BULGARIA, FINLAND, UNITED STATES PRESENT REPORTS TO COMMISSION ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
Press Release
ENV/DEV/358
BULGARIA, FINLAND, UNITED STATES PRESENT REPORTS TO COMMISSION ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
19960426 The elimination of environmentally unsound economic subsidies, coupled with the promotion of public education programmes and decision-making at the local level, played crucial roles in sustainable development, the representative of the United States told the Commission on Sustainable Development this morning. The Commission monitors implementation of Agenda 21, which was adopted by the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED).Presenting the report of the United States President's Council on Sustainable Development, the co-chair of that Council said that the United States was developing programmes which embraced environmental, economic and social goals.
Finland had made a major effort to integrate Agenda 21 and the principles of sustainable development into educational curricula, the Director-General of that country's National Board of Education told the Commission. A representative of that country's youth delegation to the Commission said that her secondary school had published a "children's edition" of Agenda 21 that had been translated into 17 languages; initiated recycling projects, and carried out an "eco-audit" of her school, calculating the amount of carbon per student being pumped into the atmosphere.
The Deputy Minister of Environment of Bulgaria said that his Government was raising revenues by imposing fines on those who polluted the environment. The revenue raised was applied towards solving environmental pollution problems. Bulgaria had passed a new air quality law; another law on water quality was currently before the Parliament.
Representatives of Burundi, Brazil, Colombia, Bolivia, Philippines and the Bahamas participated in a discussion on the presentations.
Also this morning, the Commission decided not to hold any formal meetings of its drafting groups on Monday, 29 April, in observance of the Eid- al-Adha Islamic holy day. The representatives of Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Italy, United States, Senegal, Indonesia, Algeria spoke on that point.
When it meets again at 3 p.m. this afternoon, the Commission will continue to hear the presentation of country reports.
Commission Work Programme The Commission on Sustainable Development met this morning to continue to hear country presentations and exchanges of national experiences in coastal area management.
Country Presentations YONCHO PELOVSKY, Deputy Minister of Environment of Bulgaria, presenting a report on his country, said that Bulgaria had five regions with diversity in their climates, geology, topography and hydrology. Bulgaria had the highest mountains in Europe, while about 24 per cent of the territory was forest. The forest area had increased by 5 per cent in the last 40 years. The country was a crossroads of climates, having the typical European continental climate, as well as Asian and Mediterranean climates. It also had resources from geothermal springs which created the opportunity for tourism development.
He said that the implementation of sustainable development programmes in Bulgaria faced serious problems connected with industrial pollution resulting from the heavy industrialization of the 1950s to the 1970s. Bulgaria had adopted anti-pollution strategies which had been updated giving attention to natural resources. It had developed a national strategy for the conservation of biodiversity. It had also developed national plans for the wetlands and had become a party to the Framework Convention on Climate Change. The country submitted its first national report on that Convention to the United Nations last week. He said that the major pollutant in Bulgaria was the energy sector which used Bulgarian coal. The industrial sector was the second major polluter. Bulgaria had taken measures to control air pollution and water pollution. Studies on water quality had been conducted to provide information to the authorities. The basic data from those monitoring studies had been used as criteria for the development of a national programme for a waste water treatment programme. Those studies showed that the country needed considerable financial support to execute the programme. Part of Bulgaria's strategy was also to raise revenues through charging fines for pollution, he said. There was a new law concerning air quality. Another law on the water quality was before the Parliament. That law aimed to seriously punish polluters and to use the money collected to finance clean-ups. JONATHAN LASH, co-chair of the United States President's Council on Sustainable Development, presented his country's national report. He said that the Council was made up of active individuals, not retirees. The report of the Council had been a unanimous statement covering the range of issues of sustainable development and attempted to integrate environmental, economic and social goals. It had attempted to articulate 10 long-term goals for the United States which the Council believed would put the country on the path to sustainable development.
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To that end, eliminating subsidies which wasted national resources was a priority, he said. Also essential was education for sustainable development. The Council had placed great emphasis on the powerful role of communities and local decision-making. Following presentation of the report of the Council, It was decided that Vice-President Albert Gore would supervise government compliance and oversee recommendations to other sectors of the economy. The "Sustainable America" report had been a broad, inclusive effort to comply with the principles of Agenda 21, he continued. It was not the only initiative dedicated to that end, however. The power of the work was the agreements reached by civil society debating a broad, cross-cutting agenda which addressed environment, justice and the economy. It was essential that the co-chair of the Council was from industry. It was also important that the Council's work was transparent and, while officially sanctioned, independent.
IRI SUOJANEN, a student from the Puolalanmaki Upper Secondary School, presented an overview of the ecology of Finland, including the lakes that dominate the country and the 65 per cent of the land area covered by forests. Finland was a major producer of wood and wood products, and also had a growing high-tech sector. Finland had a fast-growing environmental technology industry, producing waste management and water treatment and efficient energy systems. JUKKA SARJALA, Director-General of the National Board of Education of Finland, said that the Finnish Commission on Sustainable Development had been established in 1993 to encourage various stakeholders from industry, government and the non-governmental organization community to coordinate efforts. The Commission had produced a comprehensive summary of 500 short- term objectives. Sustainable development was a lifelong process which had far-reaching implications, he said. The Commission had made a major effort to integrate the principle of sustainable development into the national education curricula. Primary schools now had a regular class on environment and nature. Finland had also organized a "day of access", as proposed in chapter 25 of Agenda 21, for young adults. During that day, Finland participated in the world-wide project "Rescue Mission: Planet Earth". Ms. SUOJANEN said that her school had two courses based on Agenda 21; students had also formed a club to study its recommendations. In 1993, the club participated in the making of an "Agenda 21: Children's Edition", together with young people from 21 countries. They had focused on chapter 18, Freshwater Resources, and had published a book of poems, interviews, case studies and illustrations, which had been translated into 17 languages. She said the students had also developed an action plan, and had installed recycling bins for glass, metal and paper; built a compost facility and sealed window cracks against winter drafts. The students had carried out an "eco-audit" of the school, calculating the amount of carbon-per-student ratio being pumped into the atmosphere and the volume of waste produced
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weekly. On a global level, her school had "twinned" with schools in Kenya, Germany, Russian Federation and France.
Discussion
The representative of Burundi asked how the Bulgarian strategy was designed to take into account the demographic aspect. How was co-ordination between ministries handled?
He also asked what was the awareness level of students in Finland. What kind of work on awareness creation was being done outside of the schools in the community?
The representative of Brazil asked how Bulgaria had gone about achieving the implementation of the introduction of unleaded gasoline.
On the United States presentation, he agreed that economic and social equity issues were deeply linked and that to achieve sustainability, things like jobs and capital savings had to grow. That presentation was very much in line with what Brazil had always seen as the right approach to the environment. The presentation had referred to the need to shift taxation. How much of a shift should that be?
The representative of Colombia asked Finland how its commission for the implementation of Agenda 21 worked.
The representative of Bolivia, speaking on Finland's presentation, agreed with the approach linking the environment with daily practices. There was the need to create bodies for cooperation in maintaining sustainable development. He commended Finland's achievement in environmental education. Education for sustainable development was a formative process which was multi- disciplinary and was essential.
The representative of the Philippines said that in his country, efforts were made, after the 1992 Rio Conference, to elicit the participation of major groups in the issue of sustainable development. The result was confusion among national and local agencies concerned. Consultation with major stake- holders was over-extended, particularly at the local government level. National planners realized the need for an integrating mechanism. Such an integrating framework had now been completed. He asked if similar situations arose in the countries that had made presentations.
The representative of the Bahamas asked Bulgaria how land and marine national parks were incorporated into Bulgaria's land-use planning.
She also asked if Finland had materials available for sharing its experience with developing countries.
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Sustainable Development Commission - 5 - Press Release ENV/DEV/358 13th Meeting (AM) 26 April 1996