By Mario Osava
RIO DE JANEIRO, Mar 15 1997 (IPS)

Brazil, like most other countries, did not fulfill commitments made at the 1992 Earth Summit, but has put itself on the spot by hosting the “Rio plus Five” evaluation meeting, which opened here Thursday.

Five years after the United Nations environment conference in Rio de Janeiro, only 80 countries have established Sustainable Development Councils and less than half this figure developed their plans and national targets in accordance with the Agenda 21, an agreement on environmentalaims approved in 1992.

The Brazilian government has done little to meet these targets, creating the Commission of Sustainable Development Policies on February 26 in “an unsatisfactory manner,” in a late manoevre aimed at neutralising criticisms, according to the non governmental organisms (NGOs).

“Its a joke,” said Joao Paulo Capobianco, director of the non governmental Socioenvironmental Institute, saying that a non- independent commission was created, linked to the government, where civil society will have five representatives against seven from the government.

The Brazilian forum of NGOs and Social Movements, which represents 365 organisations issued a press release Monday condemning the new Comission as a backward step in relation to a former entity, planned in 1994 and which never actually came about.

“It is incomprehensible” that this commission be subordinate to the governmental Technical Chamber of Natural Resources, said the NGO group.

This means the government is effectively limiting sustainable development to “the sectoral treatment of questions related to the natural resources,” ignoring the fact that the “most suitable institutional space for this would be the Ministry of Planning,” they added.

Another backward step “even in relation to the military regime,” is that the sectors of society to be represented in the Chamber and their right to designate their own delegates are not defined.

The creation of the council “on paper” without it actually being installed means Brazil is not one of the 80 nations invited to send two delegates, one governmental and one civil, from their National Sustainable Development Councils to the Rio plus Five Forum. However, it was granted an exception, as it was the guest nation.

The creation of the Brazilian Commission was “the first concrete result of the Rio plus Five in the country,” said Samira Crespo, environment coordinator in the Institute of Religious Studies, a leading NGO which despite its name, actually covers a variety of issues.

“It is clear that the environment is not a priority for the Brazilian government, it recieves a very small budget and depends on individual efforts. The environment ministry has no political capital,” said Crespo.

The expert said the idea of the Rio plus Five Forum, had been very positive, despite many NGOs criticising its “pro-business nature” arguing that the entrepreneurs’ participation is indispensible to sustainable development an, furthermore, they are a minority at the meeting.

The Brazilian government, although vulnerable because of the “scarce advances,” which have even been recognised by environmental authorities, managed to show the last five years had not been purely wasted time.

The environment ministry has been holding a seminar and show on 100 environmental projects chosen from the best of the nation, all of which show good results and ways forward since last Monday.

The successful projects, planned by NGOs, local or state authorities are generally carried out locally with the participation of the population. Many both protect the environment and generate income for the poor while solving problems of water supplies, rubbish disposal, health and education problems, generally on a low budget.

One example is the recovery of mangroves in Vitoria, a state capital in southeast Brazil. The 20 million-dollar project benefitted 15,000 families with better housing, basic water and sewerage, schools and jobs, preventing the deteioration of a area important for fish reproduction.

The good practice shows the decentralisation of state action, social participation and creativity can overcome the lack of resources and promote sustainale development, said Thais Corral, NGO leader and advisor to the environment ministry which arranged the exhibition.

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