Issues: International Issues

Over the last several years, NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council), a U.S.-based nonprofit environmental organization, has repeatedly pointed to the failure of governments to fulfill the commitments they made at the Rio Earth Summit a decade ago. We welcomed the decision of the United Nations to take a new approach at this Johannesburg Summit with a focus on action. The U.N. called for nations to come to Johannesburg with concrete initiatives and partnerships on sustainable development.

We welcome the emphasis that the United States and a number of other governments have placed on partnerships and initiatives. However, such partnerships should not seen as relieving governments from their responsibility to meet their own commitments and to strengthen international treaties and institutions to address global climate change and other pressing environmental issues. These partnerships and initiatives should be seen as not replacing, but rather fulfilling the promises made at Rio.

Over the last few months, we have been monitoring the development of various partnerships by the U.S. government agencies and have been actively involved in the creation of a partnership on clean fuels. In Johannesburg, we are initiating discussions with other citizen groups to create a partnership on global environmental accountability to encourage the implementation of the commitments made at the summit by governments and other entities.

We will be carefully examining each of the U.S. partnerships. They must represent significant new approaches and new allocation of resources - commensurate with the particular challenges they propose to address. The partnerships should also be transparent and accountable.

Access to Safe Drinking Water

NRDC is specifically concerned about the Bush administration's lack of leadership on clean drinking water. More people die in the world from drinking contaminated water than from any other environmental problem; 2 million to 10 million people die every year, mostly children. More than a billion people lack access to safe drinking water, and more than a billion lack adequate sanitation. The Bush administration so far has shown a lack of interest at the world summit to improve the world's water supplies and sanitation. The administration has opposed any agreement in the Plan of Implementation to a reasonable goal and timetable for improving sanitation. We have been very disappointed that the United States' proposed new partnerships on drinking water improvement do not include any new funding. We call upon President Bush to earmark substantial funds from the $5 billion Millennium Challenge Account he announced for improving water and sanitation for the world's poor, and to commit to using the United States' enormous technical prowess to address this problem.

Cleaning Up the World's Diesel and Gasoline

On a brighter note, NRDC is joining with UNEP, UNDESA, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and other national governments, auto and oil industry groups and NGOs in a Clean Fuels and Vehicles Partnership that will work to eliminate lead from gasoline and phase down sulfur in diesel and gasoline fuels worldwide. While there has been a global consensus on the need to finish the job of eliminating leaded gasoline (today, more than 50 nations have banned lead, representing 85 percent of global consumption), this partnership is the first time that these institutions have recognized the importance of reducing the health threats of diesel vehicle fleets around the world. Diesel emissions are linked with increased asthma attacks, cancer and premature deaths. Because the number of diesel vehicles is increasing at a faster rate than gasoline vehicles, it is critical that the world's governments move to reduce sulfur in diesel fuel-the first step to cleaner diesels. Unfortunately, the U.S. car companies have failed to join European and Japanese automakers in this effort. NRDC will pay particular attention to monitoring progress and developing benchmarks for future progress as we work with the partnership.

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