CONCERN EXPRESSED OVER DECLINE IN OFFICIAL DEVELOPMENT ASSISTANCE AS COMMISSION ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT CONTINUES HIGH-LEVEL SEGMENT
Press Release
ENV/DEV/363
CONCERN EXPRESSED OVER DECLINE IN OFFICIAL DEVELOPMENT ASSISTANCE AS COMMISSION ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT CONTINUES HIGH-LEVEL SEGMENT
19960502 The declining trend in official development assistance (ODA) was cause for concern for the international community, the Minister for Development Cooperation of Denmark, Poul Nielson, said this afternoon as the Commission on Sustainable Development continued the high-level segment of its fourth session. Countering that trend, Denmark's current ODA of 1 per cent of gross national product (GNP) would, by the year 2002, increase by an extra .5 per cent.The Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the Senate, and Minister of Environment of Australia, Ian Campbell, said that the Commission should not renegotiate decisions that had been concluded in the post-United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) period -- it should concentrate on their implementation. At the national level, Australia would be financing environmental programmes with a trust financed by the partial sale of the government-owned telecommunications utility.
The Deputy Chief, Division of Environmental Protection of Ukraine, Anatoliy Dembitsky, said that an important step in the improvement of the work of the Commission could be the development of a system of sustainable development indicators that could be integrated into national economic and social development planning.
Also addressing the Commission this afternoon were the State Secretary in the Ministry of Environment of Norway; the Vice-Minister of Environment, Water Resources and Legal Amazon of Brazil; and the Minister of Environment of South Africa.
The Vice-Chairman of the High-Level Advisory Board on Sustainable Development and the Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) also made statements.
The Commission will meet again at 10 a.m. tomorrow, 3 May, to continue the high-level segment of its fourth session.
Commission Work Programme
The Commission on Sustainable Development met this afternoon to continue the high-level segment of its fourth session. The high-level segment, which is being held at the ministerial level, is reviewing the progress made in achieving the goals set at the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) held in Rio de Janeiro.
Statements
EMIL SALIM, Vice-Chairman of the High-Level Advisory Board on Sustainable Development, said that the Board, at its fifth session in January, agreed to contribute to the 1997 review by undertaking initiatives to promote the implementation of the Rio commitments. It also considered issues related to transportation and sustainable energy systems.
Improvements in energy efficiency and the use of renewable sources of energy would be greatly encouraged by the internalization of environmental costs in the price of energy, he continued. Consideration should be given to assigning the issue to an appropriate body at the intergovernmental level.
Policies for sustainable energy should focus on reducing emissions from transportation systems, shifting traffic to cleaner transportation systems and reducing the demand for transportation, he said. Since international competition could be an obstacle to the adoption of environmental policies at the national level, regulations and environmental standards of sustainable transportation should be implemented or coordinated at the international level.
He said that the great majority of funds for sustainable development must be raised nationally. That required examination of fiscal budgeting systems to find ways to adjust them to promote sustainable development. Development and use of cleaner and more efficient industrial processes could improve the availability of funds as would reduction in military budget and the elimination of subsidies that were obstacles to sustainable development.
BERNT BULL, State Secretary in the Ministry of Environment of Norway, said that there should be focus on actions both at the national and the international level to bring the other stakeholders, business, trade unions, the research community, voluntary organizations and the youth into the new cooperation for sustainable development in a more responsible and efficient way. Norway was preparing a national programme for the years 1998 to 2001 based on the overriding objective of sustainable development, he said. It was also preparing a white paper on sustainable development to the Parliament. That white paper would sum up the experiences so far and set priorities for the future.
Sustainable Development Commission - 3 - Press Release ENV/DEV/363 18th Meeting (PM) 2 May 1996
He said that the developed countries should take the lead in changing unsustainable production and consumption patterns. Some progress had already been made. Some governments were considering programmes of green tax reform, and there were programmes of green public and industrial procurement, as well as those on green accounting and auditing. Experiences from cooperation with Eastern Europe on cleaner productions programmes and capacity building could be widened to developing countries.
He said that to promote sustainable development, environmental concerns must be integrated into the global trading system. Trade agreements should be the subject of environmental impact assessments.
POUL NIELSON, Minister for Development Cooperation of Denmark, said that the General Assembly special session next year should decide how the United Nations system should be used to strengthen and monitor sustainable development trends.
The eradication of absolute poverty on a global scale was a precondition of sustainable development. The decline in official development assistance (ODA) was a bad sign in the global struggle for sustainability. Wealthy countries should not solve their domestic difficulties by cutting ODA. Since UNCED, Denmark's ODA had exceeded 0.7 per cent of gross national product (GNP). For the last four years, the level had amounted to fully 1 per cent of GNP. By the year 2002, Denmark intended to add an extra .5 per cent, all of it dedicated to the aims of UNCED, he stated.
The Commission on Sustainable Development should serve as a forum for taking up issues for which no other adequate global institution existed; two such areas were the degradation of the oceans, and the issue of energy and transportation, he said. A major achievement of last autumn's Global Plan of Action for the Protection of the Marine Environment, which was adopted in Washington, had been the agreement reached on the necessity for a global legal instrument to regulate the release of persistent organic pollutants.
In the transport sector, the Commission should call for appropriate pricing of energy, and should promote environmentally friendly modes of transportation. The notion that cheap energy was a sustainable option was an illusion, he said. The market might offer that temptation, but the threat of climate change told a different story. IAN CAMPBELL, Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the Senate, and Minister for Environment of Australia, said the Commission should not duplicate work under way in other forums. It should not attempt to reopen for discussion or renegotiate decisions that had been concluded in the post-UNCED period. What was important was the implementation of the international initiatives concluded since UNCED. For instance, urgent action was needed to address the problems of overfishing, over-capacity and vessel reflagging.
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He said that as a way of ensuring the long-term future of its coastline, Australia had developed a coastal policy built on a framework of sustainable development. The major components of its approach to the integrated management of its coastal zone included enormous opportunities for local communities to become directly involved in management initiatives, with a focus on combating coastal pollution hot spots and significant threats to Australia's marine biodiversity. It had also reformed commercial fisheries legislation in line with the principles of sustainable development.
He said that Australia would provide substantial additional funds towards investment in its environmental future through the establishment of a natural heritage trust. The $1.15 billion trust would be financed by the partial sale of the government-owned telecommunications utility.
ANATOLIY DEMBITSKY, Deputy Chief, Division of Environmental Protection of Ukraine, said that the fourth session of the Commission should develop political positions that could be practically implemented. An important step in the improvement of the work of the Commission could be the development of a system of sustainable development indicators that could be integrated into national economic and social development planning. The international community must resolve questions of financing global disaster clean-up and remediation of the negative effects of climate change. Ukraine was concerned at the drop in levels of ODA, he said. Donor countries should unconditionally meet the obligations that they entered into at UNCED. A primary resource for sustainable development could be the global "peace dividend". The idea of "eco-conversion" -- the use of a portion of a country's external debt for sustainable development -- seemed very productive. New taxes -- on air travel or international capital transfers -- could be used to finance sustainable development projects in developing countries. The Ukrainian Parliament had adopted a number of new laws establishing State policy in environmental protection and the use of natural resources. Having had success in reforming social relations and in privatizing State enterprises in the shift to a market economy, Ukraine was still encountering difficulties associated with economic transition. The consequences of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster were still being felt. As a result of the disaster, more than 3,000 square kilometres of agricultural land had been taken out of production. The recent G-7 meeting in Moscow had announced global participation in decommissioning the Chernobyl reactors, he noted. ASPASIA CAMARGO, Vice-Minister of Environment, Water Resources and Legal Amazon of Brazil, said that the last four years had demonstrated the short- term factors that could affect the innovative impetus of global partnership announced in Rio. Those factors were increasing the difficulties in the implementation of Agenda 21, both at the international and national levels. The Commission should be strengthened as the most relevant forum for consensus building in the issues related to the globalization of sustainable development.
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She said that since the use of natural resources was being increasingly replaced by new technologies, its control created further vulnerabilities within the developing countries. It also enhanced the strategic power of the developed world. That trend was seriously widening a gap which should be reduced. Very little had been achieved in changing the life-styles, conspicuous consumption, scheduled obsolescence and individualistic consumerism. Brazil expected the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) to continue to play its special role in examining relevant aspects of trade and environment in close cooperation with the World Trade Organization (WTO). The United Nations regional commissions could also make significant contributions. Brazil also stressed the need for the industrialized countries to increase their efforts to reduce and stabilize the emissions of greenhouse gases within their respective territories where approximately 75 per cent of the global pollution was generated.
B. HOLOMISA, Minister of Environment of South Africa, said that his Government had stated that all South Africa citizens had a right to a decent quality of life through the sustainable use of resources. It also believed that environmental considerations must be built into every decision.
South Africa had decided to involve all major groups in determining future processes to be followed, he said. Following that process, a variety of environmental policies were currently under way, including a national coastal zone management policy, fisheries policy, integrated pollution control policy and tourism policy.
He said that South Africa was concerned about climate change and atmospheric pollution. It supported the Framework Convention on Climate Change and the subsequent Berlin Mandate. It was also sensitive to the importance of transboundary pollution and emphasized the need for countries to coordinate their efforts in devising mechanisms to mitigate and reduce the unwanted effects of various sources of atmospheric pollution.
South Africa had made unleaded petrol available for the first time this year, he said. It was being sold at a lower pump price than leaded fuels as part of the effort to promote environmentally sustainable actions.
He proposed that aid should be directed towards helping communities and countries to develop sustainable use practices. The Commission should consider the appropriate practices and aid packages.
ELIZABETH DOWDESWELL, Executive Director, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), said that her agency was now concentrating on four issues: wise management of natural resources, sustainable production and consumption, human health and well-being, and globalization.
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The adoption of the Global Programme of Action for the Protection of the Marine Environment from Land-based Activities by the Intergovernmental Conference in Washington had been the culmination of 13 years of concerted effort by UNEP and other organizations. The Washington Conference had assigned UNEP to implement and manage the programme of action. On another issue, UNEP had advanced the chemical agenda of the Commission; its Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee was discussing the early conclusion of an instrument aimed at the application of prior informed consent procedures for certain hazardous chemicals and pesticides.
The UNEP was playing a key role in the Secretary-General's Special Initiative for Africa, she said. The Programme had been charged with developing recommendations regarding equity-based water management and use, water assessment and drinking water, and sanitation.
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