ENVIRONMENT-BRITAIN: Action Plans to Follow WSSD

By Sanjay Suri Reprint | | Print |

Sanjay Suri

LONDON, Oct 21 2002 (IPS) - Britain will launch a series of action plans this week to implement agreements made at the World Summit on Sustainable Development last month in Johannesburg.

The plans are expected to be agreed at a two-day conference, Environment UK 2002, organised by the Environment Agency at Stoneleigh Park in Warwickshire in the Midlands region Tuesday and Wednesday.

The Environment Agency is an independent body set up by the British government in 1996 for protection of the environment and to promote sustainable development.

"We want to build up alliances that will deliver," Sir John Harman, chairman of the Environmental Agency told media representatives Monday. More than 400 delegates will work out partnerships and plans for action in four areas: waste, agriculture, climate change and health.

"Actions will arise from the meetings," Sir John said. "Certainly, we will end up with more clarity on where our priorities lie." The meeting will work out "where the world has got to post Johannesburg and how we can interpret that for the UK," he said..

This kind of follow-up action from Johannesburg is vital, said Frans van Haren, president and chief executive officer of the Earth Council Institute. "If only one-third or even less of what was agreed upon in Rio (in June 1992) and in Johannesburg (Aug 26- Sep 4) can be implemented, the world will be much better off. Everyone loves signing ceremonies – implementing those very beautiful statements is a very different thing."

The Johannesburg declaration "is beautiful stuff, all 54 pages of it, but it does not prioritise anything," van Haren said. "It is just an adding up of what we should do, without any manageable mechanism for implementation."

The British meeting hopes to produce decisions that will lead to actual improvement of the environment, Sir John said. Specific action will have to be taken because the threat is specific, he said. The Thames barrier built to prevent sea flooding has had to be closed 67 times in the last 20 years, and this includes 24 times in the last two years, Sir John said.

The meeting at Warwickshire will review Britain’s energy policy, the future use of renewable energies and how people can be encouraged to adopt more energy efficient technologies. The meeting will also discuss specific ways in which Britain can adapt to climate change.

This will include proposals for strengthening the Thames barrier or building a new barrier to save central London from sea flooding. "Two weeks back we have had the highest tides we have had in 50 years," Sir John said. "Sea flooding is a constant threat."

Next year will mark the 50th year of the sea floods of 1953 that killed more than a thousand people in Britain and the Netherlands.

Delegates will also consider new strategies for waste disposal. At present only 11 per cent of household waste in Britain is recycled, and officials want to push that to a level between 40 and 60 per cent soon. One proposal that will be discussed is to slap an additional charge to households that do not sort their waste.

Only about 40 to 45 per cent of households have access at present to recycling schemes. The conference will discuss ways of raising that to 70 per cent in the near future. Britain’s waste mountains are at present rising far faster than the recycling rate.

The sessions on agriculture will discuss practical solutions for the future of farming. "Consumers claim to want higher welfare, environmental and food safety standards in British farming but do not shop this way," an official said. The conference will debate the relationship between food price and the environment.

Farmers’ representatives will be called to discuss particular proposals that support farmers "not just for production, but as stewards of the countryside," Sir John said. "We will discuss ways of running farms that are economically viable and environmentally sensitive."

Delegates will include officials, farmers, non-governmental organisations and business representatives. Mike Childs of Friends of the Earth and Judith Hackitt of the Chemicals Industries Association will lead the discussion on the impact of chemical pollution on health. This group will also discuss ways of dealing with health scares.

"The UK was one of the most overtly progressive countries in Johannesburg, and although this progress was welcome, there is a real need to focus on the UK’s contribution," said Barbara Young, chief executive of the Environment Agency.

"This conference will bring together a broad diversity of interested parties who can learn from each other – and who are in a position to turn that learning into practice."

The Environment Agency plans to make such meetings an annual event. This kind of stress on implementation was not put forward forcefully enough in Johannesburg, said van Haren. "There is no way to act on those declarations but to act locally," he said.