US embassy cable - 04OTTAWA3134

UNCLAS OTTAWA 003134 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: EU, IO, SENV, CA, Environment 
SUBJECT: U.S. VIEWS ON PROPOSED UN ENVIRONMENTAL 
ORGANIZATION 
 
REF: SECSTATE 246829 
 
1. ESTH Counselor made the demarche requested in reftel to 
Richard Ballhorn, Director General for Environment and 
Sustainable Development Affairs in the Department of Foreign 
Affairs, and to Nicole Ladouceur, Director General for 
International Affairs in the Department of the Environment. 
Ballhorn will attend the meeting in Sweden next week, 
accompanied by Ladouceur's deputy, Nancy Hamzawi. 
 
2. Ballhorn and Ladouceur both said that Canada is generally 
supportive of the effort to improve global environmental 
governance, and in that sense, supports the French initiative 
for an international environmental organization.  Ladouceur 
noted that she was in Paris last week accompanying 
Environment Minister Dion as he met with his French 
counterpart.  She said Dion reiterated Canada's support for 
the French initiative.  She told ESTH Counselor, however, 
that Canada is pragmatic about the effort and knows that the 
U.S. and other countries do not support it.  Consequently, 
Canada is under no illusion that there will be quick 
consensus. 
 
3. Ballhorn took a somewhat different approach, noting that 
the Swedes were not great supporters of the French proposal, 
preferring instead an alternative which would create an 
executive board for the UNEP in the hopes of infusing more 
focus, coordination and efficiency into the organization.  He 
also emphasized Canada's interest in strengthening UNEP's 
finances to make it less dependent on voluntary 
contributions.  Ballhorn said that Canada could live with 
either the French or the Swedish approach, as long as it 
improved global environmental governance. 
 
Visit Canada's Classified Web Site at 
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/wha/ottawa 
 
DICKSON