New World Conferences
Prospects for breaking new ground in financing.Barbara Unmüßig
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Preparations for two major UN conferences in 2002 are underway, albeit it with different intensity. For the first time in the history of the United Nations, an international conference on Financing for Development is to be held in Mexico in March 2002. And just six months later, the UN intends to assess progress and retrograde steps made in what is now ten years of the Rio follow-up process in Johannesburg, South Africa. Whether this tight schedule ultimately turns out to be a blessing or a curse will be revealed in the course of the numerous preparatory conferences taking place over the next few months.
Some government representatives in the North are worried that the developing countries could virtually boycott the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg if the rich industrialized countries do not come up with substantial funding at the earlier meeting in Mexico. Getting international environmental and development diplomacy out of this cul-de-sac is the key challenge government representatives in the North and the South will have to face if sustainable ecological and social development is to be given a chance. Sticking to “old” rituals and exclusively demanding that Official Development Assistance (ODA) be boosted is not the way forward, even if a severe criticism of the industrialized countries, the majority of which have cut their development aid budgets, may seem more than justified. And it is true that the developing countries will require external funding to cope with a multitude of social and ecological problems in the future.
However, in addition to the need for an increase in conventional ODA, the quality and effectiveness of conventional development aid requires a reassessment. Above all, it is high time to put into concrete terms the proposals and ideas regarding innovative finance instruments that have long been debated.