By Susannah Begg
The United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), being held in Brazil in June, is expected to draw more than 20,000 people who will either participate in the official conference or in the plethora of related conferences and activities.
UNCED reflects a change in the tenor of the environmental debate. For too long, First World environmentalists have demanded ecocentric policies from Third World governments without considering their human cost and development implications. UNCED shows a tentative swing in the debate to an integration of development and environmental concerns.
UNCED has its origins in the 1972 conference on the human environment. This conference emphasised the natural environment without thoroughly exploring the relationship between environmental degradation and poverty.
In Brazil, the debate may move away from this perspective by more explicitly expressing the nexus between environment and development. UNCED will have to address the complexities of the relationships between resource distribution, education and pollution if it is to be effective.
However, the old tensions are showing between the Third World grouping (the Group of 77 — G77) and the richer countries. The Third World countries are suspicious of attempts to compromise their sovereignty by imposing ecological reforms. If the First World refuses to address issues of importance for the Third World, like debt relief and technology transfers, then the G77 countries are reluctant to act on issues like tropical deforestation and atmospheric pollution. As one G77 diplomat put it, "If the First World won't pay, then the Third World won't play".
The third international preparatory committee meeting (prepcom) for UNCED is taking place this month. At the first two, the emphasis was on the environment, which caused countries like Colombia and India to express concern about costs and funding issues.
Ghana, on behalf of G77, demanded funding for environmental protection in addition to the 0.7% of GNP which is the UN standard for development assistance from developed countries. The US and other developed countries are arguing that funds for the environment will have to come from already existing scant aid resources.
The third prepcom will hear reports from working groups that are
tackling issues like toxic chemicals, atmospheric pollution and land care. The prepcoms allow governments to establish their positions and debate alternatives. Most of the groundwork for UNCED will be developed during the prepcom meetings.
Out of UNCED will come an Earth Charter — a statement of principles on environmental and development issues. Agenda 21 will be the action program for implementing the principles outlined in the Earth Charter.
The Australian government has circulated a draft statement of principles for the Earth Charter. This talks of intergenerational equity, polluter pays and the precautionary principle. There is also a reference to "equitable sharing" of the costs and benefits of "action and inaction" on environmental issues.
While it seems the government has learned the rhetoric of the environmental movement, most non-government organisations are waiting for the national report to come out before making a judgment of Australia's role in UNCED.
At an NGO-government consultation in Canberra in early July, non-industry NGOs were unsure how their views were to be included in the official Australian position.
A positive element of the Canberra meeting was the involvement of young people. Representatives from the Environmental Youth Alliance and the Tertiary Students Network participated in the conference, and EYA hopes to send representatives to Brazil next year.
UNCED has potential for addressing many of the problems confronting our planet. However, this potential will be wasted if participating governments insist on narrow national self-interest.
Even then, the conference may serve as a symbol of what needs to change in our world. To solve the environment/development dichotomy will require a fundamental change to wealth and resource inequities and a re-evaluation of our attitude to the natural world.