COMMISSION ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT TO HOLD EIGHTH ANNUAL SESSION AT HEADQUARTERS, 24 APRIL-5 MAY
Press Release
ENV/DEV/536
COMMISSION ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT TO HOLD EIGHTH ANNUAL SESSION AT HEADQUARTERS, 24 APRIL-5 MAY
20000420 Background ReleaseThe Commission on Sustainable Development will hold its eighth session from 24 April to 5 May at United Nations Headquarters in New York, focusing on land management; financial resources, trade, investment and economic growth; and agriculture.
The Commission is charged with monitoring the implementation of Agenda 21, the programme of action adopted at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) (Rio de Janeiro, 1992). At its nineteenth special session, in June 1997, the General Assembly adopted the Programme for Further Implementation of Agenda 21, recommending measures to improve implementation of the programme, which aims at reshaping human activities to minimize environmental damage and ensure sustainability in the development process.
The sectoral theme of the Commission's eighth session is integrated planning and management of land resources. Its cross-sectoral theme will be financial resources/trade and investment/economic growth. Agriculture will be the focus of its economic sector/major group consideration. In addition, the Commission is to consider the report of the Intergovernmental Forum on Forests.
The session will include a high-level segment to be held on 26 and 27 April, which will bring together government ministers and policy-makers from around the world to address each of the substantive issues, consider emerging policy issues, and provide political impetus to the implementation of decisions.
It will also continue the practice, begun during the seventh session, of interactive thematic dialogues between Commission members and representatives of major groups. Land and agriculture, preparations for the 2002 review of progress since UNCED, the outcome of the Intergovernmental Forum on Forests, finance and investment, and trade are the main themes of this session's interactive dialogues. An additional feature this year will be the Day of Indigenous People, which is not a particular day but consists of special events taking place during the two-week session.
Land Management
Expanding human requirements and economic activities are placing ever-increasing pressures on land resources, creating competition and conflicts and resulting in sub-optimal use of both land and land resources. By examining all uses of land in an integrated manner, it makes it possible to minimize
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conflicts, to make the most efficient trade-offs and to link social and economic development with environmental protection and enhancement, thus helping to achieve the objectives of sustainable development.
Studies conducted by the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) show that many developing countries continue to confront major challenges related to poverty and food insecurity, lack of productive technologies and unsustainable livelihoods. They may also be facing increased vulnerability to climatic variations and other natural disasters. Land resources in many tropical, subtropical and dryland regions of the world are seriously affected by land degradation, with severe impacts on many of the over 80 per cent of the worlds population who live in countries where agriculture and land are the primary sources of livelihood.
Improved knowledge of land resources and the environmental and social problems associated with land use, as reviewed above, is leading policy makers, communities and individuals towards better land management. Land is no longer perceived as a resource to be developed and used for economic purposes only, but as an asset to be maintained and improved for the well-being of present and future generations, an essential part of the political, social and cultural fabric and of ecological balance.
Financial Resources/Trade and Investment/Economic Growth
In the wake of the financial crisis that started in East Asia and eventually spread to many emerging economies during 1997-1998, there have been several significant developments in the financing of sustainable development. Although official development finance has risen from its level in 1996, that increase -- of about $15 billion -- has not been sufficient to prevent a sharp drop in the total net resource flow to developing countries in 1998. Further, as a consequence of the financial crisis, developing countries as a group have experienced a steep decline in private financial inflows, particularly in bank lending, since 1997.
International Cooperation to Accelerate Sustainable Development in Developing Countries and Related Domestic Policies is the subject of chapter 2 of Agenda 21. It recognizes that economic policies, both of individual countries and in international relations, have great relevance to sustainable development. A supportive external economic environment is crucial.
The international economy should therefore provide a supportive international climate for achieving environment and development goals through the following: promoting sustainable development through trade liberalization; making trade and environment mutually supportive; providing adequate financial resources to developing countries and dealing with international debt; and encouraging macroeconomic policies conducive to environment and development.
Agriculture
Chapter 14 of Agenda 21, on sustainable agriculture and rural development, notes that, by the year 2025, 83 per cent of the expected global population of
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8.5 billion will be living in developing countries. Yet, the capacity of available resources and technologies to satisfy the demands of this growing population for food and other agricultural commodities remains uncertain. Agriculture has to meet this challenge, mainly by increasing production on land already in use and by avoiding further encroachment on land that is only marginally suitable for cultivation.
Major adjustments are needed in agricultural, environmental and macroeconomic policy, at both national and international levels, in developed as well as developing countries, to create the conditions for sustainable agriculture and rural development. This will involve education initiatives, utilization of economic incentives and the development of appropriate and new technologies, thus ensuring stable supplies of nutritionally adequate food, access to those supplies by vulnerable groups, and production for markets; employment and income generation to alleviate poverty; and natural resource management and environmental protection.
Commission Background
The Commission on Sustainable Development was set up in 1993 as a functional commission of the Economic and Social Council to ensure follow-up to UNCED, as well as to enhance international cooperation and rationalize the intergovernmental decision-making capacity for the integration of environment and development issues. It was also mandated to examine progress in the implementation of Agenda 21 at the national, regional and international levels, guided by the principles of the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development and with the aim of achieving sustainable development. It has met annually at Headquarters for the past seven years, and operates on the basis of a multi-year thematic programme of work.
Membership, Officers
The Commission consists of 53-member States elected for three-year terms. In 2000, the membership is as follows: Algeria, Angola, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Cameroon, Canada, China, Colombia, Côte d'Ivoire, Cuba, Czech Republic, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Denmark, Djibouti, Egypt, France, Germany, Guyana, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Iran, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Lebanon, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mexico, Mozambique, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Niger, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Portugal, Republic of Korea, Russian Federation, Slovakia, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sudan, The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Tunisia, United Kingdom, United States and Venezuela.
In April 1999, the Commission elected Juan Mayr Maldonado (Colombia) as Chairman, and Patrick F.A. McDonnell (Ireland), Zvetolyub P. Basmajiev (Bulgaria) and Choi Seok Young (Republic of Korea) as Vice-Chairmen. It will elect its remaining Vice-Chairman and Rapporteur at the start of the eighth session.
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