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The
Europe and North America Regional Ministerial Meeting for
the World Summit on Sustainable Development,
WSSD, closed on Tuesday, 25 September 2001 in Geneva,
Switzerland. Two Ministerial Panels were held on Governance
and Sustainable Development and on Poverty and Sustainable
Development, chaired by Svend Auken, Danish Minister of
Environment and Energy, and Jan Pronk, Dutch Minister of the
Environment and Spatial Planning.
A
drafting group focusing on the Ministerial Statement from
the UNECE Region finished its work, and the meeting adopted
the Statement. Chair Deiss, Switzerland, closed the meeting
at 2:20pm.
Svend
Auken's opening remarks. Listen to the RealAudio
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Svend
Auken |
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Paula
Dobriansky
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Paula
Dobriansky,
US Under-Secretary-of State for Global Affairs, assured
participants that the recent tragic events in the country will not
deter it from acting globally. She said the WSSD must provide
positive forward-looking initiatives and stressed six areas
related to good governance, which contribute to economic growth,
higher living standards and social equality, as priorities:
capacity building; institution building; public access to
environmental and other information in support of sustainable
development; informed and science-based decision-making; public
participation, coordination and partnerships; and access to
justice in environmental matters and enforcement of environmental
laws and regulations
Listen
to the RealAudio |
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Mark
Moody-Stuart |
Mark
Moody-Stuart,
Business Action for Sustainable Development, noted that the
International Chamber of Commerce and the World Business Council
for Sustainable Development have set up Business Action for
Sustainable Development as an initiative to forward the business
contribution to WSSD. With regard to businesses’ improvement of
their sustainability, he said it happens through consultations and
openness, providing examples such as the Marine Stewardship
Council and sustainable forestry. He stressed that the initiatives
are on a sectoral basis, as critical issues differ, and said this
should be considered at Johannesburg
Listen to the RealAudio
Mark
Moody-Stuart in
response to a question by the chair
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| Ilona
Boda,
Political Secretary of State at the Hungarian Ministry for
Environment, noted the balancing of the three complex pillars of
sustainable development as a challenge for governments, and called
for strategic thinking and planning to harmonize long and short
term interests. She suggested setting targets and developing
indicators to monitor progress, and to involve stakeholders in the
process. She supported strategic environmental assessments,
economic instruments based on the polluter pays principle and
voluntary agreements, and concluded by stressing today’s task to
be ensuring equal opportunities for all citizens and continued
improvement of the quality of life
Listen to the RealAudio
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Ilona
Boda |
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Victoria
Elias |
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
Listen to the RealAudio |
| 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
Listen to the RealAudio
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Yves
Cochet |
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Nurlan
Iskakov
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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
Listen to the RealAudio
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Nicolae
Stratan,
Moldovan Deputy Minister of Ecology, Construction and Territorial
Development, stressed the important role of regional cooperation in
small countries such as Moldova. He called for government action to
achieve sustainable development, especially in the NIS, as well as
for bilateral and multilateral cooperation between. He said every
effort must be made at this meeting to prepare the ground for the
WSSD in an action-oriented manner
Listen
to the RealAudio |
Nicolae
Stratan |
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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
Listen
to the RealAudio |
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Michael Scoullos, Mediteranean Information Office For
Environment, Culture and Sustanable Development, Athens, Greece
Listen
to the RealAudio
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Richard
Ballhorn |
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
Listen
to the RealAudio
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Alexander Pankin, Russian Mission to Geneva, in the
drafting group |
Nadine Gouzée, Coordinator of the Task Force on
Sustainable Development, Belgium, in the drafting group
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The drafting
group
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Jan
Pronk
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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
Listen
to the RealAudio
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Nino
Chkhobadze |
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
Listen
to the RealAudio
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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
Listen
to the RealAudio
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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
Listen
to the RealAudio
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Richard
Hayworth
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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
Listen
to the RealAudio
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Karine
Danielyan |
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Michael
Meacher
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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
Listen
to the RealAudio |
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Joseph Deiss |
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
Listen to the RealAudio
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View from a window at the UN, the grounds and lake Geneva |
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Monday's
coverage |
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