ECONOMIC AND FINANCIAL COMMITTEE BEGINS CONSIDERATION OF CLIMATE CHANGE, BIODIVERSITY CONVENTION, BARBADOS PROGRAMME OF ACTION

6 November 1997

Press Release
GA/EF/2787

ECONOMIC AND FINANCIAL COMMITTEE BEGINS CONSIDERATION OF CLIMATE CHANGE, BIODIVERSITY CONVENTION, BARBADOS PROGRAMME OF ACTION

19971106 Several Speakers Stress Need to Implement Commitments of Global Conference on Sustainable Development of Small Islands Developing States

The Barbados Programme of Action must be made to work to ensure the future of small island developing States, the representative of Samoa told the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) this afternoon as it began consideration of protection of the global climate, the Convention on Biological Diversity, and the implementation of the outcome of the 1994 Global Conference on the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States, held in Barbados.

Speaking on behalf of the member countries of the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS), he said the AOSIS countries were disappointed by the loss of momentum in international support for the Barbados Programme of Action, the outcome of the Global Conference. Developed countries and the international community must re-examine their pledged commitments to sustainable development through increased financing, technology development and assistance programmes. The United Nations system and other multilateral organizations could also play a more focused role in developing human capacity and the full economic potential of AOSIS countries.

Small island developing States were particularly vulnerable to global climate change, climate variability and sea-level rise, the representative of Malta said. Since the population, agricultural land and infrastructure of those countries tended to be concentrated in the coastal zones, any rise in sea level threatened their survival. Global climate change might affect vegetation, and saline intrusion might adversely affect freshwater courses.

The representative of the United States said research and monitoring of the potentially dangerous climatic condition known as El Niño was being given priority attention by his country. Diagnostic and predictive information

Second Committee - 1a - Press Release GA/EF/2787 31st Meeting (AM) 6 November 1997

exchanges among climatologists and experts in agriculture, water management and natural disaster relief were being sponsored. To better understand the effects of El Niño, the United States was exchanging information with other governments and international organizations.

Statements were also made by the representatives of the United Republic of Tanzania (on behalf of the "Group of 77" developing countries and China), Luxembourg (on behalf of the European Union and associated States), Marshall Islands, Myanmar, Guinea and Slovakia, as well as by a representative of the South Pacific Forum.

The Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity, Calestous Juma, and the Director of the Division for Sustainable Development of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Joke Waller-Hunter, made introductory statements.

Also this afternoon, the Committee concluded its consideration of the implementation of decisions and recommendations of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) and the outcome of the special session to review and appraise the implementation of Agenda 21.

The representative of Iran said confidence building was imperative in the pursuit of sustainable development as well as of world peace and security. Building and maintaining confidence in international relations depended on genuine commitment to and practical compliance with the established and recognized norms and rules of international law by all countries.

The representatives of the United States and Iraq spoke in exercise of the right of reply.

In addition, this afternoon, the representative of the United Republic of Tanzania introduced a draft resolution sponsored by the "Group of 77" developing countries and China. It would have the General Assembly call on Member States to support the implementation of the programme for the Industrial Development Decade for Africa and the Plan of Action for the Alliance for Africa's Industrialization. The United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) would be called on to increase their coordination with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and other United Nations agencies and donors to accelerate the implementation and goals of the Decade.

The Committee will meet again at 10 a.m. on Friday, 7 November, to continue its consideration of protection of global climate, Convention on Biological Diversity and implementation of the outcome of the Global Conference on the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States.

Committee Work Programme

The Second Committee (Economic and Financial) met this afternoon to conclude its consideration, under the general heading "environment and sustainable development", of the implementation of decisions and recommendations of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) (Rio de Janeiro, June 1992) and the outcome of the special session of the General Assembly that reviewed the implementation of Agenda 21, the programme of action adopted by UNCED. (For background information see Press Release GA/EF/2785 of 5 November.)

The Committee is also scheduled to begin consideration, also under the general heading "environment and sustainable development", of protection of global climate for present and future generations of mankind; the Convention on Biological Diversity; and the implementation of the outcome of the Global Conference on the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States (Barbados, 1994).

In addition, a draft resolution on industrial development cooperation is expected to be introduced.

According to that draft (document A/C.2/52/L.16), sponsored by the "Group of 77" developing countries and China, the General Assembly would call on Member States to support the implementation of the programme for the Industrial Development Decade for Africa and the Plan of Action for the Alliance for Africa's Industrialization, taking into account the results of the mid-term review of the Industrial Development Decade for Africa. African Member States would be urged to integrate the objectives of the Alliance for Africa's Industrialization into their national plans and to establish an institutional capacity for the formulation of mechanisms to follow up and monitor programmes and projects.

The Assembly would call on the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) to increase their coordination with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and other United Nations agencies and donors to accelerate the implementation and goals of the Industrial Decade for Development of Africa. The UNIDO, ECA and other relevant United Nations organizations would also be requested to work closely with governments and the private sector in Africa at the national, regional and international levels to foster industrial production and development.

Among documents before the Committee for consideration is a note by the Secretary-General transmitting the report of the third meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (document A/52/441), which was held in Buenos Aires, from 4 to 15 December 1996.

Reviewing the decisions of the Conference of the Parties, the report states that Conference decided that the Global Environment Facility (GEF), as the interim financial mechanism under the Convention, should provide financial resources to developing countries for country-driven activities and programmes, consistent with national priorities and objectives.

Second Committee - 4 - Press Release GA/EF/2787 31st Meeting (PM) 6 November 1997

The Conference also decided to establish two special trust funds: a special trust fund for additional voluntary contributions to the core budget for approved activities under the Convention; and a special trust fund for facilitating participation of parties in the Convention process.

By another decision, the Conference decided that two meetings of the open-ended ad hoc working group on biosafety would be held this year and that a sufficient number of meetings would be held in 1998 to allow the working group to complete its work. The Committee also decided that the pilot phase of the clearing house mechanism to promote and facilitate technical and scientific cooperation would be extended until December 1998.

The Conference of the Parties determined that its fourth meeting would take place in Bratislava, Slovakia, from 4 to 15 May 1998.

The Committee also has before it the Secretary-General's report on the implementation of the outcome of the Barbados Global Conference on the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States (document A/52/319).

In response to the request of the Assembly, the Department of Economic and Social Affairs undertook initial studies to provide a framework for the development of a vulnerability index, the report states. A background paper was prepared providing an analysis of the inherent vulnerabilities of small island developing States and in December 1966 was distributed for comments to those countries as well as to organizations of the United Nations system and academic and research institutes. By March 1997 more than 20 responses had been received, most of which contained observations and suggestions on specific indicators that might be considered for inclusion in the vulnerability index. The Committee for Development Planning and the Commission on Sustainable Development will transmit the outcome of their deliberations on the background paper to the Assembly at its fifty-third session through the Economic and Social Council.

Regarding modalities for resource mobilization, the report states that the Department of Economic and Social Affairs decided that one way to facilitate the mobilization of additional external resources would be through a meeting of donors and representatives of small island developing States. Fourteen organizations had offered to provide technical assistance to those countries in preparing documents for such a meeting, and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) agreed to assume responsibility for coordinating requests for technical assistance at the regional and subregional level. In July, the Secretariat invited the small island developing countries to prepare project portfolios for presentation at a donors' conference. The date of the meeting of their representatives with prospective donors, to be called by the Department of Economic and Social Affairs in collaboration with UNDP, will depend on the progress made by the countries in preparing their project portfolios.

Second Committee - 5 - Press Release GA/EF/2787 31st Meeting (PM) 6 November 1997

According to the report, UNDP's activities in follow-up to the Programme of Action included: the preparation of a technical assistance programme covering 14 chapters of the Programme of Action; the completion of a four- volume directory of experts of those countries and institutions designed to facilitate the use of the capacities of those States in the implementation of the Programme of Action; and an assessment of the needs of the Caribbean small island developing States in areas such as productivity enhancement, industrial standardization, telecommunications, port management, civil aviation and computer technology. The UNDP also launched a pilot information network for those States that will provide them with the capacity to exchange information through the Internet.

Following the discussions on the International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction at the Assembly's fifty-first session, the report states, the secretariat of the Decade launched a consolidation process for the remainder of the Decade (1997-1999) by developing a comprehensive and structured action plan. The vulnerability of small island developing States and their requirements for effective disaster reduction capacities and measures will receive priority consideration. As part of the Decade's inter- agency coordination activities, the specific concerns of those States were represented in cooperation with the Department of Economic and Social Affairs, the World Meteorological Organization and its Typhoon Committee, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the UNDP.

According to the report, climate change activities financed by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) aimed to support the sustainable measures that minimized damage by reducing the adverse effects of climate change. The GEF has funded two projects for small island developing States, Jamaica and Mauritius, in the areas of removing barriers to energy conservation and energy efficiency, promoting renewable energy by reducing implementation costs and reducing the long-term costs of low greenhouse gas-emitting energy technologies. The Facility financed a number of other projects and project preparation activities, which were directly or indirectly supporting commercial energy development and efficiency improvement in those States.

The report comments on the work being done by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) in support of the implementation of the Programme of Action. That work includes: preparation of a background study for the expert group meeting on vulnerability indices, planned by the Department of Economic and Social Affairs; construction of trade efficiency indices relevant to small island developing States; and direct assistance to those States in the preparation of economic and trade-related projects for submission to the donors' conference.

At its nineteenth special session, the report recalls, the Assembly endorsed the recommendation of the Commission on Sustainable Development

Second Committee - 6 - Press Release GA/EF/2787 31st Meeting (PM) 6 November 1997

calling for a two-day special session immediately preceding its fifty-fourth regular session for an in-depth assessment and appraisal of the implementation of the Programme of Action. The Assembly also noted that the special session of the Assembly on issues related to small island developing States would represent a significant contribution to achieving the objectives of the Barbados Conference.

Introduction of Draft Resolution

J. KISIRI (United Republic of Tanzania), speaking on behalf of the "Group of 77" developing countries and China, introduced the draft resolution on industrial development cooperation.

Statements on Implementation of Agenda 21

BAGHER ASADI (Iran) said sustainable development could not be achieved merely through zealous dedication to the development of an ever-burgeoning body of legal instruments on particular sectoral issues and grandstanding on the virtues of compliance with their provisions. International commitments meant to facilitate the implementation of those provisions must be fulfilled. International partnership could not be understood as a never-ending process of legislation by the developed minority for the weak developing majority.

Emphasizing that confidence-building was imperative in the pursuit of sustainable development as well as of world peace and security, he said building and maintaining confidence in international relations depended on genuine commitment to and practical compliance with the established and recognized norms and rules of international law by all countries -- big and small, developed and developing.

Right of Reply

SETH WINNICK (United States), speaking in exercise of the right of reply, said the representative of Iraq this morning had blamed the international coalition, of which the United States was a prominent member, for a number of environmental problems in her country. The war she cited was the result of unprovoked aggression by Iraq. Rather than blame the international coalition, it might be appropriate for Iraq to look at its documented production and stockpiling of chemical and biological weapons. His Government called on Iraq to comply with relevant Security Council resolutions.

Statements on Climate Change, Biodiversity, Small Islands

CALESTOUS JUMA, Executive Secretary, Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity, said the Convention's most important contribution to the implementation of Agenda 21 had been the emphasis on implementing sustainable development objectives through the ecosystem approach. He explained that an

Second Committee - 7 - Press Release GA/EF/2787 31st Meeting (PM) 6 November 1997

ecosystem was a dynamic complex of plant, animal and micro-organism communities and their non-living environment interacting as a functional unit. The Convention had so far adopted decisions dealing with marine and coastal biological diversity, agricultural biological diversity and forest biological diversity. It would take up freshwater biological diversity at its next meeting in Bratislava, Slovakia, in May 1998.

Implementing the Convention, he said, would involve the review of the effectiveness of the financial mechanism in relation to its objectives, methodology, criteria and procedure; the setting up of the clearing-house mechanism to promote and facilitate technical and scientific cooperation among contracting parties and partners; cooperating with other conventions, institutions and processes; and national reporting of progress in the implementation of the Convention's objectives.

JOKE WALLER-HUNTER, Director, Division for Sustainable Development, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, said she would report on the progress in the implementation of the outcome of the Global Conference on the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States. On several vital issues, important steps had been undertaken by governments, the United Nations system and other agencies. Technical work was under way on the vulnerability index, and an expert meeting was scheduled for 15 and 16 December to review the progress of that work. Regarding modalities for resource mobilization for the implementation of the Barbados Programme of Action, six governments were in the process of preparing project portfolio documents. The UNDP was coordinating that process through its regional and subregional offices, and prospective bilateral and multilateral donors had been notified of the procedure.

The UNDP had also prepared a technical assistance programme which covered all the chapters of the Programme of Action, she said. It had also launched a pilot network to allow small island developing States to exchange information through the Internet. Other organizations, including non- governmental organizations, were also preparing activities for those States. Implementation of the Barbados Programme of Action was now gaining momentum and, hopefully, at the special session in 1999 real progress could be noted.

KATINDA E. KAMANDO (United Republic of Tanzania), speaking on behalf of the Group of 77 and China, said developing countries continued to be most vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change as a result of increased emissions of carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide gases into the atmosphere. The industrialized world was responsible for the concentration of those gases into the atmosphere. It continued to pursue its industrial strategies in wanton disregard for the environment, leading to global warming of the planet, causing extreme weather events, rise in sea level and increase in the number and intensity of typhoons and drought.

Second Committee - 8 - Press Release GA/EF/2787 31st Meeting (PM) 6 November 1997

While there was no agreement on emissions reductions by countries in the North, he said, it was unfair and unacceptable for the developing countries, which were struggling to attain decent standards of living, to curtail their industrial activity and share in the efforts to reduce emissions so that the industrialized countries could continue with their unsustainable production and consumption patterns. Developed countries must take the lead and not only reduce emissions, but modify longer-term trends in anthropogenic emissions, their production, and consumption lifestyles.

HENRI SCHUMACHER (Luxembourg), speaking on behalf of the European Union and Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia and Cyprus, said the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change would soon meet in Kyoto, Japan, to determine the direction in which the international community would focus its efforts in the coming decades on emissions of greenhouse gases. The European Union reaffirmed its proposal to reduce emissions of those gases to at least 7.5 per cent below 1990 levels by 2005, and to attain the objective of 15 per cent by 2010. It also encouraged all the parties to the Convention to speed up negotiations for the conclusion of a binding legal instrument. In the future, the developing countries must assume their share of responsibility for limiting greenhouse gas emission, and they would need to take the necessary measures to do so.

Given the potential harmful consequences of climate change on coastal areas and in other sectors such as health, agriculture and forestry, he said the outcome of the recent discussion in Bonn was satisfactory. All delegations should use the remaining time before Kyoto to reconsider their present positions. Only ambitious and achievable objectives would enable governments to introduce the instruments necessary to make the Convention an effective tool.

The European Union would play an active part in the creation and implementation of the multi-annual work programme of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) as well as in the implementation of the Biological Diversity Convention, he said. It would aim to promote the positive effects and mitigate the negative consequences of agriculture on biological diversity; conservation and sustainable management of genetic resources; and the fair and equitable distribution of the benefits arising from the use of those resources. The international dialogue on conservation and a more rational use of coastal and marine biological diversity must also continue to be a priority. The international community must intensify cooperation to enable an integrated, coordinated approach to the implementation of the conventions concerning the environment, he concluded.

Second Committee - 9 - Press Release GA/EF/2787 31st Meeting (PM) 6 November 1997

FRANK J. GUARINI (United States) said the international community had taken a number of significant steps toward creating additional mechanisms to deal with several of the environmental challenges facing the world today, such as desertification and global climate change. It had also made concerted efforts to work together with the small island developing States in promoting sustainable development. It had focused international attention on the consequences of natural disasters during the International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction.

Drawing attention to the climatic condition known as El Niño, he said the United States had established an inter-agency working group to coordinate its response to El Niño both domestically and internationally. The United States had placed a priority on research and monitoring activities related to El Niño. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency was sponsoring a series of climate outlook forums throughout Latin America involving diagnostic and predictive information exchanges among climatologists and experts in agriculture, water management and natural disaster relief.

Also, the United States Agency for International Development had sent out instructions to all relevant posts, making its personnel aware of the effects of the last El Niño and of the resources it had to respond to that type of disaster, he continued. The United States was exchanging information with other interested governments, the World Bank, the Pan-American Health Organization and non-governmental representatives in an effort to better understand the effects of El Niño.

TUILOMA NERONI SLADE (Samoa), speaking on behalf of the member countries of the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS), said that with the full support of the international community and the United Nations system, there was promise and real prospects for the sustainable development of the small island States. The Barbados Programme of Action, the outcome of the Global Conference, was vital for the future of the AOSIS, and it must be made to work. The AOSIS countries, therefore, were disappointed by the loss of momentum in the international support for the Programme of Action. The concern was that the special session to review implementation of Agenda 21 had failed in reaffirming effective donor commitment for financing and technology development for the developing world.

The Alliance urged its developed country partners and the international community to re-examine and to give greater effect to their pledged commitment to sustainable development through increased positive and effective financing, technology development and assistance programmes, he said. The international community should also continue to support AOSIS regional organizations, recognizing their essential place in the sustainable development process. The United Nations system and the multilateral organizations could also play a more focused role in developing human capacity and the full economic potential of AOSIS countries.

Second Committee - 10 - Press Release GA/EF/2787 31st Meeting (PM) 6 November 1997

It was imperative that all industrialized countries, without exception, commit themselves to legally-binding emission reduction targets, he said. Those countries had the responsibility to lead and to take the first step. They had the capacity to do so. The so-called flexibility which was being sought by some parties could be better understood if they, too, had been compelled to act in a more ambitions manner. Some of those proposals were nothing but an abdication of responsibility and an attempt to shift the onus to the bigger developing countries. The AOSIS countries endorsed the position of the Group of 77 and China that in the Berlin Mandate no new commitments for developing countries should be introduced.

ESPEN RONNEBERG (Marshall Islands) said a fair negotiated solution to the problems of climate change was needed. The lack of meaningful proposals from those who emitted the most greenhouse gases had made the situation difficult. It was an abdication of responsibility and an attempt to shift the onus over to the developing countries.

Noting that the Secretary-General's report had recognized the important role the United Nations could play in promoting the sustainable development of small island developing States, he said there was a need to strengthen the Small Island Developing States Unit in the Department of Economic and Social Affairs which was looking after 42 island countries, 32 of them members of the United Nations. A proposed meeting between the small island developing States and the donor community later in the year or early next year could be an important opportunity to air in more detail the situation those countries were facing in terms of low level of resources available as well as comparatively low level of activity by the international community.

THANE MYINT (Myanmar) said the demarcated political boundaries or territories were no fail-safe barriers to the chain-reaction effects on the environment. Acid rain in one country might be caused by air pollution exuded in another. The generation of greenhouse gases in the developed countries, and the consequent global warming effect, did not exclude the primitive people living in backward countries. Therefore, everyone should work together to make the world better, and those who are able should lend help to those in need. His Government supported financial and technological transfers.

Drawing attention to the consequences of ecological degradation of desertification as being due to natural causes as well as human activities, he said in 1993 a programme for re-greening Myanmar's dry zone was undertaken as a national task. The initial success in halting the environmental degradation and reversing desertification, and in promoting the livelihood and living standards of the people inhabiting those regions was mainly due to their own participation. Tertiary level environmental education was given freely to let those people see the innate problems confronting them. They came to understand that only through their own efforts, with assistance from the Government and non-governmental organizations, could they overcome the challenges to their way of life.

Second Committee - 11 - Press Release GA/EF/2787 31st Meeting (PM) 6 November 1997

The direct cause-and-effect relationship between farming and land erosion was unknown to most farmers in the region, he said. That needed to be demonstrated, so sustainable farming systems were introduced. Without sustainable provisions for improved livelihood, including food security, income and water for household use, all efforts in greening the region would fail later on.

ARAFAN KABINE KABA (Guinea) said the international community should support a unique regional arrangement known as the Fouta Djallon Mountain Project which was set up to conserve, protect and manage the ecosystem and water resources of a number of West African countries. The United Nations system and the donor community should support that regional effort with financial resources so it would be able to realize its objectives.

Noting the interrelatedness of peace, development and the environment, he said those were not the concerns of a single country but of the international community. The Rio Summit had stressed the multi-dimensionality of sustainable development as well as the need for all countries to work together to achieve its goals. Guinea had ratified the Rio conventions and was implementing its provisions. Guinea expressed its gratitude to United Nations agencies for complementing its national efforts. The importance of the role of the United Nations in fighting desertification and climate change, protecting biodiversity and promoting sustainable development could not be overemphasized. Despite the timid response to the Rio Summit, pursuing sustainable development was the only way to meet the needs of the present and future generations.

GAETANO BRINCAU (Malta) said his Government was contributing to sustainable development at the regional and global levels. It also hosted the International Ocean Institute and the International Maritime Law Institute of the International Maritime Organization (IMO), both of which organized courses in ocean management for students from overseas, especially from developing countries. Malta also hosted the Regional Marine Pollution Control Center, which functioned as part of the Mediterranean Action Plan.

Small island developing States were particularly vulnerable to global climate change, climate variability and sea-level rise, he said. Since their population, agricultural land and infrastructure tended to be concentrated in the coastal zones, any rise in sea level threatened the survival of low-lying countries. Global climate change might affect vegetation, and saline intrusion might adversely affect freshwater courses. It was important that the outcome of the Third Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Kyoto involved a commitment by developed countries to significant reductions in their greenhouse gas emissions through the adoption of a protocol or other legal instrument.

The issue of the availability of freshwater was a particularly important one, and its impact on the economic development of States needed to be

Second Committee - 12 - Press Release GA/EF/2787 31st Meeting (PM) 6 November 1997

addressed, he said. To satisfy the ever-increasing demand for water, his Government had installed four reverse osmosis desalination plants at a very high price. The international community needed to support the efforts of developing countries in dealing with the problems of availability of freshwater. The shift to higher value, less water-intensive modes of agricultural and industrial production, and the development of educational and informational infrastructure to improve the skills of the labour force required for economic transformation were needed if the use of freshwater resources was to be sustainable.

I. T. TABAI, Secretary-General of the South Pacific Forum secretariat, said all the South Pacific island countries were particularly vulnerable to external economic and environmental shocks because of their smallness, isolation, location and the openness of their economies. Only five of them were currently classified as least developed countries and therefore eligible for trade and technical assistance. The current system of measuring development status must be reviewed. The indicators that were used should reflect economic conditions that were sustainable and took full account of economic and environmental vulnerability.

He said that should the international community fail to come up with effective measures in Kyoto, increasing greenhouse gas emissions would threaten the very existence of the island countries in the Pacific region and elsewhere and might cause irrevocable damage to other low-lying areas around the world. The South Pacific Forum reiterated its commitment to the principles of the Rio agreements and urged Member States to seriously consider the dire consequences of climate change.

MILOSLAV HETTES (Slovakia) said his Government supported international efforts for the implementation of the Convention on Biological Diversity. Slovakia took part in the three previous sessions of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention, and it had an interest in the negotiations of the expert-level working groups. Two of the most important tasks of the implementation were the financial mechanism and the preparation of the protocol on biosafety. Slovakia would host the fourth session of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention from 4 to 15 May 1998 in Bratislava.

In 1994, Slovakia's Ministry of the Environment established a national secretariat with responsibility for the implementation of the commitments and obligations of the Convention, he said. It also coordinated the Biodiveristy Protection Project that was being realized with Global Environment Facility grants supports. The Slovak Commission for the Convention on Biological Diversity was founded in 1995. Its objective was to ensure that the Convention was implemented by all in society. That Convention helped Slovakia protect its environmental heritage. His Government encouraged all States to ratify the Convention and to start protecting the world's biodiversity.

Second Committee - 13 - Press Release GA/EF/2787 31st Meeting (PM) 6 November 1997

Right of Reply

Ms. AL-JOUBOURI (Iraq), speaking in exercise of the right of reply, said the war against Iraq in 1991 was not as clean as the representative of the United States had stated previously. It was the dirtiest war in the history of wars. The United States and its allies used radiation weapons in Iraq, and 300 tons of toxic projectiles were left behind. Many international reports documented the use of those projectiles on Iraqi civilians. Symptoms of the "gulf war syndrome", as it was described in the United States, were also found in Iraqi soldiers and citizens who were affected by the radiation of those projectiles. Iraq had the right to a clean environment as a human right.

* *** *