Summary: April 24, 2003: Environment Commissioner Wallström at the G8 Environment Ministers meeting in Paris (Brussels)
The European Commissioner for the Environment,Margot Wallström, will participate in the meeting of G8 Environment Ministers this weekend (25-27 April) in Paris. At the meeting, ministers will discuss Africa, notably support for the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) and follow-up to the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD); sustainable production and consumption; and finally governance in the environment field.
Commissioner Wallström said: "This meeting is taking place eight months after the Johannesburg Summit. We must strengthen momentum for the implementation of the Johannesburg commitments. I welcome the fact that specific attention will be paid, in Paris and at the G8 Summit in Evian, to sustainable water resource management".
Commissioner Wallström continued: "We are fully committed to turning words into deeds. That is why the European Commission yesterday proposed to commit €1 billion to a new EU Water Fund. We hope that the Member States and ACP partner countries will back our initiative and that we can encourage others to take similar measures to help give people access to safe drinking water and sanitation. I will take the opportunity offered by this weekend's G8 meeting in Paris to raise the European
Commission's proposal with ministers".
Yesterday's Commission Communication proposes the establishment of an EU Water Fund for the ACP countries with a budget of €1 billion. The money would come from the uncommitted reserve in the 9th European Development Fund. As a first priority, the Fund would be orientated towards achieving the WSSD targets of halving, by 2015, the number of people across the world without access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation, within the framework of integrated water resources management, and would
include co-financing with other sources of finance.
The EU Water Fund is intended to be a catalyst - promoting initiatives, providing information, being a clearing-house, building research and management capacity in ACP countries - as well as an instrument which can provide the missing link in financing sustainable projects and activities. The Commission will now discuss this proposal with the EU Member States and the ACP partners, and give due consideration to the necessary steps to allow the financing to be mobilized from the European
Development Fund to set up the Fund.
Regarding the two other topics on the G8 agenda, sustainable production and consumption, and environmental Governance, Margot Wallström said: "Industrialized countries agreed in Johannesburg to take the lead in a global effort to correct current unsustainable patterns of production and consumption and help developing countries put in place policies and tools to this end. We need to show precisely how the Johannesburg commitment will be implemented in practice". The Commissioner added:
"Improving governance for sustainable development is also an important priority. This requires more effective governance structures at international, regional and national levels. But first, we need a concrete work programme with regard to the Johannesburg Implementation Plan. At the end of this month, the UN Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD) will meet in New York to decide upon this issue. In this context, I believe that the role of the CSD should be strengthened, so that in the
future it can move implementation forward".
Background
The G8 Environment Ministers have met annually for a number of years to address current topics of mutual interest. The outcome of their deliberations is reflected in a Communiqué, which is subsequently fed into preparations for the annual G8 Summits. The next G8 Summit is scheduled to take place in Evian-les-Bains in France from 1 to 3 June 2003. The meetings of G8 Environment Ministers are also an important tool to help promote consensus among G8 partners on major and emerging environmental
issues.
G8 countries are United States, Canada, Japan, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy and Russia. The European Commission is represented at the Environment Ministers meeting by Environment Commissioner Margot Wallström.
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