DEPUTY SECRETARY-GENERAL STRESSES DETERMINATION TO IMPLEMENT RIO AGREEMENTS AND TO ACHIEVE TRULY SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
Press Release
DSG/SM/42
ENV/DEV/495
DEPUTY SECRETARY-GENERAL STRESSES DETERMINATION TO IMPLEMENT RIO AGREEMENTS AND TO ACHIEVE TRULY SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
19990223 Louise Fréchette, at American University in Washington D.C., Calls for Work Towards Day When Sustainable Development is Tangible ConcernFollowing is the address by Deputy Secretary-General Louise Fréchette to the Forum on United Nations Sustainable Development Programmes, at the American University in Washington, D.C. today:
It is not every day that a United Nations official can come to Washington, D.C. and find herself among such a large and diverse group of friends. So it gives me great pleasure to be here with you today to exchange views on the Organization's work in an area of vital concern to all people, supporters and detractors alike. I am grateful to the Alliance for United Nations Sustainable Development Programmes, the Centre for the Global South here at American University and the Heinrich Boll Foundation for making this event possible.
A government official said some years ago that "We are all faced with a series of great opportunities. However, they are brilliantly disguised as intractable problems." That was certainly the case in 1992, when the world gathered in Rio de Janeiro to advance the cause of sustainable development: development that meets the needs of today without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs.
Some groups and individuals attending the Earth Summit expressed the view that sustainable development was intrinsically hostile to economic growth, despite the fact that without economic growth, there would be no development to sustain! Others claimed that sustainable development was an attack on hard-earned standards of living, even though those standards were being undermined by unsustainable practices and were not, in any case, being enjoyed by all.
In short, it was difficult to see the "forest" of opportunities for all the "trees" of political disagreement, tough bargaining positions and
challenges to the status quo. Still, the hoped-for breakthrough was achieved. Governments endorsed Agenda 21 as the road map to sustainable development.
Thanks to that political will, and especially to coalition-building between Governments and the likes of you in this room today, the debate over environment and development has shifted for good. As the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has said, "there is greater recognition and popular insistence that the wealth of nations and the well-being of individuals lie not just in economic capital, but in social and natural capital as well". We can no longer talk about economic development, environmental protection and social progress as separate matters. Rather, they are mutually reinforcing components of a single, urgent mission.
We now understand that we should not create jobs and raise incomes with short-term development that fails to take the costs of environmental damage into account. But we must acknowledge, just the same, that many problems, particularly in developing countries, can only be solved through rapid, steady economic growth, along with sound environmental and social policies.
More broadly, we see as well the links between sustainable development and most of the key issues on the international agenda. Poverty perpetuates economic stagnation, social deprivation, ill health and environmental degradation. Population pressures put strains on resources. A lack of good governance is an obstacle to effective public administration and the delivery of public services such as clean water, sanitation and infrastructure.
There is even a connection to the maintenance of peace and security, since the roots of conflict and political instability may also be found in competition over increasingly scarce resources such as land, oil or water.
We knew all of this, of course, intuitively and from long experience. Yet it wasn't until the publication of "Our Common Future" in 1987 that the many strands coalesced into the overarching idea of sustainable development.
Just five years later, the landmark meeting in Rio gave the concept a global stamp of approval. And now, just seven years along the road from Rio, more than 150 countries have established national councils on sustainable development or similar bodies, and almost 2,000 municipal governments in 49 countries are pursuing local Agenda 21 action plans.
Also during that time, a series of world conferences on other major issues reinforced the overall message: that along with interdependence among nations there is interdependence among issues, and that development must be approached in a comprehensive, integrated manner, the future firmly in view.
- 3 - Press Release DSG/SM/42 ENV/DEV/495 23 February 1999
The net result is an internationally agreed framework for action. But let us not be lulled by what we have accomplished on paper. We should measure our gains not in conferences held or promises made but by what happens on the ground. And so we must ask: How well have we progressed since the Earth Summit? Has the United Nations -- from its policy-making bodies to its agencies and programmes at the country-level -- risen to the challenge? Have we moved from concept to action, from intention to implementation?
As you know, two years ago the General Assembly convened a special session to carry out just such an assessment. A "critical trends" report was issued on that occasion that looked ahead to the next quarter century and noted significant progress as well as some reasons to fear the worst.
On the positive side of the ledger, growth in world population is slowing, food production is rising, the majority of people are living longer, healthier lives, and environmental quality in some regions is improving. Legally binding conventions on climate change, biodiversity and desertification have entered into force. And we have shown that determined policy intervention can make a difference in response to threats such as industrial pollution and depletion of the ozone layer.
At the same time, there is a growing scarcity of freshwater, a loss of forests and of productive agricultural land, and increasing poverty and inequality in many parts of the developing world. The fallout of AIDS has proved to be even more widespread and devastating than had been feared, especially for the economies of many African countries. Government subsidies continue to disguise the actual costs of natural resources, leading to their depletion and overuse. And we have yet to put in place sustainable patterns of energy production and use -- our main concern for the long-term.
The conclusion in 1997 was that while global catastrophe was not imminent, business-as-usual was not likely to result in long-term sustainable development. That remains true today.
The role of the multilateral system in changing this state of affairs is twofold, simultaneously global and local.
Globally, issues such as climate change and marine pollution that cut across national frontiers are among the quintessential "problems without passports" which, like crime, drug-trafficking and the spread of disease, cry out for an international response.
But the global perspective is not the only one. While global threats and the global dimension of modern life have received the lion's share of attention in recent years, it is the local level that is closest to the
- 4 - Press Release DSG/SM/42 ENV/DEV/495 23 February 1999
world's people, and it is at the local level that the most creative and tangible problem-solving is being done.
The local level is also where the United Nations and its system of agencies and programmes are most present in people's lives, helping countries to meet their peoples' needs.
Indeed, for most men, women and children the struggle for sustainable development begins not at United Nations conferences or policy sessions but at home, amid grinding poverty, with the daily search for basics like clean water, sanitation, shelter and some fuel with which to cook and heat.
So if the role of the multilateral system is clear, still we must have a multilateral system that works. The Earth Summit served as a catalyst for changes at the United Nations which have brought us closer to that goal. The Commission on Sustainable Development, created immediately after Rio, has become a central forum to review and promote implementation of Agenda 21 and other agreements. The Global Environment Facility has emerged as an innovative financial mechanism.
We have also, in the spirit of Rio and the spirit of United Nations reform, closely examined the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and Habitat, the United Nations Centre for Human Settlements. For more than 25 years, UNEP has monitored the state of the environment, raised awareness and provided invaluable policy guidance. Today, as a focal point, within and beyond the United Nations system, for the environmental dimension of sustainable development, a strong UNEP is essential for us all.
Towards that end, following a comprehensive review, the Secretary-General has submitted to the General Assembly a set of recommendations aimed at revitalizing both UNEP and Habitat. The recommendations covering UNEP are designed to improve coordination, forge closer links between UNEP and the environment-related conventions, and in general give UNEP greater political and financial backing. UNEP must have the status, strength and resources it needs if it is to function effectively as the environmental agency of the world community.
The changes at UNEP and Habitat are also part of the broader process of reform initiated two years ago by the Secretary-General. That effort has brought better coordination among the Organization's disparate entities, enabling them to make the necessary linkages among issues and working more effectively together at the country level.
The United Nations Development Assistance Framework is one important new tool in this regard. On a country-by-country basis, United Nations programmes and funds are coming together, in partnership with the Government involved, to
- 5 - Press Release DSG/SM/42 ENV/DEV/495 23 February 1999
decide on strategic objectives so that country programmes unfold in an integrated, mutually supportive way. A pilot phase has been implemented in 18 countries in Africa, Asia and Central America. Although old habits die hard, and we are still assessing the lessons learned, we are greatly encouraged by what we have seen thus far.
Another post-Rio change was the establishment of the Inter-Agency Committee on Sustainable Development, which helps guide the United Nations system's follow-up to Agenda 21 through a "task manager" system in which, for example, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) takes the lead on issues relating to land resources, and the World Health Organization (WHO) does so on health issues.
Despite financial constraints, which leave little room for expanded initiatives, and despite the need for clearer policies for sustainable development, the task manager system has led to more effective use of resources and expertise and is already proving to be a real advance over previous efforts at inter-agency cooperation.
As significant as they are, the internal changes we are making will take us only so far. Moreover, sustainable development will not be brought about by governments alone.
Indeed, one of the most exciting developments of recent years has been the remarkable degree to which the forces of civil society -- non-governmental organizations (NGOs), trade unions, local authorities, youth and women's groups, academic institutions and private sector enterprises -- are reshaping the work of diplomacy and helping to create a new, more participatory international system.
The doors of the United Nations are open as never before, thanks in great part to the Earth Summit. Governments may have been slow to recognize what has been called the "associational revolution". But they understand that civil society groups and institutions occupy an indispensable place in today's world, and that success would be unthinkable without them.
The main idea here is partnership. These are strategic partnerships for the United Nations: ways in which we can share burdens and benefit from comparative advantages. It is no surprise, therefore, that the Secretary-General has made civil society a major theme in his quiet revolution of reform. He has said repeatedly that such partnerships are not an option but a necessity.
The Secretary-General has also reached out to another constituency with an undeniable impact on our prospects for sustainable development: the business community. Last month at the World Economic Forum in Davos, he
- 6 - Press Release DSG/SM/42 ENV/DEV/495 23 February 1999
called on business to support the precautionary approach to environmental questions; to promote greater environmental responsibility and to encourage the development and diffusion of environmentally-friendly technologies.
The Secretary-General also called on business leaders to embrace labour standards and human rights, which, together with environmental stewardship, he sees as a package or "compact" of values and principles that would help give a human face to the global market. Recent months of economic turmoil have illustrated, quite devastatingly, the shortcomings and fragility of the world economy. As the United Nations system does its part to cope with the human and social fallout, the partnership with business, based on a common interest in stability and prosperity, will play a valuable role.
Unsustainable practices are deeply embedded in the fabric of modern life, so much so that it is hard to imagine making the changes we need to make.
We will not achieve sustainable development if one of every five people on earth continue to live each day in the squalor and hopelessness of absolute poverty. We will not achieve sustainable development without new economic incentives, without new, environmental friendly technologies or without the resources that were called for at Rio but which have not materialized. And we will not achieve sustainable development without reversing perilous trends with respect to energy and freshwater.
But I don't want to leave you sounding overly grim. Doom-and-gloom scenarios have proven unreliable in the past and can also be politically counter-productive. Instead let me stress how determined we are to continue doing what we can, where we can, to implement Agenda 21 and the other agreements reached in Rio and to achieve truly sustainable development.
A key challenge lies in the area of education and advocacy. When it comes to proclamations about how the world should be or what Governments should do for their people, the international community has rarely had trouble coming up with the necessary resolutions and visionary statements. But have we been able to convince the woman in the street, the man in a refugee camp or the child in the classroom about the urgency of sustainable development?
My sense is that we have tended to connect more often with each other. If we had done better at this, one could argue, sustainable development might not be the battle it is today. But a battle it is, so we must work even harder, towards the day when sustainable development is a real, tangible concern, capable of influencing the way people vote, buy goods and make other key decisions in their lives.
- 7 - Press Release DSG/SM/42 ENV/DEV/495 23 February 1999
This is a challenge for the United Nations and NGOs alike. We face the same problem. For if we do not bridge the gap between the local and the global; if we do not forge the link between, for example, climate change in the broad sense and an industry polluting a given community; we will not mobilize the grass roots. And without the grass roots, without the public on board, sustainable development will remain a concept whose elegance we can admire but whose liberating power we will never experience.
So we need to reach a critical mass of people, and even more to create a mass of critical understanding: about our world, and the threats and opportunities we face. In that spirit, I look forward to hearing your views today and to working more closely with you as we continue this vital quest.
* *** *