PARTNERSHIP AGREEMENTS
"TYPE-II-OUTCOMES"
"With the world's most powerful governments
fully behind the corporate globalisation agenda, it was agreed even before
the Summit that there would be no new mandatory agreements. Rather the
focus was to be on implementation of old agreements, mainly through partnerships
with the private sector. In other words, those aspects of sustainability
that are convenient for private sector would be implemented."
Kenny Bruno, CorpWatch
++ [ The
Earth Summit's Deathblow to Sustainable Development; CorpWatch article;
September 4 ]
Since PrepComm II, a new variant of potential
summit outcomes is emerging. Voluntary and non-binding Partnership
Agreements, referred to as Type-II-Outcomes, would
include action oriented programmes between governments, business or Civil
Society. As these Partnership Agreements were not to be negotiated
at the summit itself and did not require consent by delegations, many
saw the "Type-Twos" as the main outcome of the whole
summit process.
These partnerships had the potential to allow for at least SOME progressive
results from the summit, as they could not be blocked by reluctant countries.
The idea was new, but there were no clear criteria of what would qualify
for a Type-II-Outcome, and NGOs feared that the "good news stories"
the partnerships would take pressure off governments to negotiate decent
agreements (Type-I-Outcomes). Type-Twos were thus part of a kind
of greenwash of the summit, as the United States,
for example, was clearly speculating that presenting attractive Partners
hip Agreements could quiet demands for progressive agreements -- by promoting
them as means to fight poverty despite criticisms that they will help
businesses more than the poor. As NGOs fear, these partnerships will be
poorly monitored and a way for governments to shirk responsibility for
services like affordable drinking water or electricity.
Amid dozens of vague partnership agreements announced during the summit,
German chancellor Schroeder scored a hit at the summit by promising 500
million euros over five years to promote renewable energy in developing
countries. Schroeder's plan was singled out by Friends of the Earth as
one of the few that actually offered new money.
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