Bridges Weekly Trade News Digest • Volume 7 • Number 4 • 6th February 2003
UNCTAD Launches Trade And Globalisation Project In India
FUNDING AND MERCURY CONCERNS RAISED AT UNEP GOVERNING COUNCIL
The 22nd session of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Governing Council meeting from 3-7 February in Nairobi, Kenya, highlighted issues related to mercury pollution as well as funding concerns. The Governing Council, which was in session at the time of publication of BRIDGES Weekly, is gathering ministers and senior representatives from over 100 countries, and other major stakeholders. Plenary sessions have addressed a number of policy issues of relevance to UNEP, including international environmental governance and UNEP’s programme of work, and a ministerial segment will focus on the implementation of the outcomes of the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD). Reflecting on results achieved over the past two years, the Governing Council’s outgoing President, Canadian Environment Minister David Anderson, pointed to the adoption of the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants, the completion of the first global mercury assessment, the Great Apes Survival Project, the adoption of the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants, and the release of the third Global Environment Outlook (GEO-3) report in 2002. Following the release of the global mercury assessment Klaus Töpfer, UNEP’s Executive Director, suggested that global reliance on carbon-based energy resources should be reduced as the report "shows that the problems (relating to mercury release and exposure) remain and appear, in some situations to be worsening as demand for energy, the largest source of human-made mercury emissions, climbs."
Also during the meeting, UNEP publicly declared that the programme faced a funding crisis. The fund for the programme reached a high point of approximately $65 million following the Rio Summit, which one UNEP employee referred to as "an index of the world’s post-Rio guilt." Töpfer stated that the current funding "fall(s) far short of what is required."
"Coal power stations emitting high levels of harmful mercury: study," SPACE DAILY, 3 February 2003; "22nd Session of the UNEP Governing Council and Fourth Global Ministerial Environment Forum: 3-7 February 2003," ENB, 3-5 February 2003; "Governing Council/Global Ministerial Environment Forum 22nd Session," UNEP PRESS RELEASE, 5 February 2003; "UN environment champ in cash crisis," BBC NEWS, 5 February 2003.
On 30 January, India, the UK and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) launched a project on trade and globalisation in India. India will receive USD 8.65 million from the UK Department for International Development (DFID) in order to fund the five-year project entitled "Strategies and Preparedness for Trade and Globalisation in India." The project will help Indian policy makers, trade negotiators and other stakeholders understand development aspects of key trade issues. It will also fortify India’s capacity to assess issues related to globalisation and will help pave the way for policies that will make the globalisation process more balanced. The project focuses on specific themes, including agriculture and food security, the Agreement on Trade-related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs), the impact of WTO agreements on small-scale industries, trade facilitation, dispute settlement, and investment and competition.
"New project on trade and globalisation announced by UNCTAD, India and UK," UNCTAD PRESS RELEASE, 30 January 2003.