ON THE ROAD TO EARTH SUMMIT 2002
CONFERENCE AND WORKSHOPS

The conference "On the Road to Earthsummit 2002", held in April 2001, New York, marked the first of a series of events of the Washington Office of the Heinrich Boell Foundation. It focussed specifically on issues such as sustainable energy policy beyond Kyoto, trade and sustainable development, reforming financial institutions and development financing mechanisms and the reform of UN institutions for sustainable development. The conference documentation is for download here.

The Heinrich Boell Foundation is now planning to follow up on this conference with a series of smaller workshops and roundtables that explore a number of upcoming issues in more detail. This series of events will be targeted toward governments, parliamentarians and non-governmental organisations in the U.S., the E.U. and enlargement countries. It starts with a workshop on the linkage between the WTO and WSSD in Washington DC in December, and will continue in January with a workshop on Financing for Development during the FFD and WSSD PrepComs in New York. Two further seminars will focus on the reform both of the international finance institutions and on the United Nations Development Institutions. These workshops will be organized in cooperation with partner organizations, and are aimed to bring together North-American, European and representatives from Developing Countries. The results of the workshops will appear for download here.

Workshop 1
Trade and Sustainable Development, December 2001

This workshop explored possible institutional linkages between WTO and multilateral environmental treaties, and specifically focussed on a possible mechanism for conflict resolution between those treaties and the WTO as well as on the role that existing environmental institutions like UNEP should play in that context. MORE

Workshop 2
Reforming Financial Institutions and Development Financing Mechanisms, January 27 2002

This workshop will discuss how financing for sustainable development can be improved to further the implementation of the Rio commitments and to increase developing countries' acceptance to continue on the path of global environmental cooperation. The debate should focus on the reform of the Global Environment facility, a next phase of the G8 debt initiative and the role of international development banks in furthering sustainable development. MORE

Workshop 3
Reform of UN Institutions for Sustainable Development, March 2002

This workshop will explore how global environmental governance can be improved, how existing institutions can be streamlined and strengthened and whether new institutions are necessary. This workshop will underline the necessity that both Europeans and the U.S. take a more active role in these institutions.

Workshop 4
Sustainable Energy Policy after Kyoto, date to be announced

This workshop will discuss how the Kyoto negotiations can be brought back on track, what alterative forms of transatlantic cooperation in the field of energy policy and climate technology research can be pursued and what a new energy chapter of Agenda 21 should look like.