PRESS BRIEFING BY DIVISION FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

18 June 1997

Press Briefing

PRESS BRIEFING BY DIVISION FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

19970618 FOR INFORMATION OF UNITED NATIONS SECRETARIAT ONLY

The Director of the Division for Sustainable Development, Joke Waller- Hunter, this morning presented a report entitled, "Unlocking Trade Opportunities", at a press briefing at Headquarters. She said the report, which concerns changing consumption and production patterns, had been produced in the context of the work of the Commission on Sustainable Development.

Ms. Waller-Hunter was accompanied by Nick Robins, European Programme Coordinator of the International Institute for Environment and Development, which prepared the report. Their briefing was part of a continuing series of meetings with correspondents in advance of next week's special session of the General Assembly to review the outcome of the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED).

Ms. Waller-Hunter said that part of the Commission's work involved looking at the impact of changes in the industrialized countries' consumption and production processes on the export opportunities of developing countries. Many countries had set environmental regulation standards for products used in their territories. Those changes in consumption and production patterns were welcome from a perspective of sustainable development. However, while they served an environmental purpose, it was important that the development opportunities in developing countries not be jeopardized.

In order to better understand the manner in which developing countries were dealing with changes in the market, the Department for Policy Coordination and Sustainable Development had asked the International Institute for Environment and Development to look at specific cases in which developing country producers had gained success from moves towards sustainable production and consumption patterns, Ms. Waller-Hunter said.

Mr. Robins said that in preparing the report, an effort had been made to get a range of case studies, so as to describe the diversity of factors which had led to changes in consumption and production patterns. An effort had also been made to cover such sectors as agriculture, forestry, manufacturing and tourism. The report featuring case studies involving the largest textile mill in Asia, small coffee cooperatives in Costa Rica, an African refrigerator manufacturer, and forest communities in Solomon Islands.

Commenting on five of the 10 case studies presented in the report, Mr. Robins said the first concerned a mill called Century Textiles, which exported most of its cloth to Germany. As a leader in environmental regulation, Germany was setting up new rules to phase out potentially cancer-causing dyes. Century Textiles was quick in phasing out those dyes and in getting independent certification of the same. As a result, it sold 10 per cent more of that cloth and was able to break into new markets.

On ozone depletion, Mr. Robins said that under the framework of the Montreal Protocol, developed countries were required to phase out the use of dangerous chemicals. The developing countries had a bit more time to do that. However, innovative companies in developing countries were already looking in that direction. Fridge Master in Swaziland was the first company in Africa to phase out the use of ozone-depleting chemicals. In the process, it had increased its sales threefold in South Africa and was now looking to break into European markets.

In many countries of the developing world, tourism was now replacing traditional agricultural sectors as a source of income growth, Mr. Robins said. However, there were many environmental and socio-cultural problems associated with that. A study had been done of a scheme called "campements villageois" in Senegal, where tourism was the second largest source of foreign exchange. The "campements villageois" was a rural initiative managed by rural residents and it had been immensely successful.

The fourth case study dealt with the agriculture sector, Mr. Robins said. It was a study of the Lango Cooperative Union in Uganda, which had been supported on a moderate scale by the Swedish International Development Agency. The Agency had helped the Cooperative Union move towards organic production of cotton and had helped it get access to European markets. Around 5,500 farmers were involved in the project, and they had gained a 20 per cent better price for their cotton sales.

The fifth case study was on the Tagua Initiative in Ecuador, Mr.Robins said. The Initiative involved a very remote part of the country which was highly valuable for its biodiversity and rain forests and was extremely poor. An environment non-governmental organization (NGO) called Conservation International had teamed up with a local NGO in Ecuador to provide social development and livelihoods for the community. They had created international market opportunities for Tagua nuts which could be sliced and used as buttons. Those buttons were now being used by such companies as the Gap, Banana Republic and DKNY.

Within the organic sector alone, there was a $500 million a year premium for organic exports from developing countries, Mr. Robins said. Sustainability could now be linked to high quality. "We don't have to take low quality goods and say that we are somehow saving the environment."

Sustainable Development Briefing - 3 - 18 June 1997

Nevertheless, there was a clear need for more support, such as development assistance, to overcome capacity constraints, he went on to say. There was also a need for policy reform to surmount trade barriers, particularly in the agricultural and textile sectors, as they blocked the export of environmentally sound goods. Moreover, there were subsidies in both the North and the South which supported unsustainable production and consumption. As a result, the level playing field needed to promote environmentally sustainable production and consumption was not available.

What were the implications of the trade opportunities study for the Assembly's forthcoming special session? a correspondent asked. Ms. Waller- Hunter said while the language of the report would not be found in the language emerging from the special session, the timing had been such that delegates would be aware of it. It was hoped the report would influence their thinking in the negotiating process.

Why had only 10 case studies been picked for the report? a correspondent asked. "We have picked 10 cherries", Mr. Robins said. "Is there a tree? Is there an orchard? I think there well might be." He added that the report had been produced in about seven months, from start to finish. Moreover, the cases which had been picked were of situations that were actually in place and had worked well.

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