PRESS CONFERENCE ON SIXTH SESSION OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION

Press Briefing

PRESS CONFERENCE ON SIXTH SESSION OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION

The Chairman of the sixth session of the Commission on Sustainable Development, Cielito Habito (Philippines), told correspondents at a Headquarters press conference this morning that a number of innovative ideas and decisions on the review of the effectiveness of voluntary business initiatives and codes of conduct, the transfer of environmentally-sound technologies and freshwater management had emerged from the session. Draft decisions on those issues were expected to be acted upon in the afternoon, he added.

Also attending the press conference were a Vice-Chairman of the Commission, Michael Odevall (Sweden), and Nitin Desai, Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs.

Mr. Habito said the session had agreed that there must be a process for reviewing and assessing the effectiveness of voluntary initiatives and codes of conduct by industry in promoting more sustainable production. The exact mode that assessment and review would take remained to be worked out. A report on that matter would be presented to the seventh session of the Commission next year.

Turning to freshwater management, he said a contentious issue was the concern of riparian States. However, those concerns about shared water resources and transboundary water courses were being addressed. Participants at the session had agreed that it should be approached in a cooperative way. The significance of existing agreements on water sources also needed to be further discussed.

Regarding cross-sectoral issues, the Chairman said there had been discussions on the transfer of environmentally-sound technologies. It was generally agreed that it should take place directly among the holders of those technologies. The transfer of publicly-held technologies was much easier because governments could negotiate directly. However, specific ideas were needed on how to facilitate the transfer of privately held technologies besides foreign direct investment (FDI). One of the new ideas that evolved from the discussions was the creation of technology centres to facilitate such transfer.

Continuing, he said other cross-sectoral issues like science, education, capacity-building were highly contentious at the session. Participants defined a more concrete mode of effecting the promotion of education for sustainable development, awareness-raising and capacity-building. There was a general recognition that the role of civil society had to be strengthened.

He said the session had made some progress in those areas and that it had benefited greatly from the interactive nature of some of the segments. Those segments brought together representatives of industry, trade unions, non-governmental organizations and governments in a series of highly enriching dialogues. That kind of format was expected at next year's session on tourism. Participants actively took part in the discussions. Informal meetings among them also led to free exchange of views and ideas.

He said concerns were expressed by some participants that too much effort and time was being devoted to arguments over words and punctuations in the Commission's documents. Inordinate amount of time should not be spent on inconsequential issues. There were also some useful suggestions on documentation and on the conduct of the seventh session, which would address oceans and the small island States, tourism and production and consumption patterns as they affected sustainable development.

Mr. Odevall said last year's decisions by the Commission to focus on specific themes as well as to involve civil society had worked well at the current session, which had been a success. Industry and civil society agreed to examine how the different voluntary arrangements could be developed.

Mr. Desai said there had been a rich set of side events which had proved equally valuable during the current session. Participants got a lot from the free exchange of experiences and knowledge.

Asked if emphasis had been given to consumption of resources as well as production, Mr. Habito said they had addressed how the guidelines on United Nations consumer protection could be revised to address sustainable development. However, the substantive part of that issue had been left to the seventh session next year.

A correspondent wanted to know if India had accepted provisions for the sharing of common river basins. Mr. Habito said it had been one of the contentious issues. At the moment, there were still some bilateral meetings taking place which would hopefully firm up agreement on the freshwater issue.

The same correspondent wanted to know if the Commission had taken up the pollution of the Aral sea in Central Asia. Mr. Desai said it was not on the agenda of the session as a specific item, but that it was discussed in great depth at one of the side events. The Commission had become a useful forum for getting the message across that a problem needed to be addressed. The problem would be brought out on the policy radar. It had a strong health dimension because of the pesticide residue in that sea.

Press Conference on Sustainable - 3 - 1 May 1998 Development Session

Asked if the experiment of trying to create a more interactive discussion among the participants at the session had worked, Mr. Habito said the informal segments were more interactive than the formal meetings. The tendency was to read prepared statements at the plenary. The Chairman's request was that they should not read their statements but to read from it. Some heeded that suggestion.

He said the other experiment was not to have a list of speakers so that none of the participants would know when he or she was going to be called upon to speak. That kept them in the room for as long as possible and helped to facilitate stronger participation.

A correspondent asked about the financing and the future of freshwater initiatives. Mr. Desai said there had been a lot of discussion on the financing mechanisms for freshwater and that the financial institutions would have to advance the freshwater initiative. The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) would also have to be involved. The Commission's purpose was to advance global consensus on what constituted a good policy in a particular area.

Speaking on the role of the non-governmental organizations (NGOs), Mr. Habito said they had played a significant one at the session and that the issue of assessment and review of voluntary initiatives for industry was sponsored by those organizations. If the United Nations was really meant to be a community of nations, not of governments, the role of civil society should be strengthened through NGOs and other groups. There was a need to build a community of peoples.

Asked to what extend financing had crippled the implementation of the Commission, Mr. Habito said it would be unfair to conclude that not much had happened since the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (Rio de Janeiro, 1992). At the local and national levels, a lot had been achieved. Communities within countries had been doing quite a lot without necessarily taking guidance from Agenda 21; they were perhaps inspired by it. There had been no satisfactory progress with regard to global agreements or conventions. It was the global aspect that had proved to be more challenging because it required governments making certain commitments and those were often harder to achieve.

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