ENB:05:14
[
Next] .
[
Previous] .
[
Contents]
INSTITUTIONAL CAPABILITIES AND CAPACITY BUILDING:
The focus
of the debate for most participants was how government can exercise
positive influence through its many roles as regulator, procurer,
employer and partner by: improving regulatory frameworks;
encouraging training of managers and technicians at all levels;
eliminating obstacles; and using environmental impact assessments.
A number of developing countries stressed that while capacity
building at the national level was important, the Working Group
should focus on international flows of technology transfer and
finance that are necessary to support and develop capacity at the
national level. Capacity building should not continue in
perpetuity, rather it should be geared so that local people to take
over. Capacity building should therefore be country driven and
locally controlled. Pakistan used the example of its participatory
approach to its national conservation strategy. Cuba defined a
staged approach: identify national and local needs; identify the
extent that new financing is necessary to meet the identified
needs; and develop a long-term perspective and plan. Egypt
suggested that a limited number of countries, one or two from each
region, carry out national case studies on ESTs identifying the
real needs for trained personnel; institutional capacity building;
international financing; and the technologies themselves. A small
group then met to further elaborate such an idea.
Tunisia introduced document E/CN.17/ISWG.I/1994/3, a letter from
Amb. Slaheddine Abdellah to the Secretary-General reporting on the
establishment of an environmental technology center in Tunisia.
Focusing on technology and human resources development, the Center
would serve as a national focal point in promoting cooperation and
to do the same at regional and international levels. It would deal
primarily with issues of water, waste management, coastal
protection, and biological conservation and combat desertification.
France among others noted the need to ensure conditions for
effective capacity building and decision making and urged countries
to create national teams to coordinate policy and to act as a focal
point for other countries. These teams should cooperate
internationally and could be twinned. Denmark asked that the UNDP
Capacity 21 program be updated before the next session of the CSD,
and other countries commented that existing programs still needed
to be better coordinated and streamlined where necessary. The
Commission of the European Union noted that regional integration
may help considerably in finding cost effective solutions to
cooperation for capacity building.
[Return to start of article]