ENB:05:12
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EXCHANGE OF INFORMATION ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF AGENDA 21 AT THE NATIONAL LEVEL
The Secretariat's document on this agenda item, E/CN.17/1993/6, said that experience gained from the UNCED process showed that the one-year period provided for preparation of national reports based on suggested guidelines was insufficient. Format and size varied, and it was hard to extract information and maintain uniformity in the analysis. The Secretary-General recommended that it would be useful for governments to follow some standardized format in preparing their reports/communications for the Commission, including: they must be in one of the official UN languages, not exceed 50 pages, refer to specific facts and data that would reflect improvements or degradation of situations, and be submitted to the Secretariat at least three months prior to the start of the CSD session.
During the discussion on this subject delegates raised a number of concerns about government reporting. Many developing countries were concerned that information provided by the governments should be voluntary and the Secretariat should not set guidelines or a standardized format for these reports. Australia and the Nordics believed that the national reports should be limited to the clusters of the multi-year programme of work being discussed at each session and should be as brief and concise as possible. The final paragraphs relating to government reporting state: it is up to individual Governments to decide on the degree of detail and regularity of their reporting to the CSD, however, the information provided should be relevant to the Agenda 21 clusters to be discussed that year; it should be concise (no more than 50 pages); and it should be accompanied by an executive summary of no more than 5 pages. To ensure a more focussed and coherent analysis of the information received by Governments, the Commission agreed on the need for the Secretary-General to prepare reports using a standardized format, "which Governments may wish to follow," taking into account the format of Agenda 21. Finally, Governments are encouraged to submit their information not less than 6 months prior to the Commission's session and, to facilitate the work of the Secretariat, Governments are encouraged to notify the Secretary-General of a point of contact that has knowledge of the information provided.
Paragraph 7 of the final document (E/CN.17/1993/L.3/ Rev.1) lists 13 guidelines that the Secretariat should follow on preparing the information to be included in the analysis of information received from Governments. Debate on this paragraph focussed on the question of whether Governments will be required to follow these guidelines or if they are only for the Secretariat. There were also a number of specific comments on the guidelines. The compromise text reads: "Governments, in providing information to the Secretariat, are encouraged to take into account the above guidelines, in order, inter alia, to facilitate the task of the Secretariat." The 13 guidelines include:
- Policies and measures adopted at the national level to meet objectives of Agenda 21;
- Institutional mechanisms to addresses sustainable development issues, including the participation of NGOs and major groups;
- Assessments of progress achieved to date;
- Measures taken, including indicators, and progress achieved to reach sustainable production and consumption patterns and lifestyles to combat poverty and limit the demographic impact on the life-supporting capacity of the planet;
- Impact of environmental measures undertaken on the national economy;
- Experience gained (descriptions of successful policies/projects that can serve as models);
- Specific problems and constraints encountered;
- Adverse impact on sustainable development of trade restrictive and distortive policies and measures;
- Assessments of capacity;
- Assessments of needs and priorities for external assistance in terms of finance, technology transfer, cooperation and capacity-building and human resource development;
- Implementation of Agenda 21 commitments related to finance;
- Assessments of the effectiveness of activities and projects of international organizations; and
- Other relevant environment and development issues, including those affecting youth, women and other major groups.
- Progress achieved to date in the implementation of the objectives of relevant chapters of Agenda 21;
- The main activities that countries are undertaking or planning in order to achieve those objectives;
- Experience gained;
- Assessments of developments in capacity-building;
- Specific problems and constraints encountered by Governments at all levels;
- Assessments of the availability of domestic human, technological and financial resources and of needs and priorities for external assistance; and
- Assessments of specific expectations from international organizations, financial institutions and funding mechanisms.