Poverty Issues not Forgotten in 'Agenda 21' List

geneva, jan 29 1992 (ips) -- the so-called 'agenda 21' -- a list of targets to improve worldwide environmental and development standards -- will involve an annual international 30 billion u.s. dollar spending programme focussing on reducing poverty.

the agenda, part of the programme tabled for this june's u.n. conference on environment and development (unced) will focus on poverty issues as well as environmental problems said unced deputy secretary-general nitin desai here tuesday.

the programmes will tackle both development and resource conservation, with the two combined to produce a sustainable livelihood programme, said desai. the initiatives will include work in the three areas of land, water and human settlements.

outlining the programme for the fourth and final preparatory committee (prepcom), opening march 2 in new york, desai said implementation of agenda 21 will cost the developed world an annual 125 billion u.s. dollars in concessional aid to the developing world.

the third world is expected to match this with four to five times this amount in new investment and project spending.

the unced summit, planned for june in rio de janeiro, brazil, aims to reform, rejuvenate and coordinate on a global scale world efforts on behalf of the environment and sustainable development.

desai repeated that agenda 21 was a ''development oriented'' document, with its provisions to be implemented by development agencies rather than environmental ones. it included proposals related to commodities, debt, trade etc, he added.

its main focal point remained the raising of living standards and attacking poverty; a global commitment which should be monitored by the u.n. secretary-general.

the figure for concessional external assistance for the agenda 21 programmes, desai said, was consistent with the targets for official development assistance set by the u.n. (0.7 percent of gross national product) and perhaps a little higher.

but they were not intended to be commitments but guideline figure on the costs of transition to sustainability on the planet.

desai admitted that the 125 billion u.s. dollar aid figure was way above the 0.35 percent that the leading industrialised countries were now spending on aid. if the money was not forthcoming then priorities would have to be made.

''we were given a set of programmes and priorities and we have done a costing. now it is for the governments to sit down and see how all these can be realized or achieved."

however desai recognised the divide between the environmental priorities of the north and the southern preoccupation with development and poverty eradication -- a divide that may yet lead to confrontation in rio.

desai said the challenge was to get across the view that the south's problems are global problems as well. if the north wanted a sustainable world in the next century, he said, these problems would have to be resolved as urgently as those relating to the ozone layer, climate change or biodiversity.

''the solution we have to look for is not a final definitive contract -- the time available will not be enough for that'' said desai, ''but rather an agreement on a process towards an underlying system of mutual obligations where finances and real programmes are tied together on the basis of agreed priorities.''

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