Background
The Second Committee (Economic and Financial) met this morning to take up implementation of Agenda 21, the Programme for the Further Implementation of Agenda 21 and the outcome of the World Summit on Sustainable Development; the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development; and environment and sustainable development.
Before the Committee was a report of the Secretary-General on activities undertaken in implementation of Agenda 21, the Programme for the Implementation of Agenda 21 and the outcomes of the World Summit on Sustainable Development (document A/58/210). The report reviews initial follow-up actions by governments, United Nations bodies and major groups, as well as recent decisions of relevant intergovernmental bodies. It also reviews proposals aimed at meeting goals adopted at the World Summit on Sustainable Developments.
During its eleventh session in May, the report notes, the Commission on Sustainable Development decided to focus during the 2004-2005 period on water, sanitation and human settlements, and give priority to their links with poverty eradication, changing unsustainable consumption and production patterns, and natural resource protection and management. The Commission also recommended that the General Assembly approve the channelling of the resources of the Commission’s former ad hoc intersessional working group to the Commission’s regional meetings held during its two-year review and policy implementation cycle.
In June 2003, according to the report, the General Assembly reaffirmed its previous decision to make sustainable development a key component of United Nations work, particularly concerning the Millennium Development Goals, which has been echoed in the day-to-day work of United Nations bodies.
For example, the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT) has set up a Water, Sanitation and Infrastructure Branch, and brought in new partners for its Coalition for Sustainable Urbanization. In addition, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), the World Health Organization (WHO) and other United Nations entities have launched voluntary sustainable development partnerships with governments and major groups.
Moreover, the report says, the Commission on Sustainable Development Web site has posted 230 partnerships and 35 proposed partnerships, mainly in Africa, Asia and in small island developing States. To date, donor countries have committed more than $250 million for the projects, and another $120 million is being sought.
The Committee also had before it a report of the Secretary-General on
further implementation of the outcome of the Global Conference on the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States (document A/58/170). It notes that an international meeting, to include a high-level segment and a full and comprehensive 10-year review of the implementation of the 2004 Barbados Declaration Programme of Action for the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States, will be held in 2004 in Mauritius.
According to the report, the Small Island Developing States Unit of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs created a template for national assessment reports in February 2002, following consultations with the Alliance of Small Island States, (AOSIS). These reports, which focus on States’ implementation of the Programme of Action, and allow for SIDS to identify priority areas, are expected to play a key role in preparations for the Mauritius meeting. The Unit has also been working closely with the Office of the High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and small island developing States harness support for the preparatory process.
Introductory Presentations
JOSE ANTONIO OCAMPO, Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, introduced reports on activities undertaken in implementation of Agenda 21, the Programme for the Implementation of agenda 21 and the outcomes of the World Summit on Sustainable Development (A/58/210), and on further implementation of the outcome of the Global Conference on the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States (A/58/170).
He said the World Summit had generated a solid repertoire of commitments and ideas to turn the Rio vision into reality. So far, response from governments, United Nations bodies, major groups, civil society and the private sector had generally been very encouraging. Last April, the Commission on Sustainable Development had decided to organize its future work in two-year implementation cycles, and had also adopted measures to involve major groups and civil society. United Nations bodies were gearing up to implement the outcomes of the Johannesburg Summit, and governments and major groups had organized several international initiatives and events. To date, about 230 partnerships and
35 processes to initiate partnerships had been posted on the Commission’s Web site.
All of those efforts were encouraging, he said, but there were also some contrary trends, especially regarding the means of implementation. The setback to trade negotiations in Cancun was a setback to the goals of sustainable development and poverty eradication. About two thirds of the poor lived in rural areas of developing countries and relied on agriculture for their sustenance. Lack of access to the markets of developed countries would deprive them of opportunities to break the vicious cycle of poverty. Moreover, subsidies in developed countries that led to low commodity prices would put more pressure on natural resources in developing countries, forcing them to produce more quantities to make ends meet.
Regarding the report on SIDS, he said he was pleased with the interest and involvement of United Nations bodies, as well as regional and intergovernmental organizations in that review process. The forthcoming interregional meeting planned for January 2004, the preparatory meeting to be held at the start of the Commission on Sustainable Development’s twelfth session and the Mauritius international meeting, were expected to lead to renewed commitment by the international community to the sustainable development of SIDS.
The peculiar geographic situation of such states made them more vulnerable than others to the risks posed by the current course of development, he said. Some of them might even disappear if the international community did not see significant progress in such areas as climate change and rising sea levels. Sustainable development was their road not only to progress, but to survival.
JONES KYAZZE, Director of UNESCO, said education for sustainable development was an awesome challenge that required the reorienting of education systems, policies and practices to empower young and old alike. As Task Manager for Chapter 36 of Agenda 21, UNESCO had helped the international community clarify core education concepts, had convened international conferences and regional workshops to encourage innovation transfer between countries, and had developed demo projects and sample curriculum and training materials. UNESCO’s Associated School Network in 170 countries promoted peace, human rights and conservation.
He said that in leading the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development, UNESCO had circulated in August, a draft implementation framework to United Nations partners, other relevant international organizations, governments, non-governmental organizations and other stakeholders for their input on educational strategies and action plans. The first in a series of international consultations on the matter, held in September, attempted to identify the Decade’s potential “value added” and that of each participation agency.
ANWARUL CHOWDHURY, Under-Secretary-General and High Representative for Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and SIDS, said a decision of remarkable significance had been taken last year by the General Assembly to convene an international meeting in 2004 to review implementation of the Barbados Programme of Action for the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States. That 10-year review, commonly described as Barbados+10, had been called for, in the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation. The three SIDS regions had concluded their preparatory meetings earlier this month, and would now bring together, their outcomes to the interregional meeting in the Bahamas in January to forge them into a common platform.
He stressed that the widest possible range of stakeholders, including Member States, multilateral financial institutions, the private sector, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and other civil society organizations should participate in the Mauritius meeting, which would need a focused agenda with clearly identified priorities. In identifying the meeting’s priorities, it would be useful to focus on the vulnerability -– economic, social and environmental -– of SIDS, poverty eradication measures, fresh water issues, climate change, renewable energy, development of marine resources and sustainable fisheries, HIV/AIDS, and trade. Global advocacy for the cause of SIDS and the mobilization and coordination of international support for realizing the Mauritius outcome was vital in helping those countries face development challenges in the coming years.
HAMA ARBA DIALLO, Executive Secretary of the Convention to Combat Desertification, said 190 countries had ratified the instrument, which aims to curb the degradation of more than 10 billion tons of topsoil, annually. The Convention’s sixth Conference of the Parties had been a success, in which heads of State and government had reiterated their strong political will to promptly implement it. The participation of the Global Environment Facility to fund environmental conservation and implementation of the Convention was a crucial development.
Thanks to the financial support of several European Union countries, as well as Canada, the United Arab Emirates, Japan and Venezuela, he said, a number of developing countries were able to take part in the recent Conference of the Parties thus making it a thorough, open and inclusive process. The World Bank had funded the preparation of national reports from African countries, while United Nations agencies, multilateral and bilateral donors, non-governmental organizations and grassroots communities had also made contributions. Intense efforts to fully implement the Convention would require more resources to augment the ability of developing countries to address institutional challenges, as well as poverty, poor health and nutrition, lack of food security and problems arising from migration and the displacement of people.
Question and Answers
Responding to a question about lack of transparency in implementation of the Convention to Combat Desertification, Mr. Diallo said that auditor’s reports on the Convention had made no reference to lack of transparency. Those who wished to criticize the Convention for lack of transparency should focus instead on helping developing-country partners to implement the Convention.
Statements
MOHAMMED ARROUCHI (Morocco), speaking on behalf of the Group of 77 developing countries and China, stressed that poverty and hunger still afflicted more than a billion people worldwide. The primary focus for implementation of Agenda 21 should be at the national level, but commitments for multilateral action should be upheld. The Johannesburg Plan of Implementation had emphasized that adequate financing was indispensable to implementing internationally agreed goals and targets. In addition, meeting such goals would require improved trade for developing countries, access to and transfer of needed technologies, capacity-building, and information exchange.
Implementation of the Johannesburg Plan would also require accountability in global partnerships, he continued. At the intergovernmental level, repetitive debates should be avoided, the momentum reached at Johannesburg maintained, and the Plan of Implementation translated into effective action. Referring to the organization of thematic clusters at the eleventh session of the Commission on Sustainable Development, he said no thematic cluster should be favoured over others. As the high-level intergovernmental body for sustainable development, the Commission should ensure effective and measurable implementation of Agenda 21 through its multi-year programme of work. The scourge of poverty could only be overcome through harmonious and collective action.
DON MACKAY (New Zealand), speaking on behalf of the Pacific Islands Forum Group, said the Mauritius meeting next year should not simply renegotiate the Barbados Programme of Action. It should acknowledge progress, or the lack of it, in implementing the Barbados Plan, and clearly identify further priorities for the sustainable development of SIDS. The meeting should address climate change issues, delivering a clear signal that further commitments must be made by all major emitters to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. It should also focus on new and growing challenges for small island developing States, including rising poverty, HIV/AIDS, capacity-building, the need to strengthen governance, renewable energy technologies and security.
Regarding implementation of Agenda 21, he noted that the Forum had launched regional partnership initiatives at Johannesburg, covering a range of regional sustainable development activities, including capacity-building, governance, renewable energy, biodiversity and oceans. Those activities had been coordinated by regional bodies and supported by regional donors, including Australia and New Zealand.
YURIY ISAKOV (
Russian Federation) stressed the importance of public health in sustainable development, saying that combating the spread of HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and other dangerous diseases such as SARS should be top priorities for the international community. The Russian Federation had launched an infectious disease prevention and control initiative to strengthen global monitoring, and was a co-sponsor of the draft initiated by Tajikistan to proclaim 2005-2015, an international decade for action “Water for Life”. The decade couldn’t come at a better time, he said, noting the millennium target of halving by 2015 the number of people worldwide without access to potable water.
Despite economic difficulties, the Russian Federation continued to intensify its efforts to achieve sustainable development through the incorporation of environmental and social issues into the national development strategy, he said. This year, it had become a full member of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification and was seeking membership into the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants.
MARCO BALAREZO (Peru), speaking on behalf of the Rio Group, underscored the importance of eradicating poverty, protecting and managing natural resources and rectifying unsustainable production and consumption patterns to achieve Agenda
21 and the sustainable development commitments set forth at Johannesburg. Financial support and technological and scientific cooperation to build human-resource capacity between the North and South were fundamental to that process, as was a stable, predictable and democratic international economic system.
The Commission on Sustainable Development was a vital tool for the Johannesburg and Agenda 21 follow-up, he said, proposing that resources for the now defunct Committee on Energy and Natural Resources for Development, be used to finance the participation by developing countries in the Commission’s regional preparatory meetings. He also stressed that during the next session on sustainable development, the Secretary-General’s evaluation reports should reflect in an integrated way the programme of work’s economic, social and environmental aspects.
LIU HONGYANG (China) said the international opportunity should capitalize on the current favourable climate to meet the targets of the World Summit on Sustainable Development and Agenda 21. In that regard, it should strengthen international cooperation and devise integrated strategies that balanced socio-economic development with environmental protection. The North should assist the South through greater market access, increased development assistance and technology transfer, and debt reduction or cancellation.
He said that as the largest developing country with major stakes in environmental protection, China was committed to, and an active participant in, international efforts and dialogue to achieve sustainable development. It would continue to formulate strategies that balanced social and economic advancement with environmental conservation.
SYED NAVID QAMAR (Pakistan) said several objectives that Agenda 21 was meant to address continued to defy the international community. For example,
826 million of the 4.6 billion people in developing nations continued to lack basic amenities; more than 850 million were illiterate; 1 billion people lacked access to clean water; 2.4 billion lacked basic sanitation services; and almost 325 million school-aged children were not in class. In 1992, Agenda 21’s price tag had been $625 billion annually, including $125 billion in official development assistance (ODA) for developing countries. ODA had since decreased 20 per cent whereas the requirement for aid had increased manifold. New innovative financing methods must be explored.
Unsustainable consumption and production patterns were also a major challenge for humanity that must be addressed, he continued. One quarter of the world population consumed more than half of global resources, further widening the resource gap between North and South, and aggravating poverty and imbalances among nations. Pakistan would continue to implement Agenda 21 and had already developed a national conservation strategy by, inter alia, promulgating an environmental protection act and creating various national and international environmental institutions. Along with civil society and the private sector, their Government was also pursuing a national action plan to improve living standards and environmental conditions through clean air, clean water, solid waste management and ecosystem management.
JAGDISH KOONJUL (Mauritius), speaking on behalf of the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS), said that small island developing States (SIDS) acknowledged their responsibilities in building the proper environment for sustainable development, but also recognized that they needed assistance in attaining those goals. However, no marked improvement in the level or quality of assistance given to SIDS had been seen over the past 10 years. Some experts even contended that many development projects offered to SIDS had actually increased their overall vulnerability. In addition, ODA to SIDS had fallen by about 50 per cent since 1990, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
He said AOSIS viewed preparation for the international meeting in Mauritius next year as a crucial opportunity to set matters straight and enlist a new international consensus to support sustainable development. All SIDS were now busy with national preparations and consultations. In addition, AOSIS had also completed a set of regional meetings, which had focused on vulnerability and the building of resilience, terrorism and security, trade liberalization, brain drain and over-reliance on tourism.
The AOSIS had always looked to the United Nations for assistance and support, he said. They had called for coordination of efforts, as it was painfully aware of the myriad of schemes implemented by various agencies. Many of those were all aimed at the same targets, such as renewable energy. With limited resources, the roles of United Nations agencies must be optimized, which could only come through better coordination. The small island developing States Unit in the Department of Economic and Social Affairs was shouldering huge responsibilities, in preparing for the Mauritius meeting, and would be called on to assume more, after the event to monitor implementation. Yet, the Alliance failed to understand why two General Assembly resolutions over the past two years calling for the strengthening of the Unit had remained unimplemented.
ILEANA VILLALOBOS (Venezuela) said the 2004-2017 work programme of the Commission on Sustainable Development was an excellent opportunity to integrate and move full steam ahead with implementation of the social, economic and environmental aspects of sustainable development. Assuring potable water and adequate sanitation services for all, as called for in the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation, were crucial parts of that process. The Commission’s next session should shed light on new ways to achieve all aspects of the Johannesburg Plan, he said, adding that the results of regional preparatory consultations on the session should be submitted to the Commission secretary in advance.
He underscored the need to strengthen national capacities to promote, coordinate and integrate sustainable development at all levels for the successful implementation of Agenda 21 and the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation. In that regard, he urged the international community to make good on its commitments through better cooperation, greater financial resources and political will.
AHMED AL-HADDAD (Yemen) said the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation represented the beginning of collective work to reach internationally agreed objectives and targets. However, many commitments had not been met within their allocated time frames, especially those to provide resources and technology to developing countries. What had been implemented did not go beyond the minimum commitments made, although there would still be opportunities for the international community to fulfil those promises.
Yemen had paid special attention to protecting the environment at the national and intergovernmental levels, he said. It had established special programmes for sustainable development in such areas as water, sanitation, settlements, and consumer patterns. The momentum achieved at Johannesburg must be maintained, as must enthusiasm to achieve the Johannesburg Plan.
PABLO BERTI (Cuba) noted that 11 years after the declaration of Agenda
21, progress in implementation had been minimal. The lack of political will, coupled with the limited financial resources of developing countries, had impeded attainment of the sustainable development goals set forth in Agenda 21 and the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation. The developed world had thus far forked over only 0.22 per cent in Gross domestic product (GDP) for development assistance, far short of the 0.7 per cent target. For every ODA dollar received, developing countries paid $6 in debt servicing. Debt payments totalled $340 million last year.
Industrialized countries must commit to creating a just and equitable global economic system to enable developing countries to work toward sustainable development, he said. As long as countries in the South were net exporters of raw materials at unfair prices, that goal would be out of reach. Despite limited resources, Cuba had carried out a sustainable development programme focused on renewable energy use. The developed world was historically and morally obliged to clean up the environmental deterioration that had, in particular, been a drag on the economies and populations of developing countries.
PATRICK NZUSI (Kenya) said implementation of international decisions to conserve the world’s natural resources still fell short of expectations. Soil was still being degraded, productive land was still being lost to deserts, and progress to conserve biodiversity was still lacking. A wide range of constraints to the successful implementation of Agenda 21 and the Johannesburg Plan would continue to limit efforts to achieve environmental sustainability, unless appropriate measures were put in place. Special efforts were needed to address such problems as unsuitable macroeconomic policies, unsustainable domestic production and consumption patterns, inefficient management of natural resources, inadequate financial resources and increased incidence of natural disasters.
The international community must focus more on promoting policies that effectively integrated the economic, social and environmental dimensions of sustainable development, he said. Providing the means to achieve sustainable development would continue to be a major prerequisite in reaching internationally agreed goals. Sustained efforts should be made to assist African countries create the necessary enabling environment for foreign direct investment in infrastructure development and capacity-building, among other things. He called on United Nations bodies, regional commissions, international financial institutions, the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and other organizations to increase their support to country programmes focusing on capacity.
STUART LESLIE (Belize), speaking on behalf of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), said the effects of climate change and sea level rise continued to be of serious concern for Caribbean nations. Though they were among the smallest pollutants of the environment, those countries were the most vulnerable to the potential adverse effects of climate change and sea level rise. Belize urged the international community to ratify the Kyoto Protocol and increase assistance to small island countries, so that they could build their capacities to adapt to the challenges of climate change and sea level rise. CARICOM small island developing States looked forward to working with the international community in such areas as developing competitive strategies, promoting macroeconomic stability, diversification, reducing dependence on imported energy, the use of information technology, and developing a trade negotiating strategy.
Noting that CARICOM countries continued to stretch their limited resources to build and implement appropriate national and regional sustainable coordinating mechanisms, he said it was obvious that sustainable development could only be achieved through coordinated efforts. The CARICOM countries were committed at the national and regional levels to increasing public participation in decision-making through broad-based consultation and representation of civil society.
