Global Policy Forum

By Danny Penman

Ten years after the Rio Earth summit, the follow up conference in Johannesburg has largely abandoned any pretence of protecting the environment.

Tony Blair - following the lead of George Bush - has significantly downgraded his commitment to the environment. The most visible sign is Downing Street's decision not to send Michael Meacher, the environment minister, to the conference.

Mr Meacher is widely regarded as one of the most experienced environment ministers in the world and is considered to be a master of his brief. His attendance is so symbolic of Britain's commitment to the environment that Friends of the Earth has offered to pay his airfare.

Even if Mr Meacher eventually attends, the government is quietly watering down its hard commitments on the environment.

The 1992 Rio Earth summit gave rise to the Kyoto treaty to limit global warming. Rio also gave birth to the Biodiversity Convention, designed to preserve the Earth's most important ecosystems, and Agenda 21, which aimed to foster "sustainable development" at a local level.

By contrast, the aims of the Johannesburg summit are shrouded in fluffy language that is virtually impossible to pin down. The UN aims for "a political declaration at the highest level" on sustainable development. It also wants "a negotiated plan of implementation and recognition of the initiatives being taken around the world in support of sustainable development".

When pushed, officials are slightly less mercurial and say that the summit aims to feed the poor, and provide them with clean water and electricity. Nobody is sure how such lofty aims will be achieved and, so far at least, no concrete proposals are to be laid before the 106 world leaders who are expected to attend.

The downgrading of the conference's aims is a direct result of pressure from the US government and transnational corporations. They are following the trail laid by George Bush Sr, who almost sank the Rio summit by refusing to attend. He eventually spent a few hours at the conference.

George Bush Jr has not said whether he will attend the Johannesburg summit or not. To accommodate him, the UN has moved the conference dates to avoid the September 11 anniversary - inconveniencing the other 65,000 delegates.

The US is now focusing entirely on pushing a free trade agenda through the World Trade Organisation (WTO). In the process, Mr Bush has already undermined the achievements of the Rio summit by abandoning the US's commitment to the Kyoto treaty. The US has also shown its contempt for a host of other international agreements.

Britain's main aim is to encourage developing nations to adopt public-private partnerships to foster economic development and protect the environment. Poor countries will also be encouraged to open up their markets and to abide by the rules laid down by the WTO.

The WTO has already shown its willingness to undermine environmental treaties. But it is most influential behind the scenes, where its rules work to diminish the impact of environmental policy.

Britain, for example, has recently been forced to abandon a proposed ban on peat imports. Peat is often "strip-mined", which causes immense environmental damage. Such a ban would never have withstood a challenge in the WTO's quasi- courts, as banning imports for environmental, social or animal welfare reasons is illegal under its rules. Accordingly, the government abandoned the ban before even considering it in detail.

The EU has dropped similar bans on cosmetics tested on animals. Even the US has been caught in the WTO web. It has been forced to scrap a ban on tuna caught in dolphin-killing driftnets

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