ECONOMIC GLOBALISATION

As some people see it, the single most important change that occured since UNCED has been the rise of the global economy. Of course, the network of economic flows across large parts of the globe had already been in the works for some time, yet the founding of the World Trade Organisation has sped up a dynamic which is threatening the hopes for sustainability.

The protagonists of economic globalisation emphasise the positive effects on sustainable development e.g. through transnational corporations deploying and standardising on more resource-efficient technologies and processes to compete on the globalised markets, eliminating mis-management and thus cutting down on the use of natural resources by enforcing at least economic rationality; or increased environmental awareness in the consumer countries forcing the companies of the exporting countries to adapt to higher standards. However, globalisation mostly implies growth through expansion and copying the patterns of production and consumption of the industrialised countries, resting to a large degree upon the unpaid exploitation of natural values. Increased competition through opening of national markets often leads, via falling prices, to a growth in consumption levels that usually translates to an overall growth of natural resource use.

Let us be clear about it: Biological and cultural diversity are dwindling at an alarming rate; hard won social and environmental standards are threatened. Forests are being clear-cut, minerals strip-mined and fossil fuels exploited at extremely unsustainable rates -- to provide natural resources for the 'global economy'. Current trade rules encourage unsustainable resource use and an inequitable distribution of resources to meet unsustainable consumption patterns mostly of the rich countries of the North.

In the South, globalisation is often seen as a new word for an old system: colonisation. Globalisation has had a mostly negative impact on environmental and economic rights as well as on policy making. It is feared that globalisation limits southern self-governance and self-control over their own (natural) resources. Many millions are unable to meet even their most basic needs. Political power is shifted away more and more from those most affected by it. Inequality is on the rise, between rich and poor nations, but also e.g. within the societies of developing countries, as globalisation generates wealth and benefits often only for a small minority, generating a "globalised middle class" with unsustainable lifestyles and leaving out the majority of the poor.

Globalisation in the fields of trade, investment and production confronts the international community with new problems since it appears to be decreasingly shaped and dominated by individual governments or the people they are representing. There is a lack of democratic culture in the global decision-making processes. Many are concerned about the fact that political measures to balance the negative impacts of globalisation are far too weak. Some trans-national corporations have more power and influence than many developing countries. There is no intergovernmental body to make them seriously accountable to what they do in one country or another.

Instead, as a consequence of the paradigms of free trade in a global economy, there has been a growing trend to reduce regulations that governments have over corporations, threatening social and environmental standards around the world. Many NGOs see the lack of an effective framework of regulation and accountability as one of the main roadblocks to sustainable development. [ S E E  A L S O regulation and accountability ]

The paradigm of "free trade" and the need to stay competitive in a globalised market more and more become the priorities for the governments and undermine the sustainability agenda. Weak groups face the danger of being marginalised as global economic growth on one side may well mean the elimination of local markets on the other, leading to profit and poverty at the same time. Such marginalisation of economies and people may result in poverty-induced resource depletion and environmental degradation.

The power of the private sector has risen through the WTO whose legally binding rules threaten to override all other sustainable development agreements, instruments, declarations or action plans. The WTO, formally not integrated into the UN structure and often seen as a rich nation's club to promote their own interests, has created a global governance system for many issues that are deeply relevant to sustainable development. [ S E E  A L S O what is the WTO? ]

As the unrestricted mobility of capital and goods is the prime focus of the WTO agenda, the sustainability issue has usually lost disputes against the paradigm of free trade and short term free trade interests. The WTO has an incredibly effective built-in enforcement mechanism (impose sanctions against non-compliant countries), whereas environmental agreements usually lack teeth for proper enforcement.

The most extensively globalised market is the one that deals in the least physical of all commodities: money. The operations of finance markets, shares, loans and currency stocks have become digitalized, and their owners can be switched on an electronic impulse, quite regardless of borders or geographical distance. At the same time, the unrestricted flow of capital has proven to be able to smash entire economies. A global political movement is emerging and demanding more control over transnational capital, e.g. by reducing currency speculation through the introduction of the so-called Tobin Tax. [ R E S O U R C E Tobin Tax for Social Development ]

Mass demonstrations in Seattle, Washington, Prague and other cities express public outrage and press for urgent solutions for the problems the global economy imposes to people. Even the World Bank now refers to the "inadequacy of regulatory and supervisory frameworks both at the global and country levels." (World Bank, 2000)

JOHANNESBURG CHALLENGES

Generally, the paradigms of the globalised economy need to be balanced with an active and international civil society and a sound focus on equity and justice. It is essential to balance "the freedom enjoyed by the few with global rules to protect the many" (Ibis, Denmark).

The heads of state at the WSSD will have to answer questions about how they plan to reach meaningful global environmental and social agreements in the light of a globalised economy -- with the necessary enforcement mechanisms. A first step, as NGOs are advocating, would be to ensure that Multilateral Environmental Agreements can not be overruled by the WTO. The increasing role of TNCs is another issue that needs to be addressed. Making TNCs legally accountable to citizens everywhere in the world and establishing rules for transparency and accountability are further first steps that heads of state have the chance to agree upon in South Africa.

Many NGOs argue, the WTO trading system is asymmetric and imbalanced and imposes an unjust and inequitable burden on the poorer countries, while its structure and the decision-making processes lack transparency. The WSSD offers the chance to set up a process to review the impacts of current trade agreements and the legally binding rules of the WTO and to initiate its unavoidable reform to ensure more internal and external transparency and implement sustainable development as the final objective of all aspects of the WTO agenda. To bring the WTO formally under the umbrella of the United Nations is also an option many NGOs are advocating.

The WSSD is an opportunity to pave the way for effective global governance (or effective multlateralism) to overcome the pressure of globalisation drifting to low-level environmental policies and neglecting local ecological conditions as well as the diversity of preferences and priorities across and within nations. [ S E E  A L S O global environmental governance ]

Several Months before the WSSD, in early 2002, the UN Financing for Development summit, offers a unique opportunity to consider and implement strategies of corporate accountability, so as to make private sector investments responsible to the needs and aspirations of the world's people and to promote a development that leads to the full realisation of all citizens' human capacities and aspirations. [ S E E  A L S O financing for development ]