International Environment Reporter | Volume 24 Number 14 | By Peter Menyasz
OTTAWA--The United States, Canada, and Mexico will focus on a number of market-based approaches in trying to meet shared environmental objectives through the North American Agreement on Environmental Cooperation (NAAEC), environment ministers from the three countries said June 29. Long-term success in protecting the environment significantly depends on fostering innovation and developing creative solutions, particularly through the use of market-based approaches, the ministers said in a final communique issued at the conclusion of the annual meeting June 28-29 in Guadalajara, Mexico, of the Council of the Commission on Environmental Cooperation (CEC).
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Christine Todd Whitman and Mexican Environment Minister Victor Lichtinger attended the meeting, while Canada was represented by Karen Redman, Parliamentary Secretary to Environment Minister David Anderson.
The ministers are scheduled to next meet in June 2002 in Mont Tremblant, Quebec.
The ministers directed the CEC, which administers the environmental side agreement to the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), to review local water pricing and watershed management and to promote accessible, affordable technologies to improve water management.
They also called for assessment of the current use in North America of the market-based instruments outlined in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development's (OECD's) sustainable development report and for a determination of how they could be further developed.
And while noting that the CEC is not an appropriate forum for negotiating climate change commitments, the ministers asked the CEC Secretariat to consider use of market-based approaches to promote carbon sequestration, energy efficiency, and the increased use of renewable energy in North America.
Joint Environment/Trade Meeting in 2003?
The ministers accepted a number of recommendations made by the CEC's Joint Public Advisory Committee, which were intended to improve the timely processing of public complaints about the three parties' national enforcement of environmental laws and to improve the transparency of the complaints process. The ministers amended the Guidelines for Submissions on Enforcement Matters to require the CEC Secretariat to publish, within five working days, the reasons for a recommendation to the CEC Council calling for development of a detailed factual record on a public complaint. They also committed themselves to releasing a public statement of reasons in cases where the secretariat's recommendation to develop a factual record is not accepted.
The communique stressed the importance of continuing to build strategic linkages to pursue the NAAEC's environmental goals, noting that the ministers have agreed to launch discussions with NAFTA trade ministers on the possibility of a joint meeting in 2003. Senior environmental officials from the three countries will begin work on a potential agenda and outcomes for such a meeting, the communique said.
Other cooperative initiatives among the three countries cited in the communique included terms of reference for an expert group to advise the council on the issue of children's health and the environment and the creation of a Biodiversity Conservation Working Group to advise the ministers on biological diversity issues.
The ministers stressed the need to provide additional technical assistance in meeting environmental enforcement goals, including support for Mexico's efforts to legislate mandatory reporting of pollutant releases and transfers. They also asked the CEC Secretariat to investigate the possibility of seeking funds from multilateral agencies to support its technical assistance efforts.
On the issue of ongoing funding for the CEC, the ministers agreed to maintain the agency's annual budget at $9 million in fiscal year 2002, with each of the parties continuing to pay an equal share. They asked the CEC Secretariat, however, to consider mechanisms for obtaining long-term financing to fund the completion of long-term projects approved by the council.
Comprehensive Inventory Needed
The communique pointed to timely and accurate information as an essential element in helping the CEC fulfill its mandate, and the statement said the three parties to the NAAEC have agreed to develop a comprehensive North American inventory of air emissions, including sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, volatile organic compounds, particulate aerosols, and greenhouse gases. In addition, the ministers have asked the CEC Secretariat to assess progress in improving the comparability of air emissions inventories and of definitions and nomenclature and to develop recommendations on improving release of air emissions data, it said.
In its regular reports on the state of the North American environment, the CEC will also incorporate data based on the core set of environmental indicators developed by the OECD, it said.
The ministers also agreed at the Guadalajara meeting to further cooperate in the implementation of international agreements, including continued efforts through the Sound Management of Chemicals program to support implementation of the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (INER Reference File 1, 21:5401).
They also agreed to work on developing a North American approach to the environmentally sound management of hazardous wastes.
Full text of the final communique and resolutions approved by the environment ministers at the meeting is available at http://www.cec.org.
Copyright c 2001 by The Bureau of National Affairs, Inc., Washington D.C.International Environment Reporter:
