UNEP The First 40 Years This section highlights the 40th Anniversary Publication

302 Pages·2013·11.55 MB·English

UNEP
THE FIRST 40 YEARS
A NARRATIVE
BY STANLEY JOHNSON

THE FIRST 40 YEARS
A NARRATIVE
BY STANLEY JOHNSON
Director of Publication: Nick Nuttall
Coordinators: Naomi Poulton, Mohamed Atani
Editor: Jonathan Clayton
Editorial Assistant: Rajinder Sian
Design team: William Orlale, Enid Ngaira
Printing: UNON/Publishing Section Services, Nairobi/ISO 14001:2004-certified
© United Nations Environment Programme, 2012
ISBN: 978-92-807-3314-3
DCP/1628/NA
The contents of this book do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of UNEP or the editors, nor are
they an official record. The designations employed and the presentation do not imply the expressions of any
opinion whatsoever on the part of UNEP concerning the legal status of any country, territory or city or its
authority or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries.
* All dollar ($) amounts refer to US dollars.
UNEP promotes
environmentally sound practices
globally and in its own activities. This
report is printed on paper from sustainable
forests including recycled fibre. The paper is
chlorine free and the inks vegetable-based.
Our distribution policy aims to reduce
UNEP’s carbon footprint.
2 UNEP THE FIRST 40 YEARS - A NARRATIVE BY STANLEY JOHNSON
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
T
he author would like to express his warmest thanks to Hussein by different countries, and indeed different individual personalities, in
Abaza, Dr. Wolfgang Burhenne, Lars-Göran Engfelt, Sir Martin some of the key decisions. Those reports are no longer available. Nor is it
Holdgate, Dr. Maria Ivanova, Henrik Slotte, Aldo Manos, Iwona easy to locate, after a lapse of time, the actual texts of speeches delivered
Rummel-Bulska, Peter Sand, Robert Vagg, Scott Vaughan and by country representatives in the Governing Council and elsewhere.
Peter Usher for reading and commenting on various sections of this book.
But the reality is not in doubt. Though UNEP — as this account will
He would also like to express his appreciation to the current Executive
make clear — has benefitted immensely from the inspired leadership of
Director of UNEP, Mr. Achim Steiner, and to all four previous Executive
successive Executive Directors, as well as a loyal and hard-working staff, the
Directors, namely Mr. Maurice Strong, Mr. Mostafa Tolba, Ms. Elizabeth
contribution of the Governing Council has without doubt been the single
Dowdeswell and Professor Klaus Töpfer, for their willingness to be
most important factor in assuring the Organization’s viability and success.
interviewed in the course of this project.
It seems likely, following the decisions taken at the United Nations
The author would like to thank many other members of UNEP’s staff,
“Rio+20” Conference on Sustainable Development in June 2012, that
past and present, who contributed their own recollections of, and insights
the United Nations General Assembly will soon decide to open the
into, UNEP’s work over the last 40 years.
membership of UNEP’s Governing Council to all the members of the
In addition to UNEP’s staff, the author is immensely grateful to members United Nations.
of UNEP’s Governing Council, both individually and collectively. In a very
real sense, UNEP’s Governing Council has been one of the principal actors, If that does indeed happen, it can be seen as a well-earned tribute to the
if not the principal actor, in this unfolding drama. In an ideal world, the dedicated and often inspired work of the Governing Council as currently
UN would still have retained the verbatim reports of its meetings which constituted over the last 40 years, work which has been chronicled, in
would have made it possible for the historian to identify the part played part at least, however imperfectly, in the pages of this book.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 3
44 UNEP THE FIRST 40 YEARS - A NARRATIVE BY STANLEY JOHNSON
CONTENTS
THE FIRST 40 YEARS OF
THE UNITED NATIONS ENVIRONMENT PROGRAMME
Chapter 1:
THE BIRTH OF UNEP — THE UNITED NATIONS CONFERENCE ON THE HUMAN ENVIRONMENT,
Chapter 2:
STOCKHOLM, June 1972 .........................................................................................................................................................................................Page 7
Chapter 3:
FINDING A HOME ...................................................................................................................................................................................................Page 27
Chapter 4:
FIRST UNEP GOVERNING COUNCIL, June 1973 ........................................................................................................................................Page 39
Chapter 5:
HARAMBEE! UNEP COMES TO NAIROBI ......................................................................................................................................................Page 49
Chapter 6.
MEDITERRANEAN ACTION PLAN — REGIONAL SEAS ..........................................................................................................................Page 57
Chapter 7:
OZONE DIPLOMACY ..............................................................................................................................................................................................Page 65
Chapter 8:
CLIMATE CHANGE — LAUNCHING THE INTERGOVERNMENTAL PANEL ON CLIMATE CHANGE (IPCC) ..................... Page 81
Chapter 9:
TRANSBOUNDARY MOVEMENT OF HAZARDOUS WASTES AND THEIR DISPOSAL ................................................................ Page 97
Chapter 10:
BONN CONVENTION (CMS), BRUNDTLAND AND BIODIVERSITY ................................................................................................ Page 111
THE UNITED NATIONS CONFERENCE ON ENVIRONMENT AND DEVELOPMENT (UNCED),
Chapter 11:
RIO DE JANEIRO, June 1992 ........................................................................................................................................................................... Page 127
Chapter 12.
DESERTIFICATION, POPS, GEO-1, UNEP FINANCE INITIATIVE ..................................................................................................... Page 143
THE TÖPFER TASK FORCE, ENVIRONMENT AND TRADE, SEATTLE
Chapter 13:
AND THE CARTAGENA BIOSAFETY PROTOCOL ................................................................................................................................... Page 159
Chapter 14:
MALMÖ, GEO 2000 AND THE MILLENNIUM SUMMIT ....................................................................................................................... Page 173
Chapter 15:
THE WORLD SUMMIT ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT, JOHANNESBURG, 2002 ............................................................. Page 187
POST-CONFLICT ASSESSMENT, ASIAN TSUNAMI, BALI STRATEGIC PLAN
Chapter 16:
FOR TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER AND CAPACITY BUILDING ............................................................................................................. Page 197
MEDIUM TERM STRATEGY, UNEP GC/GMEF BALI, FEBURARY 2010,
Chapter 17:
NUSA DUA DECLARATION, IPBES, GREEN ECONOMY ....................................................................................................................... Page 207
Chapter 18:
THE RUN-UP TO RIO 2012 ............................................................................................................................................................................. Page 231
GEO-5; RIO+20. THE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT (ICSD), RIO DE JANEIRO, June 2012 .......................................................................................... Page 239
EPILOGUE .............................................................................................................................................................................................................. Page 257
ANNEXES ................................................................................................................................................................................................................ Page 258
ENDNOTES ............................................................................................................................................................................................................ Page 274
INDEX ...................................................................................................................................................................................................................... Page 289
BIOGRAPHY .......................................................................................................................................................................................................... Page 297
CONTENTS 5
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6 UNEP THE FIRST 40 YEARS - A NARRATIVE BY STANLEY JOHNSON
1
CHAPTER ONE:
THE BIRTH OF UNEP
THE UNITED NATIONS CONFERENCE
ON THE HUMAN ENVIRONMENT
Stockholm, June 1972
F
Where on Earth are We Going?
1
or many of those who were lucky enough to be there, the first In his book Strong recalls that a young
United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, man with long hair broke through the crowd and pushed an old, beat-
held in Stockholm, Sweden, from 5-16 June 1972 was truly up bicycle at him, yelling loudly: “If you really believe in what you are
memorable. Stockholm in high summer is a magical place, saying, you should get off your new bicycle and take this old recycled
one of the most beautiful cities in the world. It was a wonderfully one! You don’t believe in recycling!”
appropriate setting for what would turn out to be a transforming
Strong turned and shouted back: “Young man. Not only do I believe
event not just for the United Nations and its system of agencies, but
in recycling. I am personally made entirely of recycled materials!” This
for the world as a whole.
Delphic remark was apparently sufficient to give his challenger pause
and the bicycle parade continued on its way.
On the Saturday before its opening, Maurice Strong, the Conference’s
Secretary-General, led a bicycle parade along the canals and waterways
The bicycles weren’t just a public relations gimmick. The Conference
of Stockholm’s historic centre. The bicycles themselves had been organizers hoped the delegates would use them to move between the
provided by the Swedish hosts. Some 200 altogether, they were fitted different venues of the meeting. Given that there were many more
with two gears and painted white and blue. potential customers than there were bicycles, delegates were expected
THE BIRTH OF UNEP — THE UNITED NATIONS CONFERENCE ON THE HUMAN ENVIRONMENT 7
to leave their vehicle for the next user once their journey was completed. “One issue after another — development, population, the seas and
At one of the early sessions of the Conference, the President of the oceans, outer-space, even the monetary issue — reveal to us in close
Conference, Sweden’s Agriculture Minister, Ingemund Bengtsson, had succession the interdependence on our planet… but none of them has
to appeal to delegates not to retain the bicycles for their own exclusive had greater effects than the crisis of the environment.”
use by taking them back to their own hotel rooms! The warning was
a salutary one. Delegates could be seen shame-facedly wheeling the Olaf Palme, Prime Minister of Sweden, then gave an address of
bicycles out of their hotel lobbies the next morning. Forty years on, welcome. If some of the journalists present hoped he would openly
bicycle-sharing schemes — for example in Paris and London — are criticize the United States for its continued military actions in Vietnam
at the cutting-edge of initiatives designed to address the problems of (Palme had made such interventions in the past) they must have been
urban transportation, not to speak of global warming! disappointed. The Prime Minister stuck to his script.
The opening ceremony of the Conference took place on the following Then it was time for the highlight of the proceedings. Ms. Birgit
Monday, June 5, 1972, in the Royal Opera House. From the back of the Nilsson, the celebrated Swedish dramatic soprano, delighted her
La Forza del Destino.
stage the blue sexless homunculus that was to serve as the official audience with songs by Sibelius, Grieg and Ture Rangström. Her last
emblem of the Conference — and later of UNEP itself — dominated superb offering was the peace aria from Verdi’s
the theatre. The orchestra was in the pit. Delegates, guests, press and
observers packed the floor and the balconies. The heat, made worse The force of destiny! Given the setting, given the singer, given the
by the TV lights that were intended to bring the events of the next few occasion, many of those present found themselves profoundly stirred.
2
minutes to an expectant world, rose stiflingly.
Strong’s bicycle ride that morning around Stockholm’s city centre
The only empty seats were those diplomatically left vacant in case had been brief: just 15 minutes. His journey to Stockholm had been an
of a last-minute appearance by the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact altogether much longer affair.
countries. (The Soviet bloc was boycotting the Conference because the
Strong was born in Oak Lake, a small town in rural Manitoba, in April
German Democratic Republic had not been invited). Much attention
1929, just before the Great Depression. “The Depression” he has written
was focussed on the Chinese delegation, since this was the first major
“was one of the great shaping forces of my life, a calamity visited not
international conference the People’s Republic of China had attended
just on my family but on my community and my country and on many
since the PRC had taken over the Chinese seat in the United Nations.
millions of people around the globe.”
Minutes after 11 a.m. the King of Sweden, Gustaf VI Adolf, and the
Crown Prince (Carl Gustaf, now King Carl XVI Gustaf) entered their box. He left school at the age of 14 and, with a doctored birth-certificate
The orchestra struck up with a note of determined optimism. It was not enlisted in the merchant marine, signing on with a ship under contract to
too late to seek a newer world. the US Army to transport troops to Alaska. “I loved the life and took every
chance I could to marvel at the marine life, at the mountains and the rugged
3
The Secretary-General of the United Nations, Kurt Waldheim, forested islands as we made our way up the Inside Passage to Alaska.”
opened the proceedings. “No crisis ever before”, he told the audience,
“has underlined to such an extent the interdependence of nations. He got to know the Inuit people. “The Inuit took me into their tents
The environment forces us to make the greatest leap ever into world- and igloos. I was the only white person there, and though I didn’t
wide solidarity. understand all I heard, I knew enough to get the sense of it.”
8 UNEP THE FIRST 40 YEARS - A NARRATIVE BY STANLEY JOHNSON