PRESS CONFERENCE BY CHAIRMAN OF COMMISSION FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

 

More than 90 Government ministers were converging at United Nations Headquarters in an effort to draft global policy measures that would foster socio-economic development while cutting poverty, pollution and greenhouse gas emissions, Abdullah bin Hamad al-Attiyah, Chairman of the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development’s fifteenth session, said at a Headquarters press conference on the session’s opening day.

During the two-week event, to be held from 30 April to 11 May, environmental, industrial development, energy and foreign affairs ministers worldwide would focus on effective solutions to problems related to energy for sustainable development, industrial development, air pollution and climate change, said Mr. al-Attiyah, also Qatar’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Energy and Industry.  He expressed hope that the ministers in attendance would put aside their differences and reach consensus on at least some issues by 9 May, the date of the session’s high-level ministerial segment.

“It’s not an easy job,” he said, stressing that more than 2 billion people still lacked access to electricity and that countries and regional blocs had conflicting energy agendas and solutions, including access to affordable energy and reliable, clean energy supplies.  “We are trying to introduce a draft that can be balanced and acceptable to all.”

He said energy use was expected to grow by 50 per cent over the next 25 years, two thirds of it in developing nations.  Per capita energy consumption in developing countries was in some cases as low as one fifteenth of that in developed countries, but industrial development and economic growth were fuelling world energy demands.

Joanne Disano, Director of the Division of Sustainable Development of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, said that more than 15 heads of United Nations agencies, funds and programmes were attending the session and more than 1,500 major groups had registered for the Partnership Fair.

Mr. al-Attiyah and Ms. Disano agreed that the Commission on Sustainable Development, within the United Nations Framework on Climate Change, was the best forum for discussing global warming concerns.

Responding to a reporter’s question as to whether the climate change and global warming debate were detracting from development and how nations coped with natural disasters, Mr. al-Attiyah said great efforts were under way to control climate change and reduce air pollution, while taking into account the need for industry development in least developed countries.

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For information media • not an official record