The question of creating an equitable system within which all environment and sustainable
development initiatives of the UN may be undertaken continues to pose a challenge to
countries. Opinion is divided as to whether creating a new umbrella organisation within
the UN – a World Environment Organization (WEO) is the solution, or to empower
existing bodies such as the UNEP or CSD through greater independence and financial
support. The solution, according to some lobbies, may however lie not so much in
empowering UN agencies but in disempowering powerful monetary institutions such as the
World Trade Organization (WTO), World Bank, General Agreement on Trade and Tarrifs (GATT),
and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), collectively known as the Bretton Woods
institutions which are perceived as destabilising factors in the process. Hopes are
therefore pinned on WSSD to give a clear direction to this process.
At the January 25th meeting of open-ended Intergovernmental Group of
Ministers (IGM) on the sidelines of the second PrepCom to WSSD in New York,
representatives from countries continued to reiterate their long-standing positions on
various issues. This underscores the fact that despite all the pressure, lack of political
will, seems set once again to sabotage any meaningful achievement that could have been
expected from WSSD.
The IEG process