NEWSLETTER

                         OUTREACH 1997
             The Voice of the NGO Community at CSD

                 Countdown to Earth Summit II

                         Vol. 1 No. 15
                    TUESDAY - 8 APRIL 1997

                     CSD 5 SPECIAL EDITION

CSD 5 BEGINS

AT A GLANCE

COMMENTARY

INTERVIEW WITH AN NGO

DRAFT RESOLUTION

THANK YOU DENMARK AND NORWAY

NGO VIEWPOINT

NEWS FROM THE CONFERENCE ROOM

ANNOUNCEMENTS

RIO GRINDS

The opinions, commentaries and articles printed in OUTREACH
are the sole opinion of the individual authors or
organizations, unless otherwise expressed. They are not the
official opinions of the NGO/CSD Steering Committee or of
WFUNA.

COMMENTARY...

Balalaikas out of tune?

President Razali of the GA
has made great efforts to allow NGOs full participation in the
Special Session on the Earth Summit in June. Last Friday, in a
meeting in the ECOSOC Chamber, a draft resolution about NGO
participation was discussed by many of the major "actors".
[The full text of the resolution appears on page....] On the
very brink of achieving consensus, the draft resolution was
blocked, ostensibly on the finer points of formalities of the
UN. And perhaps not surprisingly, it was blocked by a super-
power: the Russian Federation.

'Democracy, participation, transparency
and implementation...' Show me one bureaucrat or politician
who has not used these words during the last month in a
convincing way and I will show you a person out of tune with
today's thinking. What is more, people in the international
community believe that these words and what they actually
entail, are integral parts of tomorrow's agenda and tomorrow's
societies.

Time and again we have seen delegates
representing the North and the South, the East as well as the
West, come to the rostrum in the UN and praise NGOs for their
untiring work in implementing Agenda 21. Fifty years of
diligent NGO work has made the UN more transparent and more of
a global people's organization--which was the original and
intended idea of the United Nations. Surely any delegation to
the UN will sign on to this statement. NGOs have been
recognized in a series of global conferences for their work,
and -- if we are not totally mistaken -- even agreed language
in an variety of UN texts advises the inclusion of NGOs into
UN work and into each and every delegation. Consensus
documents even warn against co-opting the free and democratic
spirit of NGOs in this process.

What is happening, Russia?
You have embraced the ideas of participation and democracy,
haven't you? You have recognized the value added to any
societal development by NGOs, haven't you? You are supporters
of UN reforms which include all these concepts, aren't you? So
why are you blocking NGO participation in June? Are you afraid
of something? Your actions are making us wonder. Please tell
us that you are part of today's forward looking and
progressive society, and not the frozen times of a bygone
past./

Tune your balalaikas!
We previously made a strong plea for countries to play in tune
in June at the Special Session. Maybe the Russian balalaikas
just need some fine tuning to fully harmonize with the rest of
us.
Why can't we all play in tune and move toward global
democracy, NGO participation and transparency.

Beginning this June!
...jgs

-=-=-=-=-=-=-

INTERVIEW WITH AN NGO...

The editors speak to Bill Pace, Executive Director of the
World Federalist Movement and convener of the NGO Legal and
Institutional Caucus

Q: What was the resolution on NGO access which was proposed
last week?

A: The draft resolution will assure a much more formal
participatory role for NGOs in the Earth Summit+5 UNGASS than
we have ever had in Special Sessions before. However, it has
not been adopted yet, it is restricted to this session only,
and the situation remains that, except for the period of June
23-27, 1997, NGOs still have no formal rights to participate
in the follow-up to the global agendas and action plans being
debated in the General Assembly or other bodies of the UN.
There remains the very real danger that the General Assembly,
which is conducting all of its "high-level" negotiations in
closed meetings, (including the Sub-group on NGOs!!!) has
embarked upon a path of reversing transparency of its
deliberations and the gains made by NGOs in consulting and
contributing to the policy-making and implementation
processes. This is very worrisome.

Q: Can you be more specific about the Earth Summit II
resolution?

A: The draft resolution (for the participation of major
groups, including non-governmental organizations, in the
nineteenth special session of the General Assembly) presented
by GA President, Ambassador Razali of Malaysia, on Friday
April 4, 1997 was agreed to by the EU and G-77 and other
countries. However, the USA and Russian Federation expressed
concerns.

Earlier in the week President Razali attempted to secure
support for a resolution which would have assured NGO
participation in all Special Sessions which are held following
up the world conferences. However, governments publicly and
privately criticized this proposal, so the one presented
Friday was restricted only to the 19th Special Session - Earth
Summit II.

The problem arose when the General Assembly decided that they
would hold 5 year reviews of the world conferences in GA
Special Sessions - (and many countries are supporting the idea
that future world conferences should be held as GA Special
Sessions)- but, as the USA, Russia and others have stated,
there are no provisions in the Charter for NGOs to participate
in the General Assembly. Thus, we had the situation where
governments are going to review and perhaps hold future world
conferences in a forum in which NGOs have either no rights or
drastically diminished rights compared to the rights of
participation we have had in the (ECOSOC) commissions and
recent world conferences. This would be a disaster.

What President Razali and the governments will approve, should
they adopt the proposed resolution, is that NGOs will be
allowed to address the GA Plenary in the Special Session, and
to attend and speak in the ad hoc Committee of the Whole,
where the final negotiations on the UNGASS declaration will be
conducted. Thus, though NGOs will have no official negotiating
role, the NGO participation will be in line with our
"consultative" role in the UN, and NGO contributions will be
part of the official record. This is important. We have been
calling for "special arrangements" for special sessions
throughout the last year.

Q: Who will get to speak?

A: President Razali stated that he would seek recommendations
from the NGO's representative processes, such as the CSD NGO
Steering Committee, the "major group," regional and sectoral
caucuses (women, youth, etc.). He specifically endorsed
utilizing the "self-organizing, self-selection processes"
developed by the NGOs. The GA President, based upon
recommendations, will make the final decision and issue
invitations to speak.

Q: What are the USA and Russian objections?

A: The USA objection was, I believe, well-intentioned if
poorly formulated. The USA is pointing out that the language
"major groups, including NGOs" is confusing. It is not clear
to most governments what the difference is between NGOs and
major groups. It should read, I believe, that "NGOs, including
representatives of Major Groups identified in Agenda 21" will
be allowed to participate and speak.... But, this mistake is
just being passed down document by document.

Russia's objection is much more serious and fundamental. They
keep raising the point that they do not believe the Charter
allows NGOs to speak or participate in the General Assembly.
The danger is that, though this interpretation is incorrect in
practice, the argument Russia is making is convincing more and
more governments it is a mistake to extend NGOs consultative
rights to the GA. There is a huge problem of ignorance about
the practice of NGOs in the GA over the last fifty years.
___________________

                Draft Resolution - 3 April 1997

Participation of Major Groups, including non-governmental
organizations, in the nineteenth special session of the
General Assembly

The General Assembly,

Recalling General Assembly resolution 51/181 of 16 December
1996 by which the General Assembly recognized, inter alia, the
important contributions made by major groups, including non-
governmental organizations, at the United Nations Conference
on Environment and Development and in the implementation of
its recommendations,

Also recalling that by the same resolution it invited the
President of the General Assembly, in consultation with Member
States, to propose to Member States appropriate modalities for
the effective involvement of major groups in the nineteenth
special session of the General Assembly,

Decides that major groups, including non-governmental
organizations, will be invited to participate in the plenary
meeting of the nineteenth special session of the General
Assembly in the debate on an overall review and appraisal of
the implementation of Agenda 21;

Also decides that major groups, including non-governmental
organizations, which cannot be accommodated in the debate on
an overall review and appraisal of the implementation of
Agenda 21 in the plenary meeting of the nineteenth special
session, may be invited to address the Ad Hoc Committee of the
Whole of the special session;

Invites the President of the General Assembly to extend
invitations to representatives of major groups, including non-
governmental organizations, to participate in the nineteenth
special session of the General Assembly;

Decides that arrangements concerning the participation of
major groups, including non-governmental organizations, in the
nineteenth special session of the General Assembly will in no
way create a precedent for other special sessions of the
General Assembly.

-=-=-=-=-=-

Thank you Denmark and Norway!

OUTREACH labored strenuously to publish every day during the
Intersessional. Small things like lack of staples, lack of
printing paper, no available printer and an overworked staff
often delayed the arrival of OUTREACH into the busy meeting
rooms of delegates and NGOs.

The simple reason for this rather depressing situation was
lack of funds. The editors of OUTREACH made several
applications for support in late March to allow us to speed up
the production of OUTREACH as well as upgrade the quality of
its contents.

The Danish and Norwegian Governments, through their Ministries
of Foreign Affairs, responded quickly and generously to our
application and provided funds enough to publish OUTREACH on a
daily basis through both CSD 5 and the Special Session in
June. In addition, we will also publish OUTREACH on a weekly
basis between the sessions. With this support OUTREACH will be
also be posted on the Internet and will be faxed out to a
great number of NGOs all over the world who do not have
Internet accessibility.

On behalf of the CSD/NGO Steering Committee and the editors of
OUTREACH: Thank you again to the two Scandinavian democracies.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-

NGO VIEWPOINT

Bold, Measurable Actions Required

-by Clifton Curtis, Political Advisor
Greenpeace International

With all due respect to the challenges associated with the
previous four sessions of the Commission on Sustainable
Development, this year's session is far and away the CSD's
most important gathering.

A lot needs to happen in less than three weeks, in order to
prepare, effectively, for the General Assembly's one-week
Special  Session at the end of June. Now is the time for
action - the kind that shows that governments, on behalf of
all of us, are truly serious about achieving sustainable
development.

With effective action as the objective, it also would help if
all CSD participants would agree to join in a few moments of
Earth Summit-related meditation or contemplation each morning,
before coming to the UN, between now and 25 April. For that
purpose, the meditation should include repeating a four-part,
circular "mantra" at least 10 times: Urgent Situation; Far Too
Little Being Done; Bold Actions Needed; Measurable Steps
Required; (Repeat)...; (Repeat)....

Overall, there is a lot of similarity in the reports and
studies detailing what's been happening to the planet, and to
quality of life, since the Earth Summit, five years ago.
That's the good news, if you will. The bad news is that it's
pretty bleak reading.

It's not doomsday, as a rule, but most of the basic
indicators, the critical trends, make it clear that we're
headed in the wrong direction - farther away from, rather than
toward, sustainable development. Two examples say it better
than I can.

First, the official documents for this CSD meeting include the
S-G's "Critical Trends" report (E/CN.17/1997/3). As part of
its prognosis, it states (page 4) that: "Global catastrophe
does not appear to be imminent. But projections cited in this
report clearly indicate that pursuit of business-as-usual
development patterns is most unlikely to result in sustainable
development in the near future. That is, on current trends, we
appear unlikely to achieve a desirable balance of economic
growth, equitable human development and healthy, productive
ecosystems."

Second, there is UNEP's new Global Environment Outlook, which
states ( page 3), among many other things, that: ".from a
global perspective the environment has continued to degrade
during the past decade, and significant environmental problems
remain deeply embedded in the socio-economic fabric of nations
in all regions.

Progress towards a sustainable future is just too slow. A
sense of urgency is lacking."

Over simply stated, one can characterize the attention given
to environmental issues as falling into one or more of three
stages: sounding the alarm, making commitments, and
implementation - or action. Internationally, the "sounding the
alarm" stage was especially evident in the 1970s and 1980s;
the commitment stage became more and more pronounced as we
moved into the 1990's - with the Earth Summit probably the
pinnacle of that stage; and the post-Earth Summit era finding
decision makers increasingly focused on implementation.

There are still many issues where the alarm needs to be
sounded It also is clear that stronger commitments are
required. But what's really needed now - as UNGA President
Razali Ismail called for in remarks at UNEP's recent Governing
Council - are concrete actions.

With that objective in mind, clear deadlines and targets need
to be set. Proposals for action need to be put on the table
and promoted at this CSD, initiatives which will grab hold of
people. If there is disagreement, it should not be over who
can not accept someone else's proposal. Instead, the debate or
competition over ideas - and leadership - should be over whose
proposals are the most inspirational, far reaching and
responsive to the urgent threats we face.

This is the sort of logic that underlay the "Priority Issues"
statement that my organization, Greenpeace, has put forward
for consideration at this CSD, and at "Earth Summit 2." It's
the same logic that underlay the action proposals contained in
the joint, draft NGO statement that was circulated at the CSD
intersessional - a document that contains NGO "Recommendations
for Actions and Commitments" on nearly 50 issues.
Accomplishing the needed actions on issues like climate
change, forests, toxic chemicals, fisheries, finances,
corporate accountability and others, will not be easy. But all
the evidence points to the fact that, if we do not act now, it
will only be a lot harder and more demanding later. Moreover,
there are lots of creative solutions out there, now. They
offer pathways into the future that allow us to "step lightly
on the planet" while, at the same time, providing economically
and socially beneficial returns on our investment.

What really needs to happen during this 3-week CSD is for the
interventions by governments, IGOs and NGOs to play off of
each other, pushing consensus in the direction of the "highest
common denominator" of decision making, rather than the
lowest. That is possible, doable, and the time is now.

(Repeat)...Urgent Situation; Far Too Little Being Done; Bold
Actions Needed; Measurable Steps Required; (Repeat)....

-=-=-=-=-=-=-

NEWS FROM THE CONFERENCE ROOM (at the Church Center)

Over this past weekend, NGOs met at the UN Church Center to
discuss and improve upon the NGO common position paper Towards
Earth Summit II. Substantive changes have been made on various
points and they will continue to meet throughout the first
week of CSD 5 to fine tune the document. Upon completion, it
will be available in Conference Room E. OUTREACH will keep you
posted.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-

ANNOUNCEMENTS

                       NGO REGISTRATION

Registration of NGOs will take place at a Registration Desk
located in the Public Lobby of the General Assembly Building
(enter through the Visitor's Entrance located on 1st Avenue
and 45th Street). For security purposes, all representatives
are requested to bring a photo ID (i.e. passport or drivers
license), as well as a copy of their letter of accreditation
from their organization. Passes will not be available for
persons whose names have not been communicated in advance.

Schedule for registration:

Tuesday, 8 April
     9:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m.
Wednesday, 9 April
     10:00 a.m.-1:00 p.m.
Monday, 14 April
     9:00 a.m.-11:00 a.m.
Tuesday, 15 April
     9:00 a.m.-11:00 a.m.

NOTE: At all other times, please call the NGO Section at (212)
963-4843 or (212) 963-4846 from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. for
information on how to secure your passes.

                       ________________

                  REQUESTS FOR MEETING SPACE
                          8-25 April

IN THE UNITED NATIONS BUILDING...
Contact:
Ms. Zehra Aydin, Major Groups Focal Point
2 UN Plaza, 22nd Floor
tel.: (212) 963-8811
fax: (212) 963-1267

Procedure:
1) Fax your request to the above number before 4:00 p.m. the
day prior to the requested date.
2) Costs for the rooms vary, depending on type of room and
service needed, i.e. sound (cost runs $60.00 per hour - if
your meeting runs over even by 5 or 10 minutes, be prepared to
pay for the full second hour).
3) Ensure that contact person and contact number are presented
clearly in your fax.

NOTE: Space is extremely limited due to an increased level of
participants and decreased allocation of space.

AT THE CHURCH CENTER, 777 UN PLAZA...
Contact:
Ms. Sharrye Moore (not Ms. Linda Arnold as indicated in the
weekend edition of OUTREACH)
tel.: (212) 682-3633

Procedure:
1) Pick up forms to reserve space at the Church Center on the
2nd Floor of 777 UN Plaza (corner of 44th Street & 1st Ave.)
2) Fill out the form and hand it in to Ms. Linda Arnold before
4:00 p.m. prior to the requested meeting date.
3) FOR ALL BOOKINGS AT THE CHURCH CENTER AFTER 6:00 P.M., A
$60.00 SECURITY CHARGE WILL APPLY.

                       ________________

Important:

As of 8 April, daily NGO strategy sessions will be held every
morning from 9:15-10:30 a.m. in conference room D.  At all
other times, NGO activity will be based in Conference Room E.

                        _______________

The HEALTH & ENVIRONMENT CAUCUS will be held from 2:00-3:00
p.m. in Conference Room E on the following dates:

Tuesday, 8 April         Thursday, 10 April
Monday, 14 April         Tuesday, 15 April
Wednesday, 23 April Thursday, 24 April
                        _______________

    NGO CONSULTATION ON INCREASING ACCESS TO THE UN GENERAL
ASSEMBLY
    AND ITS MAIN COMMITTEES AND ALL AREAS OF WORK OF THE UN

WHEN:     Wednesday., 30 April
          10:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.
WHERE:    UN Headquarters
          (room to be announced)

Representatives of NGOs in Consultative Status with ECOSOC and
those Associated with DPI are invited to participate in a day
of discussion on specific issues that are likely to be raised
at meetings of the Sub-Group on NGOs of the Open-Ended High-
Level Working Group on the Strengthening of the United Nations
System, which is examining ways to increase NGO participation
in the work of the UN General Assembly, its Main Committees
and the UN System as a whole. All UN Missions are also invited
to send Representatives.

This Consultation is being organized under the auspices of the
NGO Committee Chairs of the Conference of NGOs in Consultative
Status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council
(CONGO). For further information, call the CONGO office in NY
at (212) 986-8557.

                    ______________________

                  PATHWAYS TO SUSTAINABILITY:
             LOCAL INITIATIVES FOR CITIES & TOWNS

From 1-5 June 1997, an international conference will be held
in New Castle, Australia to examine and encourage
environmental awareness in local communities. The outcome of
the conference will be presented to UNGASS in June. For more
information, contact the Conference Managers, Capital
Conferences Party Ltd. in Australia at: tel.: 612 9252 3388;
fax: 612 9241 5282; email: capcon@ozemail.com.au
                      __________________

            HOW TO SUBMIT AN ARTICLE TO OUTREACH...

OUTREACH will be serving the NGO Community particularly at CSD
5 and Earth Summit II in June. We will make efforts to include
statements made by NGOs during the sessions as well as
articles you wish to see published. The editors reserve the
right to choose and edit any contribution. All contributions
must be submitted, with a proper by-line, NO LATER THAN 4:00
P.M., to be considered for publication the following day.

Note: Where possible, it is preferred that contributions are
made in "ready format," i.e. that they are submitted on a IBM
compatible diskette or sent via e-mail, indicating clearly
that it is a submission to OUTREACH. To submit electronically,
send to < wfuna@undp.org >, marked 'submission to OUTREACH'.

-=-=-=-=-=-

RIO GRINDS...
Stirring it up

Although it was announced in the weekend edition of OUTREACH
that Rio Grinds would begin today, it appears that after five
weeks of hiatus, it will need a good strong cup of java in the
morning to get going.

Given the current UN Staff Union Boycott of what one had hoped
was the estimable supplier of the Vienna Cafe, it seems we may
have to bring our own brew in from the outside.

-=-=-=-=-=-

OUTREACH '97
CSD NGO Steering Committee

World Federation of United Nations Associations (WFUNA)

Editors
Jan-Gustav Strandenaes
Sharon McHale

Contributing journalist
Michael Strauss

OUTREACH 1997
Please send material
/inquiries to
Jan-Gustav Strandenaes
Fax (212) 963-0447
Tel (212) 963-5610
E-mail: wfuna@undp.org

www.igc.apc.org/habitat/csd-97