SPEAKERS DESCRIBE EFFORTS TO IMPLEMENT SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT POLICIES, IN SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION’S SECOND INTERACTIVE DIALOGUE

Commission on Sustainable Development

Ninth Session

10^th Meeting (AM)

SPEAKERS DESCRIBE EFFORTS TO IMPLEMENT SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT POLICIES,

IN SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION’S SECOND INTERACTIVE DIALOGUE

Integrating sustainable development into policy-making was the focus of discussion this morning, as the Commission on Sustainable Development held the second of its high-level interactive dialogues for the current session.

The high-level segment of the session, which began on 18 April, provides a forum for debate on priority issues.  On the first day of the high-level segment, the Commission held a panel discussion on financing for energy and transport systems.  General debate began on the second day, followed by the first interactive dialogue, on the promotion of private and public investment in energy and transportation.

This morning, representatives of several countries shared their national experiences in implementing the international agenda on sustainable development and supplied examples of good practices adopted in their countries.  Speakers representing non-governmental organizations addressed the importance of renewable energy sources for the rural poor, as well as the need to recognize the rights of indigenous populations and the risks they faced in developing energy projects.

Morocco’s representative described his country’s national plan for sustainable development.  In general, he said, rural areas did not have sufficient access to electricity and depended upon biomass sources, which resulted in deforestation.  His country had an electrification programme for its rural areas, using decentralized energy sources, which had made it possible to bring electricity to some 1,500 villages per year.

Mexico’s representative described his country’s reduction in energy consumption and described a number of efforts made at improving energy efficiency, including implementation of mandatory standards for energy equipment and systems.  For example, a mandatory standards programme in federal buildings had reduced energy consumption in the largest buildings by some 70 per cent.

Also addressing the issues of the rural poor, a representative of the International Fund for Agricultural Development told the Commission that the majority of extremely poor would still be living in rural areas by the year

2040 and those rural poor needed greater access to biomass forms of energy.  The representative of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification emphasized the consequences of desertification on the rural poor and the need to integrate that Convention into the national and international energy policies.

Among other issues raised in the discussion were: the need to strengthen economic growth without compromising environmental standards; strengthening regional and international cooperation in energy policies; privatization of energy production and distribution; and the need to provide rural areas with access to diversified forms of energy.

Also participating in the dialogue were representatives of Thailand, Republic of Korea, United States, Czech Republic, as well as representatives of the Indigenous Peoples’ Caucus and the World Circle of Consensus.

The Commission will meet again at 3 p.m. today to conclude its high-level general debate.

Background

The Commission on Sustainable Development met this morning to begin the last of a series of interactive dialogues.  (For more information on the work of the Commission during this session, see Press Release ENV/DEV/563 of 12 April.)

Dialogue

BEDRICH MOLDAN (Czech Republic), Chairman of the Commission, said that the theme of the dialogue be the integration of sustainable development into policies.  The Commission should consider progress made, and what could be done to move forward.

A representative of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification said that at present, desertification affected more than one billion people and they needed the urgent assistance of the international community.  Combating desertification was one of the best ways of preventing food insecurity, as well as being part of the strategy to eradicate poverty.  Multilateral organizations could play a more active role in the process.  The Convention was prepared to contribute to the proceedings of the upcoming World Summit on Sustainable Development, which should give appropriate attention to the integration of the Convention into national policies.

The representative of Thailand said that Thailand’s current energy policy had been formulated to respond to the challenge of meeting the country’s energy needs.  Thailand sought to mitigate the impact of energy use on the environment, while at the same time ensuring the efficiency of energy supply.  Rural electrification was an important component of the policy.  Currently, more than

99 per cent of Thai villages had electricity and the Government had also implemented awareness programmes on energy consumption patterns. 

Continuing, he said strict enforcement of air standards had been successful in improving air quality and incentives for the use of renewable energy had also been implemented.  Private sector corporations sought to encourage owners of enterprises to monitor and supervise emissions.  In Thailand, transportation contributed to one fifth of all air pollution.  Thus, over the past two decades Thailand had aggressively implemented transportation policies to address environmental and economic concerns, significantly investing in mass transit systems, which resulted in reduced emissions.  It had also provided technical cooperation to other developing countries in the region.

The representative of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) said that IFAD’s mandate was to support rural and agricultural development and to improve the lives of the poor, especially in rural areas.  Some three-fourths of the poor lived in  rural areas.  By the year 2040, the majority of the extremely poor would still be living in rural areas.  Regarding rural energy, the problem was often access to greater biomass forms, both for animal traction and for domestic uses.  IFAD supported the Desertification Convention as rural energy requirements were especially a problem in arid areas.  If globalization was to benefit the rural poor, much greater support for the development of rural areas was needed.  IFAD called for a refocusing of development and poverty eradication strategies.

The representative of Republic of Korea shared his country’s experiences on achieving sustainability.  For the past 30 years, the country had placed its priority on economic growth.  Efforts were being made to integrate economic, social and development issues, taking into account environmental concerns.  New approaches were being developed.  Social policies should aim at resolving the conflict of interest between economic development and environmental safety.

He went on to say that a Presidential Commission on Sustainable Development had been established last September, which provided important information and presented relevant policies and strategies.  Raising public awareness about environmental issues was of utmost importance, and a variety of strategies was being implemented in that respect.  Sharing experiences between public and private enterprises and governments should be encouraged.

A United States representative said that he wanted to address the situation in the State of New Jersey, which had launched renewable energy and energy efficiency programmes.  The programme started two days ago.  The new energy measures should add 4.5 million megawatts of renewable energy to New Jersey.  Environmental goals and standards were being established, with a detailed strategic analysis of energy efficiency and markets.  Specific measures on a greenhouse action plan were being taken to reduce the carbon dioxide content.  All colleges and universities of the State had signed a greenhouse covenant with the State to reduce the level of greenhouse gases.  Other institutions were expected to do the same.  Some companies were voluntarily going beyond minimal compliance to improve the environmental situation.

A Czech Republic representative said that his country had a good strategic environmental assessment system.  State environmental policies were in effect since 1992.  The principles of sustainable development were being incorporated into national policies, and new methods of elaborating State policies had been accepted.

An Indigenous Peoples’ Caucus representative pointed out that throughout the world, indigenous peoples were facing inequality over the control of, and access to, sustainable energy and services.  While their territories were resource-rich and served as the base from which government and corporations extracted wealth, the most severe poverty could be found there.  Nowhere was the direct link between biological diversity and cultural diversity more apparent than among indigenous peoples.  Some years ago, a certain head of State had proclaimed that his country’s lifestyle was not up for negotiation.  But, a truly global proclamation would be: “The world’s biodiversity and the survival of all indigenous peoples are not up for negotiation.” 

She went on to present her recommendations, which included: proposals for the recognition of the rights of indigenous peoples and assessment of risks for them in developing energy projects; redress for indigenous peoples who suffered because of such projects; the need to adopt a United Nations declaration on the rights of those peoples; and devoting an adequate percentage of profits from

energy production to sustainable and decentralized energy projects to be managed by indigenous peoples.  There should also be a moratorium on oil drilling and uranium mining in indigenous lands, she said, and the dumping of polluting energy and transport technologies in the South should be stopped.  Financial and technical support should be provided to develop or transfer environmentally sustainable technologies.

The representative of Morocco said that for some time Morocco had been carrying out a national plan for sustainable development, which had been reinforced by sectoral programmes in other areas.  Regarding access to energy, he supported the need to provide rural areas with access to energy.  In general, those areas did not have sufficient electricity and depended on biomass resources, which affected forests and lead to deforestation.  His country had an electrification programme for its rural areas, using decentralized energy sources.  That programme had made it possible to bring electricity to some 1,500 villages per year, with an annual investment of some

$1 billion. 

On the issue of transport, he said that there was a programme in rural areas that involved linking together almost 1,000 kilometres of roads.  Morocco was privatizing production and distribution by setting up renewable energy forms, including a 50 megawatt wind energy park.  Concerning production and distribution, Morocco had privatized its oil refining companies.  Much, however, remained to be done, given the enormous needs.  Further progress could be achieved through the strengthening of regional and international cooperation.  In that spirit, Morocco had undertaken projects with Spain and Algeria. 

The representative of Mexico said his country had been able to significantly reduce its energy consumption.  It had implemented a standards programme, consisting of 18 mandatory standards for energy equipment and systems.  Mexico was also working on the third generation of refrigerator standards and was only six months behind United States energy efficiency standards.  Mexico had also instituted daylight savings time, which contributed to significant savings in energy.  Further, Mexico had a mandatory federal building programme, which had resulted in a savings of energy consumption of some 70 per cent in the largest buildings.  More than 1,700 projects had taken place in different installations. 

The representative of the World Circle of Consensus said that of the three pillars of sustainable development, the environment must first be strengthened.  Without a sustainable environment, there could be no sustainable development.   Regarding the use of liquid fuels and gas, the switch from bicycles to motorcycles had been devastating in some developing countries.  Planning for poverty eradication should be based on systems using renewable energy sources.  Developing countries should not repeat the transgressions of developed countries.

A speaker from Finland informed the Commission about the situation in her country.  A National Committee on Sustainable Development was working in cooperation with other ministries, NGOs and the civil society, and national policies were being prepared in a transparent and open manner.  The Government developed national strategies for sustainable development, which were adopted in 1998.  At present, an assessment of the implementation of a national development strategy was being conducted in the country.  In some sectors, environmental evaluation systems were adopted.  Such an organizational structure promoted an integrated approach towards sustainable development.