United Nations Environment Programme

The need for capacity building for developing countries to address the challenges of sustainable development was highlighted last November at the Fourth WTO Ministerial Conference in Doha, where delegates from 144 countries agreed on an agenda for a new round of WTO negotiations. Paragraph 33 of the Ministerial Declaration was exclusively devoted to the need for capacity building on the trade, environment and development policy intersection.

At the United Nations Conference on Financing for Development in March 2002, government leaders amplified this call for increased technical assistance. In the months before the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) in Johannesburg, there is a need to assess recent capacity building efforts on environment, trade, and development to identify gaps where improvements can be made to enhance the coordination of current capacity building activities.

UNEP, in cooperation with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and in consultation with the WTO and UNCTAD Secretariats, held a workshop on 16 July 2002, in Washington D.C., on Capitol Hill. The workshop, entitled "Capacity Building on Environment, Trade and Development," provided a forum for identifying capacity building activities that can help countries effectively engage in trade and environment negotiations, assess the environmental and developmental implications of WTO agreements, and develop and implement mutually supportive trade and environment policies.

The workshop was one in a series of workshops. At the first workshop, convened in Geneva in March 2002, more than 200 participants, including representatives from governments, intergovernmental organisations, MEAs, and NGOs, had an opportunity to assess emerging needs and reassess current approaches to capacity building. One of the main outcomes of the workshop was the need to develop a long-term, coordinated capacity building programme based on regional needs and priorities.

Participants in the July workshop included US-based think tanks and institutions, US government officials, including US State Department, EPA, Commerce, USTR, USAID, the European Commission, donor countries, and UN organizations.