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12 Rev. Eur. Comp. & Int'l Envtl. L. iii (2003)

handle is hein.journals/reel12 and id is 1 raw text is: RECIEL 12 (1) 2003. ISSN 0962 8797 Editorial The World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) was touted to be a milestone in international negoti- ations. As a tool to facilitate and develop the concepts and instruments generated at the United Nations Con- ference on Environment and Development (UNCED), held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, many hoped that the processes and procedures relating to sustainable development would be reinvigorated, and possibly expanded, in Johannesburg. The mandate of the WSSD was to review the progress of implementing the outcomes of the UNCED, by identifying past successes and developing new initi- atives using the framework of Agenda 21. Many issues were hotly debated at the WSSD, including those relating to the precautionary principle, the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities, and trade. Many participants stressed the need for firm timetables and commitments to be set to enable effect- ive implementation to occur. Although commitments were established relating to, inter alia, poverty eradica- tion, water and sanitation, and fisheries and oceans, there was some disappointment among many non- government organizations (NGOs) that more targets and stricter timetables were not established. However, other participants appeared pleased with the results, indicating that the Summit succeeded in placing sustainable development towards the forefront of the international agenda. Ideas, such as the creation of 'type II' partnerships between governments, business and civil society as a means to foster implementation of sustainable development initiatives, were pointed to as some of the WSSD's successes. However, the real test of the success of the WSSD may only come once it can be determined if, in fact, the initiatives that it spawned result in the improved implementation of sustainable development. This issue of RECIEL reviews the outcomes of the WSSD.The issue commences with an article by Marc Pallemaerts (who also wrote an article in RECIEL 10 years ago analysing the results of the UNCED) on progress made at Johannesburg. Dr Pallemaerts assesses the relevance of the outcomes of the WSSD for the implementation and development of inter- national norms and principles relating to sustain- able development. He finds that it is unlikely that the outcomes of the WSSD will further the develop- ment of international law. In making his point, he compares the mandate, process and outcomes of the UNCED and WSSD, reviews the willingness of States at the WSSD to strengthen international legal stand- ards in asserting international law as an instrument of governance for sustainable development, and analyses the discussions on multilateral environ- mental agreements (MEAs) at the Summit. He also discusses the contribution of the WSSD in improving the normative framework for economic and social development, and examines the extent to which Rio principles were reaffirmed in Johannesburg. Reviewing the prospects for success or failure of the outcomes of the WSSD, Franz Xaver Perrez focuses in his article on the outcomes relating to precaution and to the relationship between trade and the environ- ment, which were two of the most hotly debated issues at the Summit. Dr Perrez outlines the goals of the WSSD, summarizes the structure and environment- related content of the WSSD Plan of Implementation, and then analyses the provisions relating to precau- tion and trade. He reviews the discussions at the WSSD on precaution, highlighting the debates on the evolution of the concept since the UNCED. Dr Perrez finds that the WSSD's reaffirmation of Rio Principle 15 may further its crystallization into customary inter- national law. In terms of trade and the environment, Dr Perrez focuses on the negotiations at the WSSD revolving around the proposed use of the phrase 'no hierarchy, mutual supportiveness and deference' regarding the relationship between the international trade regime and MEAs. He finds that although the phrase was not fully adopted, the concepts that lie behind it were. Dr Perrez concludes that success or failure of the WSSD rests on how its decisions are implemented by governments and stakeholders. In her article, Lavanya Rajamani traces the dissension that has existed between developing and developed countries in international environmental dialogue since its birth. She finds that discord has touched the 'framework, nature and agenda of international envir- onmental law', and that this has been inevitable due to the disparate ideological foci of developing and developed countries. By reviewing the history of the changing nature of dialogue from the 1972 United Nations Conference on the Human in Stockholm to the WSSD, Ms Rajamani highlights the issues, debates and circumstances that have caused the split, and analyses the impacts that this dissonance has had in changing the focus of dialogue, from the establishment of an environment-development link at Stockholm, to the introduction of sustainable development at Rio, and finally to the emphasis on development at Johannesburg. Melanie Steiner examines the WSSD process from a civil society perspective, reviewing the formal and @ Blackwell Publishing Ltd. 2003, 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford OX4 2DQ, UK and 350 Main Street, Maiden, MA 02148 USA. Ill

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