European Union
INTERLINKAGES AMONG THE THREE THEMES INCLUDING ALL CROSSCUTTING
ISSUES (4.30-6.00 PM)
The EU supports those who have called for thematic action as well as cross-cutting action
at the CSD in favor of the three overarching objectives of, and essential requirements for,
sustainable development :
?
poverty eradication,
?
changing unsustainable patterns of consumption and production,
?
and protecting and managing the natural resource base of economic and social
development .
As we have also seen in the previous sessions, cross-cutting action on financing, capacity
building, technology support and governance are key elements to expedite
implementation . These important elements have already been largely considered in
interventions made by EU and others during interactive discussions on water, sanitation
and human settlements to recommend policies concerning these issues .
But we have not enough addressed policies concerning three cross-cutting issues which
are clearly connected to the needed change for adopting sustainable lifestyle patterns in
the long term :
?
Sustainable consumption and production patterns,
?
Education on Sustainable Development
?
and Gender Equality
These three issues are essential to ensure a truly efficient and sustainable result of efforts
made on all themes of each cycles .
What we will do in this second slot, Mr Chair, is to propose three policy
recommendations regarding these three themes .
?
I shall present the two first one which concerns the education on sustainable
development and gender equality .
?
My colleague from Belgium will then also intervene on behalf of the European
Union to present the issue on sustainable consumption and production patterns .
Copies of our presentation will be made available . We will pick out our key points . These
are points that we want to add in the fourth section of the negotiated outcome of CSD 13 .
POLICY RECOMMENDATION 3
On education for sustainable development in general, the EU thinks that CSD should
underline that :
demands a fundamental change of method compared to the
tional environment education ;
4
It implies a broadening of the scope of attention towards social and socioeconomic
aspects ;
Cooperation with local authorities is furthermore essential.
Furthermore, action at the CSD must be interlinked to, and develop synergies with, crosssectoral
efforts made in existing global or regional processes such as:
- The Decade on Education for Sustainable Development (UNDESD)
- The United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) Strategy
for Education for Sustainable Development .
PRACTICAL MEASURES CONCERNING EDUCATION FOR SUSTAINABLE
DEVELOPMENT
The EU believes that States should:
? promote education for sustainable development on water, sanitation and
hygiene, targeting schoolchildren and young people, especially adolescent girls
and
?
endorses the following measures proposed in the Chair's Summary
highlighting the necessity of adequate efforts for sanitation funds at
national level by including a separate budget allocation for gendersegregated
sanitation facilities in schools
raising the importance of a dissemination of hygiene and sanitation
messages that are culturally and gender sensitive
introducing the combination of hygiene education with provision of
sanitation facilities
proposing to introduce sanitation and hygiene into school curricula and
education campaigns in a holistic manner
POLICY RECOMMENDATION 4
The EU thinks that CSD13 should ensure full participation of all relevant actors and
should particularly highlight the right of women to participate in decision-making
processes. Moreover, the EU supports Chair's Summary regarding full involvement of
women in program, project development, implementation and evaluation .
PRACTICAL MEASURES CONCERNING GENDER EQUALITY
The EU believes that States should :
?
Eliminate constitutional and legal barriers that bar women from access to
credit, ownership or inheritance of land
?
Improve access and ensure equal rights to basic services and land tenure, with
particular attention to women .
? Include women in consultative dialogue for preparation of integrated water
resources management plans .
?
Adopt all appropriate measures by Governments for ensuring women's equal
right to enjoy adequate living conditions, as provided for in the Convention on
the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW)
?
Ensure private sector involvement consistent with and supportive of corporate
responsibility and accountability principles, as addressed in the JPoI and by
adherence to International Labour Organisation (ILO) core labour standards
?
Invest in education, collaborative research and social and technological
innovation to strengthen the capacity of local authorities and actors,
particularly women's groups, to deal with CSD themes, including water,
sanitation and human settlements issues, in a cost effective and integrated way
and in response to local capacity building demands
?
Use a gender-sensitive monitoring and evaluation systems, by collecting genderdisaggregated
data as appropriate, by developing gender-sensitive indicators and
gender analyses .
In order to ensure the provision of services and access to housing financing to low
income groups including in rural populations, emphasizing the equal rights and access to
women, States should
?
Promote access to financial services at local level by encouraging microfinance,
improving access to micro-credit and encouraging community based
organisation and micro financial institutions to provide financial services to the
poor, in particular in housing and sanitation facilities
?
Create a gender balanced enabling legislative framework in order to support
economic opportunities in the informal sector to improve employment and other
economic opportunities at the local level
Belgium supports entirely the statement made by Luxemburg on behalf of the European
Union. As announced by my colleague from Luxemburg, I am also intervening now on
behalf of the European Union.
?
My colleague has stressed the importance of policies regarding education on
sustainable development and gender equality .
?
What I shall do now is to stress the crucial importance of changing unsustainable
consumption and production patterns .
May I recall, Mr Chair that what the EU has and will propose in this session are policy
recommendations and practical measures which we want to add in the fourth section of
the negotiated outcome of CSI)13, to recommendations already made on these three
items by our colleagues and in the Chair's Summary .
6
POLICY RECOMMENDATION 5
The EU thinks that actions proposed at CSD13 should reflect the JPoI commitment to
change unsustainable patterns of consumption and production, with developed countries
taking the lead . The EU regards SCP as a priority in the follow-up of WSSD and the
outcome of CSD13 should be to further elaborate on SCP in the context of the themes of
water, sanitation and human settlements.
PRACTICAL MEASURES CONCERNING SUSTAINABLE CONSUMPTION AND
PRODUCTION
The EU thinks that States should :
? Adopt coherent strategic approaches at all levels to policy development and
communication with regard to unsustainable and sustainable consumption and
production patterns
?
Act as a forerunner, by using sustainable criteria (environmental, ethical, gender
etc) in their public purchasing
?
Promote mutually supportive policies at the global level, i .a. environmental
regulation mutually supportive with trade regulation
?
Promote frameworks for consumers' and producers' decisions, including better
information on consumption and production patterns,
?
Encourage effective governance structures regarding consumption and
production patterns
?
Develop analytical tools and flexible mix of policy instruments, including
economical instruments in order to internalize external cost, to improve
synergies and better integrate between the wider range of polices and
programmes impacting SCP
?
Mainstream and articulate decent employment and better services in national
and local policies and programmes for slum upgrading, targeting youth and
women
?
Promote frameworks for sustainable finance and business SCP strategies
?
Develop infrastructure such as housing, energy/water systems, waste treatment
systems and transportation systems that provides and facilitates a sustainable
consumption and production of products and services
Regarding consumption patterns, we would like to support the Chair's Summary in the
recommendation encouraging :
?
Implementing demand management measures to promote water use efficiency
across all sectors, in particular agriculture
?
Managing competing water users at the appropriate level whether river basin,
catchments, or aquifer
7
? Promoting water use efficiency by urban users
?
Promoting international technology and know-how transfer in the areas of water
conservation and efficiency
Regarding production patterns, we would also like to support the Chair's Summary in the
following policy options :
?
Encouraging water conservation and improving water productivity in agriculture,
?
Integrating waste-water treatment into water resources management plans,
?
Introducing cost recovery mechanisms for operation and maintenance of wastewater
treatment plans
?
Examining scope for waste-water recycling and re-use .
?
Integrating waste-water treatment into water resources management plans
ISSUES (4.30-6.00 PM)
The EU supports those who have called for thematic action as well as cross-cutting action
at the CSD in favor of the three overarching objectives of, and essential requirements for,
sustainable development :
?
poverty eradication,
?
changing unsustainable patterns of consumption and production,
?
and protecting and managing the natural resource base of economic and social
development .
As we have also seen in the previous sessions, cross-cutting action on financing, capacity
building, technology support and governance are key elements to expedite
implementation . These important elements have already been largely considered in
interventions made by EU and others during interactive discussions on water, sanitation
and human settlements to recommend policies concerning these issues .
But we have not enough addressed policies concerning three cross-cutting issues which
are clearly connected to the needed change for adopting sustainable lifestyle patterns in
the long term :
?
Sustainable consumption and production patterns,
?
Education on Sustainable Development
?
and Gender Equality
These three issues are essential to ensure a truly efficient and sustainable result of efforts
made on all themes of each cycles .
What we will do in this second slot, Mr Chair, is to propose three policy
recommendations regarding these three themes .
?
I shall present the two first one which concerns the education on sustainable
development and gender equality .
?
My colleague from Belgium will then also intervene on behalf of the European
Union to present the issue on sustainable consumption and production patterns .
Copies of our presentation will be made available . We will pick out our key points . These
are points that we want to add in the fourth section of the negotiated outcome of CSD 13 .
POLICY RECOMMENDATION 3
On education for sustainable development in general, the EU thinks that CSD should
underline that :
demands a fundamental change of method compared to the
tional environment education ;
4
It implies a broadening of the scope of attention towards social and socioeconomic
aspects ;
Cooperation with local authorities is furthermore essential.
Furthermore, action at the CSD must be interlinked to, and develop synergies with, crosssectoral
efforts made in existing global or regional processes such as:
- The Decade on Education for Sustainable Development (UNDESD)
- The United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) Strategy
for Education for Sustainable Development .
PRACTICAL MEASURES CONCERNING EDUCATION FOR SUSTAINABLE
DEVELOPMENT
The EU believes that States should:
? promote education for sustainable development on water, sanitation and
hygiene, targeting schoolchildren and young people, especially adolescent girls
and
?
endorses the following measures proposed in the Chair's Summary
highlighting the necessity of adequate efforts for sanitation funds at
national level by including a separate budget allocation for gendersegregated
sanitation facilities in schools
raising the importance of a dissemination of hygiene and sanitation
messages that are culturally and gender sensitive
introducing the combination of hygiene education with provision of
sanitation facilities
proposing to introduce sanitation and hygiene into school curricula and
education campaigns in a holistic manner
POLICY RECOMMENDATION 4
The EU thinks that CSD13 should ensure full participation of all relevant actors and
should particularly highlight the right of women to participate in decision-making
processes. Moreover, the EU supports Chair's Summary regarding full involvement of
women in program, project development, implementation and evaluation .
PRACTICAL MEASURES CONCERNING GENDER EQUALITY
The EU believes that States should :
?
Eliminate constitutional and legal barriers that bar women from access to
credit, ownership or inheritance of land
?
Improve access and ensure equal rights to basic services and land tenure, with
particular attention to women .
? Include women in consultative dialogue for preparation of integrated water
resources management plans .
?
Adopt all appropriate measures by Governments for ensuring women's equal
right to enjoy adequate living conditions, as provided for in the Convention on
the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW)
?
Ensure private sector involvement consistent with and supportive of corporate
responsibility and accountability principles, as addressed in the JPoI and by
adherence to International Labour Organisation (ILO) core labour standards
?
Invest in education, collaborative research and social and technological
innovation to strengthen the capacity of local authorities and actors,
particularly women's groups, to deal with CSD themes, including water,
sanitation and human settlements issues, in a cost effective and integrated way
and in response to local capacity building demands
?
Use a gender-sensitive monitoring and evaluation systems, by collecting genderdisaggregated
data as appropriate, by developing gender-sensitive indicators and
gender analyses .
In order to ensure the provision of services and access to housing financing to low
income groups including in rural populations, emphasizing the equal rights and access to
women, States should
?
Promote access to financial services at local level by encouraging microfinance,
improving access to micro-credit and encouraging community based
organisation and micro financial institutions to provide financial services to the
poor, in particular in housing and sanitation facilities
?
Create a gender balanced enabling legislative framework in order to support
economic opportunities in the informal sector to improve employment and other
economic opportunities at the local level
Belgium supports entirely the statement made by Luxemburg on behalf of the European
Union. As announced by my colleague from Luxemburg, I am also intervening now on
behalf of the European Union.
?
My colleague has stressed the importance of policies regarding education on
sustainable development and gender equality .
?
What I shall do now is to stress the crucial importance of changing unsustainable
consumption and production patterns .
May I recall, Mr Chair that what the EU has and will propose in this session are policy
recommendations and practical measures which we want to add in the fourth section of
the negotiated outcome of CSI)13, to recommendations already made on these three
items by our colleagues and in the Chair's Summary .
6
POLICY RECOMMENDATION 5
The EU thinks that actions proposed at CSD13 should reflect the JPoI commitment to
change unsustainable patterns of consumption and production, with developed countries
taking the lead . The EU regards SCP as a priority in the follow-up of WSSD and the
outcome of CSD13 should be to further elaborate on SCP in the context of the themes of
water, sanitation and human settlements.
PRACTICAL MEASURES CONCERNING SUSTAINABLE CONSUMPTION AND
PRODUCTION
The EU thinks that States should :
? Adopt coherent strategic approaches at all levels to policy development and
communication with regard to unsustainable and sustainable consumption and
production patterns
?
Act as a forerunner, by using sustainable criteria (environmental, ethical, gender
etc) in their public purchasing
?
Promote mutually supportive policies at the global level, i .a. environmental
regulation mutually supportive with trade regulation
?
Promote frameworks for consumers' and producers' decisions, including better
information on consumption and production patterns,
?
Encourage effective governance structures regarding consumption and
production patterns
?
Develop analytical tools and flexible mix of policy instruments, including
economical instruments in order to internalize external cost, to improve
synergies and better integrate between the wider range of polices and
programmes impacting SCP
?
Mainstream and articulate decent employment and better services in national
and local policies and programmes for slum upgrading, targeting youth and
women
?
Promote frameworks for sustainable finance and business SCP strategies
?
Develop infrastructure such as housing, energy/water systems, waste treatment
systems and transportation systems that provides and facilitates a sustainable
consumption and production of products and services
Regarding consumption patterns, we would like to support the Chair's Summary in the
recommendation encouraging :
?
Implementing demand management measures to promote water use efficiency
across all sectors, in particular agriculture
?
Managing competing water users at the appropriate level whether river basin,
catchments, or aquifer
7
? Promoting water use efficiency by urban users
?
Promoting international technology and know-how transfer in the areas of water
conservation and efficiency
Regarding production patterns, we would also like to support the Chair's Summary in the
following policy options :
?
Encouraging water conservation and improving water productivity in agriculture,
?
Integrating waste-water treatment into water resources management plans,
?
Introducing cost recovery mechanisms for operation and maintenance of wastewater
treatment plans
?
Examining scope for waste-water recycling and re-use .
?
Integrating waste-water treatment into water resources management plans