SDIN NGO PRESS STATEMENT

June 7, 2002

"WHAT ON EARTH IS MISSING?"

Thank you for being here today.

In this Summit process NGOs have organized themselves into several issue specific caucuses. Our collective statement gives an overview of the major issues that these caucuses are still deeply concerned about. Each subject will be introduced by the name of the caucus that has taken the responsibility for that issue.

A common thread runs through our various concerns of the different caucuses.

The statement begins with the cornerstone principles and inherent values of sustainable development such as the need for gender balance, the need for peace and security, the need for self determination and non discrimination, the need for democracy and the need to fully respect human rights. This is followed by some of the key critical challenges facing our environment in the 21st century such as the need to regulate the most egregious polluters of the environment. TNCs, access to water, sustainable agriculture, and arresting the loss of biodiversity and its co modification. Equally important is the need to rebalance the economic context of environmental degradation, and so we address the fundamental inequities of the international economic system. The statement ends with the salient challenge to us all at a very personal and spiritual level: that this global challenge of sustainable development must begin with each and everyone of us.

But Bali has failed glaringly in addressing any of these concerns. It is therefore puzzling to us why our governments have carelessly missed the obvious and hence the common thrust and theme of our statement "What on Earth is Missing Here?"

Women's Caucus:
Shame on the governments here for reversing the historical achievement towards sustainability, launched in Rio in 1992, We women came here to Bali to draw the world's attention to the poverty, environmental degradation, and unequal participation that women face. But the governments here have failed the women and children of the world. We came here to demand and challenge the WSSD to:

Peace Caucus:
Bali has excluded any reference to Peace. War is unsustainable. The so-called war against terrorism is doing little to alleviate the war against our environment and the human rights of existing and future communities. Sustainability is not possible in a war zone. The military is the most polluting, destructive and costly of all sectors and yet it is the most well funded. The relationship between sustainable development and peace is fundamental to the security and very survival of global citizen.

Arab Civil Society Caucus:
We came to Bali seeking peace based on international legitimacy and international human rights and the end of military occupation and military aggression against civilians, such as the Palestinians.

We insist the international community end the rapid militarization of the planet. Conflict and weapons of mass destruction usurp resources, putting many regions at risk of human and environmental catastrophes. We call for an end to economic embargoes, such as in Iraq and Cuba. They deny peoples adequate access to health, food, and water and deprive them of their basic rights.

Environmental Justice Caucus:
Many of us attended the World Conference against Racism and came to Bali to link the struggle against racism and sustainable development. People in the South and those of African, African descendant, Asian, Latino and Indigenous People in the North are disproportionately impacted by environmental racism. We came to Bali to protest. The transboundary shipment of toxic waste from the North to the South, the placing of toxic waste sites near particular populations, the double standards used in the extraction of natural resources, and polluting industrial processes.

Bali has failed to address environmental racism and its resulting perpetuation of poverty throughout the world. We call for reparation to finance sustainable development for the countries and peoples suffering from the legacy of colonialism, slavery, environmental assaults, and other forms of oppression.

Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Caucus:
Sustainable development requires the participation of all peoples. But Bali has excluded some peoples due to pressure from one country. This is contrary to the Charter and spirit of the United Nations. Three Tibetan NGOs have been denied participation in the Summit process. This has happened at every preparatory meeting so far. This system of filtering out groups from countries under foreign occupation is discriminating. It is a cause of deep concern over the conduct of these negations.

Human Rights, Environment and Sustainable Development Caucus:
Human rights are at risk of being forgotten, deleted, and ignored at Bali. Efforts to reaffirm the role of human rights in sustainable development have been thwarted with even the simple mention of Ôhuman rights' being contentious.

Yet, human rights are essential to sustainable development. When environmental organizers are beaten up, jailed and murdered for their activism, that is a human right violation.

Governments at Bali have failed to reaffirm human rights in the Plan of Action. We demand global guidelines on public participation, efforts to advance linkages between human rights and the environment, and a strong declaration in support of human rights in sustainable development.

Production and Consumption Caucus:
Unsustainable production and consumption was seen as the cause of social and environmental degradation at Rio. Governments subsequently failed to deal with issues such as consumerism, advertising, and over exploitation of resources; resulting in more pollution, environmental degradation and an increasing gap between the rich and the poor.

We are still waiting for delivery on the Rio commitment to national policy frameworks. Bali has failed to deliver a proposed ten year program to work on sustainable production and consumption to reverse damaging trends.

[one such trend is increasing food insecurity]

Sustainable Agriculture Caucus:
Bali had a unique chance to reverse food insecurity caused by the marginalization of poor farmers, biodiversity loss and land degradation.

The Programme of Action fails to provide the necessary measures and political will to secure access to food for the hungry. Fundamental principles such as farmers' rights, the precautionary principle, that clearly underlines the GMO threats, and the "right to adequate food" are in danger of being dropped or diluted. Hopes on movement toward sustainable agriculture based on biodiversity, traditional knowledge and capacity building of local communities are dashed.

We urge governments to revisit their position on issues regarding food security and to assure the effective right to food for every person.

Biodiversity Caucus:
Biodiversity is the common heritage of human kind and not the property of governments, much less of corporations. We have demanded that governments fulfill their promises made at Rio, to protect the traditional knowledge of indigenous peoples and local communities.

The partnership proposal at Bali by mega-diverse countries, seems to be an attempt to get a better deal from bio-tech corporations.

Governments have failed to ensure that indigenous peoples and local communities are centrally involved in making decisions about how their biodiversity and traditional knowledge is managed.

Indigenous peoples have consistently called for international recognition of rights as a precondition for sustainable development. The earth summit will fail if it does not deliver our rights.

Freshwater Caucus:
Everyone from Kofi Annan to Bono, from the United States to Tuvalu calls for the global attention to the world water crisis. However, despite persistent calls, water is not yet recognized as a fundamental human right.

We hoped that Bali would agree on the establishment of an international framework on water, recognizing that it is a fundamental right, a common, and that it be kept out of the WTO. We had called for the strengthening of existing international and national treaties and processes to address peoples right to water and ecosystem health. Bali has not delivered.

We demand that governments agree on a program of action on water that addresses the above concerns. This plan must be participatory, locally driven, and should not cater to the interest of corporates.

Corporate Accountability Caucus:
The overwhelming message from the public is that environmental and social degradation and human rights violations by corporations must be stopped.

Two weeks ago there was a desperately need commitment to a "framework" planned for rules to hold big business to account.

Now that framework has been scrapped. Bali has failed to deliver on the issue of big business accountability and liability.

Ecumenical Team:
It is a global scandal that the nations gathered in Bali did not explicitly acknowledge the Ecological Debt owed by rich countries in the North to the South. Centuries of colonization and exploitation of natural resources have created a huge ecological deficit. Yet, despite pious promises to reduce poverty and provide safe water, food and energy for all, Northern delegations continue to drag their feet in making clear commitments in terms of timeframes, targets and initiatives in the area of ODA and debt cancellation. There is no clear ethical framework to hold them accountable or evidence of moral commitment.

We demand the identification and quantification of the historical social and ecological debt of the North to the South, and compensation and reparations for those costs that are always born by the poorest.

Traditional Finance Caucus:
The onus to raise finances for sustainable development is unethically placed on the developing and poorest countries. What is even more acceptable is that Northern delegates are demanding this be done through trade and financial liberalization. Yet current events from East Asia to Argentina, have demonstrated that liberalization has hurt developing countries and undermined sustainable development. We also condemn the abuse by the United States of this process to push its own trade and corporate agenda. For example, the US proposal to reaffirm the WTO/TRIPS agreement as part of the wider national and international action to address a grave public health problem is a gross misrepresentation. The TRIPS agreement has in fact constrained the ability of developing countries in addressing their national health problems.

We demand the international trading and financial systems be restructured to stem the flow of financial, biological, and natural resources from the South to the North.

Spiritual and Religious Caucus:
Sustainable development will only occur when we have meaningful recognition in the political sphere of the spiritual dimension connecting all life. Reference is being made to the 3 pillars of social, economic, and environmental aspects of sustainable development. The spiritual dimension is the basis to support these pillars, giving the strength and will to take responsibility for individual and collective actions. The spiritual dimension and the need for a common ethical framework must be recognized at Johannesburg in the political declaration and the plan of action.