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The World
Summit on Sustainable Development
European
Regional Preparatory MeetingGeneva, Switzerland; 24 - 25 September 2001 |
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Victoria Elias, European EcoForum, stressed that better decision-making builds on public support. She characterized good governance as a system based on democracy, freedom, trust, efficient and fair institutional arrangements, reliable rights for citizens, transparency and public participation. She noted good governance is slowly being developed in the UNECE region and got a boost through the Aarhus Convention | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Yves Cochet, French Minister of Environment, noted the lack of progress since Rio and highlighted Johannesburg as an opportunity to start over. He noted as priorities: the protection of natural resources, with an emphasis on eco-efficiency; linking environmental protection and poverty eradication, providing renewable energy resources as an example; the globalization of sustainable development; and questions of governance. On international environmental governance he noted current difficulties and called for a progressive strengthening of structures including a World Environment Organization, hoping it could be agreed on at Johannesburg | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Nurlan Iskakov, Vice-Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Protection in Kazakhstan, noted important effects of the Rio Summit, such as the establishment of civil society in countries previously lacking it. He highlighted positive aspects of elaborating sustainable development strategies in Kazakhstan, and noted the rise of a free market economy, media, internet, consumer rights, and environmental projects in cooperation with donors. He said Kazakhstan has opted to be a non-nuclear state, stressing that it will make sure to ward off the threat of international terrorism as one aspect of its sustainable development policy | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Olivier Deleuze, Belgian State Secretary of Energy and Sustainable Development, underscored sustainable development as a horizontal issue, meaning it needs to be integrated into all sectors. He highlighted the Belgian council for sustainable development, which involves all sectoral departments proposing sustainable development initiatives, and proposed a similar initiative at the international level |
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| Richard Ballhorn, Chair of the drafting group, noted that all brackets had been resolved. He highlighted the concept of the ecological footprint, a global deal, ODA targets, the ideas of the precautionary principle and the polluter pays principle as the final contentious issues that had been resolved | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Ministerial Panel on Poverty and Sustainable Development was held on Tuesday morning, 25 September. Chaired by Jan Pronk, Dutch Minister of Environment and Spatial Planning, it focused on: national policies for social integration; ageing and social security; the impact of poverty on the environment; the impact of migration flows and refugees on sustainable development; employment opportunities and constraints; security and the impact of war on poverty; national policies for social integration and social security; natural resource use and poverty; and sources of financing | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nino Chkhobadze, Georgia, asserted that her country can break the vicious circle of poverty. She elaborated means for eradicating poverty through environmental programs, in particular through attention to water issues. She noted several programs in her country that have stimulated economic and social development, and have proven the value of Sustainable Development for poverty relief. She drew attention to the difficulty of mobilizing financial resources, implementing fiscal discipline and financing environment-sensitive policies | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Serhii Kurykin, Ukrainian Minister of Environment and Natural Resources noted the situation in countries with economies in transition, and said poverty is complicated because it is caused by a complex set of issues. He said poverty leads to the violation of sustainability principles, noting unsustainable resource extraction in EITs and growing gaps between the rich and the poor, between those that over-consume and those without resources |
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| Richard Hayworth, Canada, argued that for many developing and transition countries, he asserted, natural resource development is vital for creating jobs, attracting investment, and generating funds for social development - medical services, education, and community involvement in decisionmaking. Responsible use of resources, integrating environmental, economic and social considerations in decisionmaking, is needed. In Canada, many natural resource-rich sites are located among remote Native communities. While partnerships between mining companies and communities began a few decades earlier only with providing jobs through resource extraction, today these partnerships include lifeskills training, education, and other social services. Based on that experience, he asserted that partnerships are important. He noted the UN Forum on Forests and a Canadian initiative in Latin America on mining as examples of mechanisms to promote sustainable development |
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| Karine Danielyan, NGO Association for Sustanable Human Development, argued that for the poor, many of whom are women, there is no Sustainable Development. She traced the links between affluence, degradation of the environment, and poverty - which she called "a lack of choices". Those who are poor seek to escape poverty, but lack access to and control of resources, and are economically and socially excluded. She argued that each person has an equal right to use the planet Earth, and that we need greater redistribution of resources. She urged greater investment in defining and tackling the links between the environment and poverty | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Michael Meacher,UK pointed to the declining percent of GDP devoted to foreign assitance. While the ODA granted by the UK is below the 0.7% target and has fallen over the last decade, he noted, the present government has reversed the downward trend. He pointed out that the US is substantially below this international aid target, and noted that if they reached even 0.3%, it would represent a major contribution |
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The
closing plenary took place in the afternoon on Tuesday, 25
September. Chair Deiss introduced agenda item seven, adoption of
the draft Ministerial Statement. Richard Ballhorn, Chair of the
drafting group, noted that all brackets had been resolved. He
highlighted the concept of the ecological footprint, a global
deal, ODA targets, the ideas of the precautionary principle and
the polluter pays principle as the final contentious issues that
had been resolved. The Ministerial Statement was then adopted by
acclamation. Chair Deiss said a chair's summary of the meeting would be distributed, and submitted to the second WSSD Preparatory Commitment to be held in New York in January. In a closing address, he noted that the meeting represented the first if the regional preparatory meetings, and that it had succeeded in formulating a message for the WSSD that would inspire other regions
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