April 28th, 1998
PARIS -- WWF-World Wide Fund For Nature today welcomed the
decision by OECD's Trade, Finance and Foreign Affairs Ministers to put
on hold the proposed Multilateral Agreement on Investment (MAI) due to
concerns about its social and environmental effects.
The OECD countries have stalled negotiations to consult "with interested
parts of their societies", and have also emphasised the importance of
open public debate on the implications of globalization. WWF welcomes
the OECD's recognition of concerns over the MAI, and also the
organisation's strong statement that the agreement must not interfere
with countries' right to regulate for social, environmental or other
purposes.
"The MAI should be placed before the OECD's newly formed Sustainable
Development Steering Group, chaired by Mr. Johnston, the Secretary
General," said Charles Arden-Clarke, Head of WWF International's Trade
and Investment Unit. "This group should undertake a "sustainability
impact assessment" of the MAI, which fully considers the impact of the
agreement on human and environmental capital in potential MAI signatory
countries."
This new steering group was formed in response to the report of the
OECD's own High Level Advisory Group on the Environment (HLAGE),
which called for sustainable development to be made "...the way of
ordering and approaching all other issues on the OECD's agenda." The
high level group, chaired by Jonathan Lash of the World Resources
Institute, and Stephan Schmidheiny of Anova Holdings, called on Mr
Johnston to ensure that the MAI directs foreign investment to support the
realisation of high environmental standards and sustainable
development.
"It is regrettable, that while the Secretary General has responded
positively to the HLAGE on the need to test OECD policies in general
against economic, social and environmental needs, he has not done so in
the specific case of the MAI", said Arden-Clarke. "Avoidance of the
advisory group's recommendations in the context of the MAI will only
harden NGOs resistance to the agreement, and threaten further public
relations damage for the OECD," he said.
WWF believes that the OECD should immediately:
- deepen its assessment of potential conflicts between the MAI
and multilateral environmental agreements (MEA);
- require all its members to undertake formal assessments of the
impacts of the MAI on national environmental policies and laws; and
- initiate a broad assessment of the development implications of
the agreement, for OECD and any non-OECD countries expected to join.
"This sustainability impact assessment of the MAI should be conducted in
an open and transparent manner, with the active participation of NGOs
and concerned citizens," said Mr Arden-Clarke. "As the High Level
Advisory Group acknowledged, effective citizen participation in policy
formulation and decision-making is "the first prerequisite for sustainable
development."
Contact:
Charles Arden-Clarke
at +41 22 364 9337 or
Someshwar Singh
at +41 22 364 95 53