Brazil
Thank you Mr. Chairman,
Notwithstanding the international consensus on the need for enhanced coordination and cooperation among international organizations and environmental agreements, diverging views remain on how to reform the current United Nations system so as to enhance its efficiency for driving sustainable development. Overcoming this impasse requires a broader and integrated reflection in lieu of the fragmented approaches which have been attempted so far.
The 2012 Conference offers an important point of convergence for deliberation on the reform of the international institutions for sustainable development, while also catalyzing high-level political commitment for the outcome.
An efficient and coherent institutional framework for sustainable development is key to enhancing international governance so as to not only tackle present challenges but also emerging issues. Four general principles should guide our efforts in defining how to strengthen governance for sustainable development:
(i) Coherence with the Rio Declaration, Agenda 21 and the JPOI;
(ii) Articulation with the MDGs and the Monterrey Consensus;
(iii) Respect for the specific conditions and foremost, the particular needs, of developing countries;
(iv) Strengthening the international institutions and organizations that deal with sustainable development, including the support to relevant local, national and regional institutions.
To those ends, Brazil?s vision for a coherent and efficient institutional framework for sustainable development includes the concept of an ?umbrella? structure, within the UN system, focused on the promotion of sustainable development and the implementation of the existing multilateral commitments.
The need for coherence and efficiency, as well as effectiveness, would necessitate the redefinition of the role and the mandates of the present institutions, with an emphasis on the ECOSOC, UNEP and CSD, with the ?umbrella? or ?roof? institution built on the existing structure. This overarching structure would have the objective of coordinating those institutions as well as the MEAs, with an emphasis on integrating the economic and social pillars.
With regard to the implementation deficit of MEAs, it can only be overcome by the adequate and foreseeable provision of means of implementation. The implementation of actions in the context of sustainable development depends on strengthened local and national capacities that also link with the access to and transfer of technology, and the provision of new and additional resources from international cooperation.
In our vision, UNEP should have a prevailing role in that process and assist governments in implementing environmental commitments. UNEP should help countries in strengthening the environmental component of their national policies, within the perspective of sustainable development, by means of, in particular, capacity building and scientific knowledge. In that sense it is urgent to implement the Bali Strategic Plan for Technology Support and Capacity Building as well as Chapter 34 of Agenda 21.
Finally, Mr. Chairman, we wish to re-emphasize that the availability of means of implementation is crucial for the attainment of sustainable development but the existing institutional arrangement lacks adequate and foreseeable funds. In that scenario, it is necessary to consider the role of the GEF in assisting developing countries. Likewise, traditional international cooperation should be improved and complemented by a new paradigm: one that will strengthen the autonomy of recipient countries and include other forms of cooperation such as South-South partnership and trilateral initiatives (North-South-South).
Notwithstanding the international consensus on the need for enhanced coordination and cooperation among international organizations and environmental agreements, diverging views remain on how to reform the current United Nations system so as to enhance its efficiency for driving sustainable development. Overcoming this impasse requires a broader and integrated reflection in lieu of the fragmented approaches which have been attempted so far.
The 2012 Conference offers an important point of convergence for deliberation on the reform of the international institutions for sustainable development, while also catalyzing high-level political commitment for the outcome.
An efficient and coherent institutional framework for sustainable development is key to enhancing international governance so as to not only tackle present challenges but also emerging issues. Four general principles should guide our efforts in defining how to strengthen governance for sustainable development:
(i) Coherence with the Rio Declaration, Agenda 21 and the JPOI;
(ii) Articulation with the MDGs and the Monterrey Consensus;
(iii) Respect for the specific conditions and foremost, the particular needs, of developing countries;
(iv) Strengthening the international institutions and organizations that deal with sustainable development, including the support to relevant local, national and regional institutions.
To those ends, Brazil?s vision for a coherent and efficient institutional framework for sustainable development includes the concept of an ?umbrella? structure, within the UN system, focused on the promotion of sustainable development and the implementation of the existing multilateral commitments.
The need for coherence and efficiency, as well as effectiveness, would necessitate the redefinition of the role and the mandates of the present institutions, with an emphasis on the ECOSOC, UNEP and CSD, with the ?umbrella? or ?roof? institution built on the existing structure. This overarching structure would have the objective of coordinating those institutions as well as the MEAs, with an emphasis on integrating the economic and social pillars.
With regard to the implementation deficit of MEAs, it can only be overcome by the adequate and foreseeable provision of means of implementation. The implementation of actions in the context of sustainable development depends on strengthened local and national capacities that also link with the access to and transfer of technology, and the provision of new and additional resources from international cooperation.
In our vision, UNEP should have a prevailing role in that process and assist governments in implementing environmental commitments. UNEP should help countries in strengthening the environmental component of their national policies, within the perspective of sustainable development, by means of, in particular, capacity building and scientific knowledge. In that sense it is urgent to implement the Bali Strategic Plan for Technology Support and Capacity Building as well as Chapter 34 of Agenda 21.
Finally, Mr. Chairman, we wish to re-emphasize that the availability of means of implementation is crucial for the attainment of sustainable development but the existing institutional arrangement lacks adequate and foreseeable funds. In that scenario, it is necessary to consider the role of the GEF in assisting developing countries. Likewise, traditional international cooperation should be improved and complemented by a new paradigm: one that will strengthen the autonomy of recipient countries and include other forms of cooperation such as South-South partnership and trilateral initiatives (North-South-South).
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