MAY 24 INFORMALS ON ENVIRONMENT HIGHLIGHT

UNCLAS USUN NEW YORK 001072

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

NAIROBI FOR PERMREP

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: AORC KUNR SENV
SUBJECT: MAY 24 INFORMALS ON ENVIRONMENT HIGHLIGHT
DELEGATIONS' FRUSTRATION WITH OVERLOADED UN AGENDA


--------------
Summary
--------------


1. (U) Co-chairs of the informal consultation process on the
framework of the UN's environment activities, Ambassador
Maurer of Switzerland and Ambassador Berruga of Mexico,
convened a one hour meeting May 24 to brief New York
delegations on the outcome of their recent trips to Nairobi
and Geneva, to distribute a new co-chairs' letter containing
a new set of questions for delegations to consider, and to
discuss next steps in this process. More noteworthy than the
substance of the co-chairs' briefing was the strong push-back
from numerous delegations on the co-chairs' ambitious
schedule of 4-5 meetings proposed for June. A number of key
delegations made clear that given the many other UN reform
processes still in play, and the intensive preparations for
the July Substantive Session of ECOSOC soon to begin, this
additional heavy load proposed for the environment track was
more than the traffic could bear. End Summary.

--------------
The Process Up Til Now
--------------


2. (U) Co-Chairs Maurer and Berruga began the meeting with a
quick overview of the state of play on the environment
consultation track. They said their Geneva and Nairobi
meetings earlier in the month showed "a broad similarity of
views" to those New York delegations provided during the
April 19 and April 25 meetings here. Among the views
expressed in all three venues was agreement that there is
room for improvement in international environmental
governance (IEG),and that we should focus on ways that would
have the biggest positive impact on the ground. Many
delegations, they said, stressed that the starting point
should be improving the functioning of existing institutions,
implementing UNEP's 2002 IEG decisions at Cartagena and its
2004 Bali Strategic Plan on Technology Support and Capacity
Building, and improving implementation at the national level,
but that some had called for more fundamental reform of the
overall IEG structure. They stated that there is a "general
view that we are confronted with a degrading environment" and
that "many delegations" had pointed to "a weak and fragmented
international system suffering from inadequate resources, too
many meetings and overly burdensome reporting requirements."
That said, they also noted that some delegations had argued
that the fragmentation decried by others was actually a
positive thing, as it reflected the reality of the myriad
technical specializations inherent in the field. The
co-chairs also noted they had had an opportunity for joint
meetings with members of the High Level Panel (HLP) on UN
System-wide Coherence and looked forward to the two processes
reinforcing each others' work.

-------------- --------------
Co-Chairs Propose Ambitious Schedule of Meetings for June
-------------- --------------


3. (U) Following this short overview, the co-chairs
distributed a new co-Chairs' letter (e-mailed to IO/EDA and
OES/ENV) containing about two dozen questions derived from
previous discussions which they asked delegations to reflect
on and be prepared to discuss at the next meeting. They also
laid out their proposed schedule for June (outlined at the
end of the letter) that would have a succession of meetings
on June 6/7, June 13, June 20 and June 27.

-------------- ---
Push Back on an Already Overloaded Reform Agenda
-------------- ---


4. (U) Following the co-Chairs presentation, South Africa
(speaking for the G-77),Egypt, India and the U.S. all took
the floor to register serious concern about the series of
five meetings the co-Chairs have proposed for June. All
noted that the UN calendar is already extremely crowded with
multiple negotiations on a number of outstanding UN reform
issues including mandate review, the ECOSOC reform and
development resolutions, and a full schedule of
meetings/negotiations in preparation for July's Substantive
Session of ECOSOC in Geneva. South Africa, Egypt and India
-- clearly seeking ways to slow the environment track down --
all called for the Secretariat to produce more background
papers before delegations could adequately consider the
questions contained in the co-Chairs' new letter. Egypt also



complained that the background papers provided thus far had
been produced by UNEP alone and that delegations needed to
hear input from other relevant UN bodies (Note: Egypt also
took issue with the scope of these consultations, and stated
that future discussions should be based on all of para 169 of
the WSOD, which also included operational activities and
humanitarian assistance, as well as para 168, not only its
environmental component.) The only other delegation to take
the floor was Austria, speaking for the EU, which said that
it was comfortable with the co-Chairs' proposed schedule.

-------------- --------------
Co-Chairs Signal Willingness to Scale Back Plans for June
-------------- --------------


5. (U) In response to this, Ambassador Berruga said he and
Ambassador Maurer understood that "many delegations were
overstretched with UN reform meetings and are cognizant that
ECOSOC is looming." He said their goal had been to "try to
accomplish as much as possible before July and August
interrupts our work." That said, hearing the concerns raised
by delegations, Berruga suggested that the next meeting might
be held the week of June 13, vice June 6, and that "perhaps
four meetings in June is too much . . . perhaps two meetings
might be better." The Co-Chairs asked for delegations to
provide feedback on how best to proceed as soon as they could
so that they could plan accordingly. South Africa said it
would have to consult with the G-77 before providing a formal
answer.

--------------
Comment
--------------


6. (U) The scheduling skirmish with the co-Chairs illustrates
the growing frustration many delegations feel about the
relentless pace of reform negotiations that the PGA has
pursued since September, and which -- in reality -- began
over a year ago in the run up to the World Summit. While many
substantive differences may well divide delegations on any
particular issue, a growing feeling appears to be emerging
that President Eliasson has overloaded the circuits. Many
delegations are simply exhausted and overstretched -- a
reality that appears to be harming the quality of discussions
here and increasing the polarization we have seen on many
issues.
BOLTON