U.S. VIEWS ON PROPOSED UN ENVIRONMENTAL

UNCLAS OTTAWA 003134

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: EU IO SENV CA
SUBJECT: U.S. VIEWS ON PROPOSED UN ENVIRONMENTAL
ORGANIZATION

REF: SECSTATE 246829


1. ESTH Counselor made the demarche requested in reftel to
Richard Ballhorn, Director General for Environment and
Sustainable Development Affairs in the Department of Foreign
Affairs, and to Nicole Ladouceur, Director General for
International Affairs in the Department of the Environment.
Ballhorn will attend the meeting in Sweden next week,
accompanied by Ladouceur's deputy, Nancy Hamzawi.


2. Ballhorn and Ladouceur both said that Canada is generally
supportive of the effort to improve global environmental
governance, and in that sense, supports the French initiative
for an international environmental organization. Ladouceur
noted that she was in Paris last week accompanying
Environment Minister Dion as he met with his French
counterpart. She said Dion reiterated Canada's support for
the French initiative. She told ESTH Counselor, however,
that Canada is pragmatic about the effort and knows that the
U.S. and other countries do not support it. Consequently,
Canada is under no illusion that there will be quick
consensus.


3. Ballhorn took a somewhat different approach, noting that
the Swedes were not great supporters of the French proposal,
preferring instead an alternative which would create an
executive board for the UNEP in the hopes of infusing more
focus, coordination and efficiency into the organization. He
also emphasized Canada's interest in strengthening UNEP's
finances to make it less dependent on voluntary
contributions. Ballhorn said that Canada could live with
either the French or the Swedish approach, as long as it
improved global environmental governance.

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DICKSON