in an increasingly globalized, industrialized and interconnected world

Third observation: Environmental change affects human development options, with poor people being the most vulnerable

Fourth observation: Biophysical and social systems can reach tipping points, beyond which there are abrupt, accelerating, or potentially irreversible changes.

Fifth observation: The transition towards sustainaible development needs to be pursued more intensively by nations and the international community, including through capacity building and technological support to developing countries

Sixth observation: Decision-makers can promote timely action by integrating prevention, mitigation and adaptation efforts into the core of decision-making through sustained efforts which include:

  • Reducing people’s vulnerability to environmental and socio-economic changes
  • Integrating environmental activities into the broader development framework
  • Enhancing treaty compliance
  • Creating enabling environment for innovations and emerging solutions
  • Strengthening environment knowledge, education and awareness
  • Mobilizing financial resources to address environment problems

Conclusions: Knowledge on the inter-linkages between environment and development, and the impacts on human well-being, gained since the release of Our Common Future, the report of the World Commission on Environment and Development, can be used effectively for the transition towards sustainable development

Now is the time to pursue the transition towards sustainable development supported by well-governed, innovative and results-oriented institutions

             III Issues related to the environment before the current General Assembly [2]

The sixty-sixth regular session of the General Assembly of the United Nations opened in September 2011. Its agenda has 174 items. These are presented under nine headings, corresponding to the “priorities” of the Organization, as established by the Assembly.[3]Heading A is titled Promotion of sustained economic growth and sustainable development in accordance with the relevant resolutions of the General Assembly and recent United Nations Conferences.Under this heading are 21 agenda of items. Agenda item number 20 is Sustainable development, which has the following sub-items:

  • Implementation of Agenda 21, the Programme for the Further Implementation of Agenda 21 and the outcomes of the World Summit on Sustainable Development
  • Follow-up and implementation of the Mauritius Strategy for the Further Implementation of the Programme of Action for the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States
  • International Strategy for Disaster Reduction
  • Protection of global climate for present and future generations of humankind
  • Implementation of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification in Those Countries Experiencing Serious Drought and/or Desertification, Particularly in Africa
  • Convention on Biological Diversity
  • Report of the Governing Council of the United Nations Environment Programme
  • Harmony with Nature
  • Sustainable mountain development
  • Promotion of new and renewable sources of energy

Under sub-item (a) is the preparation of the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, or “RIO plus 20”, that will take place in Rio de Janeiro in June 2012 (the first UN Conference on Environment and Development took place in Rio in June 1992 and adopted “Agenda 21”; then was the World Summit on Sustainable Development, held in Johannesburg in August/September 2002; the first international gathering with a recognition that the protection of the environment was a global and urgent issue, was the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, held in Stockholm in June 1972.) 

The decision to convene “RIO plus 20” was taken by the General Assembly  at its fifty-fourth session, in December 2009. This conference is to include two themes: A green economy in the context of sustainable development and poverty eradication, and, The Institutional framework for sustainable development. This sub-item (a) is before the Second Committee (Economic and Social) of the current session of the Assembly.

Sub-item (h) Harmony with Nature, is also before the Second Committee of the Assembly. It was considered for the first time by this General Assembly at its 64thsession in December 2009. Under the item Sustainable Development, the Assembly invited Member States and international and regional organizations to consider the issue of promoting life in harmony with nature and to transmit their views to the Secretary-General. The year after, at its sixty-fifth session, the General Assembly requested the Secretary-General to conduct a dialogue during the commemoration of International Mother Day on 22 April 2011, in order to contribute to and support efforts in the preparatory process of the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development in 2012 (“Rio plus 20”). The Assembly also asked the Secretariat to gather information and contributions on ides and activities to promote a holistic approach to sustainable development in harmony with nature. The report of the Secretary-General on Harmony with Nature is before the current session of the Assembly.[4]

As noted in this report, the words “in harmony with nature” were mentioned in the Rio Declaration adopted by the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development of 1992. The first principle of this Declaration reads as follows: “Human beings are at the centre of concerns for sustainable development. They are entitled to a healthy and productive life in harmony with nature.” (quoted in the report of the Secretary General, paragraph 7, page 4).[5]

[1]The next Global Environment Outlook (GEO 5) will be issued in January 2012.

[2]The information contained in this part is essentially from two documents pertaining to the agenda of the current session of the General Assembly: documents A/66/100 and A/66/260. These are available on the website of the United Nations.

[3]These nine headings are the following: A Promotion of sustained economic growth and sustainable development in accordance with the relevant resolutions of the General Assembly and recent United Nations conferences; B Maintenance of international peace and security; C Development of Africa; D Promotion of Human Rights; E Effective Coordination of humanitarian assistance efforts; F Promotion of justice and international law; G Disarmament; H Drug control, crime prevention and combating international terrorism in all it forms and manifestations; I Organizational, administrative and other matters ( this last heading is not a priority, as the UN maintains the distinction between “substantive” and “administrative” matters, the latter comprising financial and budgetary questions). It might be noted that heading A comprises 21 agenda items, heading B, 34, heading D, 15, heading F, 13, heading G, 20, and heading I, 54 items. The three other headings, C, E and H, have each one or two agenda items. 

[4]The symbol of the report is A/66/302; the date of issuance is 15 August 2011. It is available on the website of the United Nations.

[5]It might be noted that the word harmonyis of recent use in the United Nations, at least with regard to the title of documents and resolutions. In the agenda of this current session of the General Assembly it appears also under item 16 Culture of Peace, which has a component entitled World Interfaith Harmony Week “between all religions, faiths and beliefs.” By resolution A/65/5 of 20 October 2010, the Assembly decided that the first week of February, each year, shall be a celebration and search of such interfaith harmony. A precedent was a resolution of 2003 on Promotion of religious and cultural understanding, harmony and cooperation. (resolution  58/128 of 19 December 2003).

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