VZCZCXRO3618
RR RUEHAG RUEHAST RUEHDF RUEHHM RUEHIK RUEHLN RUEHLZ RUEHMA RUEHPB
RUEHPOD RUEHROV RUEHTM
DE RUEHGV #0927/01 3101351
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 051351Z NOV 08
FM USMISSION GENEVA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 7387
INFO RUEHZN/ENVIRONMENT SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY COLLECTIVE
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 2858
RUEHNR/AMEMBASSY NAIROBI 1825
RUCNMEM/EU MEMBER STATES COLLECTIVE
RUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS
RUEHSUN/USUN ROME IT

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 GENEVA 000927 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR OES/EGC FOR GTHOMPSON 
STATE FOR OES/ENV FOR JMATUSZAK, ASALZBERG 
STATE FOR IO/EDA FOR RWEBBER 
STATE FOR EUR/PGI FOR DTESSLER 
NAIROBI FOR USUNEP FOR JSTEWART 
EU EMBASSIES FOR EST OFFICERS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ENRG SENV EIND UN ECE ECOSOC
SUBJECT:  UNECE Forum for the Environment Hanging in the Balance 
 
¶1. Summary. The UN Economic Commission for Europe's (UNECE) 
Committee on Environmental Policy (CEP) met Oct 13-15, to seek 
agreement on a reform to the Environment for Europe Ministerial 
Conference (EfE).  While progress was made, there was no negotiated 
outcome.  The major sticking points continue to be in the details of 
the Conference process and whether the Conference should be used to 
launch regional and sub-regional legally binding agreements.  The 
committee hosted a roundtable discussion on public private 
partnerships and possible future cooperation with private sector 
representatives.  The CEP also discussed work on environmental 
monitoring and the possible launch of a joint task force with the 
Conference of European Statisticians on environmental indicators. 
End Summary. 
 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
Reform of the Environment for Europe Ministerial 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
 
¶2. The UN Economic Commission for Europe's (UNECE) Committee on 
Environmental Policy (CEP) has served as the sponsor of the 
Environment for Europe Ministerial Conference (EfE) since it began 
in 1991.  At the sixth EfE in October 2007, it was decided that the 
EfE process needs substantial reform if it is to remain as a program 
of UNECE CEP under the Secretariat of the Housing and Land 
Management Directorate.  The EfE reform process was given a deadline 
of March 2009, the next meeting of the UNECE, to negotiate an 
outcome of the reform process. 
 
¶3. Because scant progress was made in the October CEP meeting, the 
CEP will hold a special session for a final round of negotiations on 
January 27-29, 2009.  If an agreement is reached by the CEP during 
this session, it will be forwarded for endorsement to the UNECE 
March meeting.  Should the EfE be endorsed, the next Conference is 
tentatively scheduled for 2011 in Kazakhstan.  If an agreement on 
the reform process can not be reached the Conference could still go 
forward, but not under the leadership of the UNECE. 
 
¶4. The primary issue in the EfE reform negotiations is the costs and 
benefits of the process to the UNECE and the member states.  In each 
of the last two EfEs, the UNECE preparatory process took over two 
years.  For each of the Conferences, the negotiation of agenda 
topics and a ministerial declaration resulted in more than six 
extraordinary negotiating sessions and dominated regular meetings. 
The declarations, which approached 20 pages, lacked focus and 
provided limited added value considering the high preparatory cost. 
Instead of fostering a common commitment to addressing common 
environmental problems and assisting the countries of South East and 
Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia, the process was more 
often divisive.  Some governments sought to utilize the forum to 
advance positions on issues for which the UNECE has no role. 
 
¶5. The U.S. is opposing the inclusion of a negotiated UNECE 
Ministerial Declaration as an outcome of the EfE Conference.  The 
focus on Ministerial Declarations detracts attention from the 
organization of the Conferences, which have not evolved past the 
rather stale tradition of a parade of Ministers delivering prepared 
remarks to a half empty room. 
 
¶6. The U.S. also objects to using the EfE to launch new processes 
leading to negotiated regional and sub-regional agreements.  The 
UNECE CEP is already home to five legally binding regional 
environmental agreements and over a dozen protocols to those 
agreements.  While all member governments agree that the UNECE needs 
to focus its attention on implementation and compliance with 
commitments already undertaken, some Governments are insisting that 
the launching of new agreements is crucial to the UNECE process. 
 
------------------- 
Additional Business 
------------------- 
 
¶7. While the UNECE CEP encourages robust participation from 
environmental Non-Governmental Organizations, they have not 
encouraged participation from the private sector.  After 
considerable efforts by the U.S., this meeting convened two 
roundtables with representatives of the private sector including 
representatives of the World Business Council for Sustainable 
Development, the World Economic Forum and individual company 
representatives.  The panels explored business and government 
 
GENEVA 00000927  002 OF 002 
 
 
perspectives on "public private partnerships" generally and more 
specifically on the topic of water.  Both groups expressed the 
desire to explore opportunities to work together.  Business stressed 
two points in creating successful public private partnerships: the 
need to establish regular channels of communication and 
participation; and the importance of finding common cause in 
environment and sustainable development issues. Industry 
representatives underscored the latter point by emphasizing that 
corporate social responsibility programs are not charities; there is 
an economic benefit to their activities. 
 
¶8. The ECE reviewed and renewed the mandate of the Working Party on 
Environmental Monitoring.  The group has sought to foster capacity 
and seek common approaches to environmental monitoring between 
developed country governments and those from countries with 
Economies in Transition in the UNECE.  One of the more successful 
outcomes of this group is a proposed joint task force with the 
Conference of European Statisticians, which, in spite of its name, 
includes North American representatives as well as all OECD 
countries, the UN, and IFI statistical offices.  This task force 
would look at environmental indicators; a scope of work that builds 
on the other work the Conference has undertaken on indicators for 
Sustainable Development. 
 
STORELLA