SUMMIT OR PLUMMET: A CALL FOR CANADIAN LEADERSHIP 10 YEARS AFTER RIO.

Produced by the Canadian Environmental Network's Forum on the World Summit for Sustainable Development (WSSD).

May 2002

Report Coordinator and Editor
Nikki Skuce
One Sky - Canadian Institute of Sustainable Living

WSSD Forum Steering Committee
Angela Rickman (Chair) - Sierra Club of Canada
Lara Ellis - Canadian Nature Federation
Anne Mitchell - Canadian Institute of Environmental Law and Policy
Clarisse Kehler Siebert - Youth Summit Team
Michael Simpson - One Sky - Canadian Institute of Sustainable Living

Chapter contributors:

Funders
This document was made possible by the generous contribution of
The Canadian Earth Summit Secretariat
with additional support from the International Development Research Centre.

PREAMBLE

Ten years ago, in June 1992, the largest gathering of heads of state in history met in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Preparatory meetings for the United Nations Commission on Environment and Development (UNCED) began in 1990, coinciding with the beginning of the "Turnaround Decade". The conference had been the most specific recommendation of the wide ranging 1987 report of the World Commission on Environment and Development (also known as "the Brundtland Commission"). In its report, Our Common Future, the Brundtland Commission called on the United Nations to organize a major United Nations General Assembly gathering in 1992, to mark the twentieth anniversary of the first U.N. Conference on Environment and Development, which had taken place in Stockholm in 1972. The Brundtland Commission had identified three global interlocking crises -- environment, development and militarism. The General Assembly accepted the recommendation, omitting militarism, and proceeded to pursue an ambitious agenda for the Rio "Earth Summit."

Emerging from Rio, were a disappointing cluster of treaties, lacking deadlines and targets. Efforts to negotiate an Earth Charter and a treaty to protect the world's forests derailed before the Earth Summit. Minimally, the highest levels of government did acknowledge the threat of rapid loss of species and ecosystems, through the Convention on Biological Diversity, and of human interference in the climate system, through the Framework Convention on Climate Change. Non-binding agreements accepted at Rio included the Statement of Principles and the encyclopaedic Agenda 21. Agenda 21 was seen to be part of the "Rio Bargain" between industrialized North and the impoverished South. In exchange for environmental protection measures, the North would increase the transfer of resources and technology from North to South.

CANADA, A LEADER AT RIO
Throughout the Rio process, Canada played a leadership role. Canada, not the United States, provided substantial financial assistance to the World Commission on Environment and Development. A prominent Canadian, former Deputy Minister, Jim MacNeill, served as Secretary General to the Brundtland Commission and was the primary author of Our Common Future. Canada was an early supporter of the Commission's call for a 1992 Earth Summit, and even offered to host the gathering. Canadian Maurice Strong, who had been Secretary General of the Stockholm Summit, also took the helm for the Rio process. The Canadian government was a strong and consistent supporter of NGO participation rights through the Rio process. In fact, Canada's Environmental Ambassador, the late Arthur Campeau, brought negotiations to a halt by refusing to participate in negotiations at the first preparatory meeting in August 1990, until rights of NGO observer participation were confirmed. The Canadian Government ensured that key stakeholder groups had funding to participate effectively in the preparatory work and the conference itself. At Rio, Canada exerted pressure to save the Biodiversity Convention once President George Bush announced the U.S. opposed the treaty. Canada embraced Agenda 21 as a plan of action -- a way forward in a world of colliding values and eroding foundations.

THE WORLD TODAY
In the ten years since Rio, the world has changed dramatically. The Berlin Wall has fallen. The U.S.S.R. no longer exists, but the long-awaited "peace dividend" never materialized. The World Trade Organization was created and Canada came under the North American Free Trade Agreement. Industrialized country governments largely abandoned the "Rio Bargain." Overseas Development Assistance, promised at Rio to rise to 0.7% of GDP, fell everywhere, except a handful of countries. Commitments to reduce greenhouse gases and protect biodiversity were honoured more in the breach than in the implementation. The opportunities created by the vast wealth of the marketplace in the 1990s were squandered. Equity and social justice were ignored. The rising tides of global affluence lifted all yachts; not all boats. Arguably, September 11th was the result. Now the world is consumed with security concerns.

As a result, we are more insecure than at any time in nearly two decades. The world is wracked by conflicts in the Middle East and Africa. We face the collapse of natural ecosystems beyond what could have been imagined in 1992. Global efforts to address issues, such as climate change, have been dangerously forestalled. It is time to take stock, to look back in order to go forwards.

A LOST DECADE?
Why have we failed to develop sustainably? What part has Canada played or not played? For seven years during the turnaround decade Canada enjoyed the highest quality of life on the United Nations index. If any country should have contributed, should have succeeded to meet the challenges of Agenda 21 it should have been our "true North strong and free". Not only did we fail ourselves, we failed the many nations with whom we share this fragile planet.

The youth of Canada are demanding to know when our promises to protect the planet will be met. Canada's leaders are at centre stage in global politics with our Prime Minister the chair of the G-8 and our Federal Environment Minister at the helm of the United Nations Environment Program. How will Canada's leaders exert their considerable influence at the coming political gatherings at Kananaskis and Johannesburg?

WHERE TO GO FROM HERE? AN NGO ASSESSMENT
This report examines failures and points out our successes. It is a response by Canadians coast-to-coast to official government positions and posturing. We have compiled the most comprehensive listing of sustainable development indicator subjects based on the United Nations' own work, as well as the natural structures and taxonomy of environment and development work in Canada. We believe it to be the most comprehensive list of headings possible given the parameters. Each writer was asked to examine their subject area according to one simple indicator to mark the general trend over the last ten years. They were asked to summarize where we stand today in the challenging journey toward sustainable development and exactly what we need to do to get where we want to go in the next ten years. This report is not about reinventing the wheel or negotiating basic visions or principles. That point in history was made a decade ago. We have not asked for primary research or suggested that the principles of Agenda 21 are open to debate. The writers were asked to summarize existing work in their field within the established spirit of the chapters of Agenda 21. This report is about scoring ourselves in a frank way so that we can implement targets, timetables and results oriented action plans in the coming years based on a realistic assessment of how we have been doing so far.

There is a common theme. We have not been doing enough. The required benchmark is much higher. To confirm this consensus each writer was asked to peer review their work. The result is a broad based report that outlines not only where we have been and where we are but also where we need to go. The report is not a consensus document so much as an edited compilation of summaries. Those organizations who participated did so clearly within the boundaries of their own subject matter and may or may not agree with other sections of the report. Those organizations and individuals who wish to endorse the complete report have signed off on the listing of endorsements. We believe this list speaks for itself.

WSSD - A CHANCE TO MOVE FORWARD
The world will meet again in August 2002 in South Africa at the World Summit on Sustainable Development. Our hope is that this report will help Canadians to understand the ground on which we stand when we gather with other nations. No one can now doubt the difficulty of our challenges, the need to look forward positively and to take action with hope. The members of the Canadian Environmental Network Forum on the WSSD hope this report will help us move forward with a determined step, an informed resolve, a greater sense of urgency and a deeper conviction.

The Steering Committee of the CEN Forum for the WSSD:
Lara Ellis, Canadian Nature Federation
Anne Mitchell, Canadian Institute for Environmental Law and Policy
Angela Rickman, Sierra Club of Canada
Clarisse Kehler Siebert, Youth Summit Team
Michael Simpson, One Sky - The Canadian Institute of Sustainable Living

Appeal for Endorsements

The Canadian Environmental Network Forum for the World Summit for Sustainable Development (WSSD) is asking you to endorse this report assessing Canada's progress and failures since the Earth Summit in Rio in 1992. We chose topics based on Agenda 21 and sustainable development work and structures in Canada and asked members of civil society to write brief assessments of Canada's trend over time. Writers were asked to pick an indicator, show where we were in 1992 and today, make recommendations for targets and strategies for 2012, and illustrate where Canada sits in the global context. The report is about scoring ourselves and making concrete recommendations for action. The common theme is that we have not been doing enough in the last ten years. We would like Canada to use the WSSD to move forward.

In endorsing this report you may not agree with all of the sections within it, but agree that Canada needs to take action and bring about renewed commitments towards sustainable development. Canada has leadership potential to protect the planet. It's time to act.

To endorse the report, please contact Chantal Bois

Endorsements

Sierra Club of Canada
Canadian Institute for Environmental Law and Policy
Youth Summit Team
One Sky - The Canadian Institute of Sustainable Living
Democracy Watch
Falls Brook Centre
GAIA Project
Lifecycles
Alternatives
Turtle Island Earth Stewards

Citizens' Network on Waste Management
Forest Futures
Ontario Toxic Waste Research Coalition
Nappan Project Association
Interchurch Uranium Committee Educational Cooperative
Partnership Africa Canada
Northwest Institute for Bioregional Studies
Eulachon Conservation Society
Vegetarians of Alberta Association
Campaign for Pesticide Reduction - New Brunswick

Crooked Creek Conservancy Society
Sierra Youth Coalition
Forestry Stewarts Co-op of PEI
Toxics Watch Society of Alberta
Healthy Food Choices Co-op - NFLD
Alberta Green Party
Edmonton Friends of the North Environmental Society
Nova Scotia Allergy & Environmental Health Association
Superior Northwest Public Interest Research Group (SNOW-PIRG)
Regional Environmental Action Committee High Prairie - Alberta

Humber Environment Action Group
Bow Valley Grizzly Bear Alliance
Rescue Mission/Mission Terre Canada
Citizens' Stewardship Coalition - Port Alberni
Canadian Center for Sustainable Agriculture Inc, Saskatoon
Parkland Sierra Group
The Gaia Group
Sustainability Project
Poetical Asylum
Edmonton Friends of the North Environmental Society

Comité Vertige
Great Lakes United Canada / Union Saint-Laurent, Grands Lacs
SOS Elms Inc.
Alberta Wilderness Association
Friends of the Oldman River
Temiskaming Environmental Action Committee
Bert Riggall Environmental Foundation
Castle-Crown Wilderness Coalition
Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society
Citizens Environment Alliance

New Brunswick Partners in Agriculture
Coalition on the Niagara Escarpment
Tusket River Environmental Protection Association
RiverSides
Corporation Saint Laurent
Conservation Council of New Brunswick
People Against Nuclear Energy
Evergreen
Nova Scotia Allergy and Environmental Health Association
Albertans for a Wild Chinchaga

Saskatchewan Environmental Society
Atlantic Council for International Cooperation
Centre for Longterm Environmental Action in Nf/Ld
Ottawa Public Interest Research Group
Bow Valley Naturalists
East Kootenay Environmental Society
Action Canada for Population and Development / Action Canada pour la Population et le développement
East Kootenay Environmental Society
SOS Gaia
Hollyhock