Archive of daily links during PrepCom 4

Fri 7 June

"It is not in Australia’s interests to ratify the Kyoto Protocol." Prime Minister John Howard made that short-sighted, narrow-focused statement on World Environment Day this Wednesday. In the article by Environmental News Service, the PM reasons that exporting "dirty industries" from Australia would "cost us jobs and damage our industry". No mention, however, of future lost tourism jobs and revenue as marine life in the Great Barrier Reef becomes a victim of global warming...

Will they Finish? As the final day wraps, with four major topics to be discussed in the last three hours, it's questionable whether the PrepCom 4 outcomes will go to Joburg without brackets. While negotiators are not supposed to go to Joburg and text is supposed to be finalized here, it seem inevitable that informal negotiations will be needed to clean up after PC4...

Beached In Bali: A joint press release today from Consumers International, Danish 92 Group, Friends of the Earth International, Greenpeace, Oxfam International, The World Wide Fund for Nature, and ANPED admonishes the embarassing actions of the US, Canada, and Australia as they "shamelessly hijacked the process in Bali" and have "abandoned their responsibilities to their citizens and poor people around the world". Other nations also deserve some of this blame as they stood by and let the process disintegrate. (Perhaps they were sunning themselves on the beach at the time?)

Thurs 6 June

A Call to Higher Ground: Many NGOs this week have made very clear their concerns for the lack of true progress in Bali before the high-level segments began. Calling on delegations to reflect on their true mandate and purpose for being here, NGOs have also made appeals to UN SG Annan and other high-level officials to intervene in an attempt to bring negotiations back to meaningful, measurable implementation. In the words on one youth delegate, "The government delegates here lack the political expertise and political will that made the 1992 Rio conference a success. In fact governments are now taking us backwards from Rio. There is somewhat of a hostile atmosphere, as governments seem to be following one and only mandate…force the implementation text to reflect business interests as outlined in the WTO. It is truly a sad state of affairs. As it stands now the implementation text is the most watered down, lowest common denominator language for what everyone expected to be 'a decade of implementation for sustainable development.'" Our planet is running out of time, yet our governments regress...

Going Alone: In the past two weeks, both the EU and Japan have ratified the Kyoto Protocol, further isolating the United States' opposition to the treaty among leading industrialized nations, even as the US Environmental Protection Agency released a report acknowledging the significant role human activity appears to be playing in exacerbating global warming. Australia also has announced they will not ratify Kyoto.

Thurs 30 May

Annan's priorities for WSSD: On 14 May, Mrs. Nane Annan presented a speech written by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan. He outlined five key areas for concrete results during WSSD. An excerpt: "Water. Energy. Health. Agriculture. And biodiversity. Five areas that makeup an ambitious but achievable agenda... Five areas that can be remembered by a simple acronym: WEHAB. You might think of it like this: we inhabit the earth." (full text)

Wed 29 May

UN Feature Story: Bali PrepCom opens with calls for bolder commitment to action.

Fri 24 May

Multistakeholder dialogues: Next Monday and Tuesday, the multistakeholder dialogues will dominate the schedule in Bali. Each major group has written a dialogue paper, available on the Johannesburg Summit site.

Thurs 23 May

Peoples Forum Info: For people planning to attend the Indonesian Peoples Forum (parallel to PrepCom 4 events), their website at jakartapeoplesforum.org has a wealth of valuable information, on event and workshop schedules, hotel and facilities info, maps, and tips before leaving for Bali. Also, if you haven't registered yet, you can still register online.

Visa Alert! There has been some confusion on whether visas are needed for all participants going to Bali. Latest word is that many countries do not need visas for the WSSD PrepCom, as long as proof of planned exit is provided (departing plane ticket). But to avoid potential problems, check with the Indonesian embassy in your country to be certain before you leave.

Chairs Text: The new 39 page Chairman's Text from May 5 [DOC] [PDF] will be the basis of negotiations during the three day 'pre-prepcom' and the first week of PrepCom 4. Be sure you've read it and share your comments and changes with governments!

Bali Bound: The column on the left has been launched to provide a "one stop" location to quick links for relevant documents and information you'll likely need for PrepCom 4. We'll be updating this throughout the conference as new documents become available.

Issue Updates: Many SDIN issue areas have been recently updated for your use and reference. Browse the issues that interest you, and contact the SDIN issue coordinators to contribute, let them know what you think, and suggest what you'd like to see.