Commission on Sustainable Development

Acting as the Preparatory Committee for

 World Summit on Sustainable Development

6^th Meeting (PM)

POVERTY ERADICATION, ISLAND STATE VULNERABILITY AMONG ISSUES DISCUSSED,

AS PREPARATORY COMMITTEE FOR JOHANNESBURG SUMMIT BEGINS GENERAL DEBATE

CORRECTION

On page 11 of Press Release ENV/DEV/614 issued 31 January 2002, the statement by the Secretary-General of the World Meteorological Organization should read as follows:

G.O.P. OBASI, Secretary-General, World Meteorological Organization, said that the Summit would be a landmark event that would significantly influence the sustainable development paths chosen by nations.  He highlighted several issues, which should be given priority consideration at the Summit, including the need for a “culture of prevention” in natural disaster reduction.  Natural disasters had led to an enormous annual toll of human suffering, loss of lives and property damage.  Yet, technical means existed and others were under further development, to reduce losses through improved observation networks, communication facilities, analysis, and forecasting, warning and preparedness systems. 

Also, the global average surface temperature was on the rise, he continued.  For governments to have the appropriate advice and assessment to respond to climate change, it was important to have adequate support for the monitoring of the climate system.  The Summit should call for the strengthening of the monitoring networks of the atmosphere, oceans, rivers and lakes.  It was through those unique global networks, coordinated by WMO, that credible information and advice were derived in warnings related to natural disasters, and in support of policy decisions on environmental and water-related issues.  He added that freshwater shortage was expected to be the most dominant water problem in the current century and one that, along with water quality, could jeopardize all other efforts to secure sustainable development, and could even lead to social and political instability, in some cases.

He pointed out that the influence of human activities on the environment had already moved the Earth’s system outside the range of the natural variability exhibited in humankind’s history.  Those changes suggested that the world’s current development path was not sustainable and had implications for the Earth’s essential life-support systems and poverty.  A new paradigm of scientific inquiry had to be invoked.  That paradigm –- “sustainability science” -– was crucial for the transition to sustainability. 

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