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Statement on behalf of the European Union and its 27 Member States
By
Istvan TEPLAN
Senior Adviser to the State Secretary for the Environment
Republic of Hungary
Intergovernmental preparatory meeting
of the 19th Commission on Sustainable Development
Closing session
United Nations
New York
4 March 2011
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CSD 19 IPM
Closing statement
by the European Union and its 27 Member States
(New York, 4 March 2011)
Mister Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I have the honour to speak on behalf of the European Union and its Member
States.
Let me first congratulate your Excellency, Mr. Laszlo BORBELY, Minister of the
Environment of Romania, for the excellent manner in which you have
conducted this Intergovernmental Preparatory Meeting of the 19th session of
the Commission on Sustainable Development.
I would like to pay tribute to the secretariat staff as well as to all those who
behind the scene have contributed to the success of this IPM meeting.
Mr Chairman,
Your draft negotiating document lays down the foundation for a successful CSD
19. We believe that it is a very good basis for our work, which integrates the
views of all in a fair and balanced manner, thus ensuring good and fruitful
negotiations in May.
This being said, Mr Chairman, we have a few minor comments on the Draft
and we would like to share them with you at this stage. I will try to be brief.
We broadly think that this Intergovernmental Preparatory Meeting of the CSD
19 has achieved the objective of paving the way for a successful policy session
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at CSD 19 in May. We have had the opportunity to exchange views on all the
themes of the current cycle and I believe that progress has been made in
terms of mutual understanding and convergence of positions.
As the recent 26th UNEP Governing Council, CSD 19 will take place at a crucial
moment, that is in the run-up to the UNCSD 2012 ("Rio+20") Conference. All
topics that we have discussed these days, including the Multi-stakeholder
Dialogue discussions that we had this morning, have indeed contributed to
move forward the UNCSD 2012 agenda.
I would like now to refer to e ach of the different themes, offering both our
general assessment of this IPM session as well as factual comments on the
Chair's Draft Negotiating Text.
On Transport
On Transport the EU notices a broad consensus among the countries on the
pressing challenges especially concerning clean, affordable and efficient
transport systems in urban areas and access deficits in rural areas.
Regarding the Chair's text we think that the environmental dimension should
be strengthened. The EU would like to point out again, that a comprehensive
approach dealing with the growing transport challenges includes in particular
environmental problems and climate change effects.
In particular, we would like to point out again that a highly energy efficient
transport is needed to reduce GHG emissions and that we need special
measures to achieve it.
It should also be made clear that there is no "one -size-fits-all" approach to
meet the above challenges in a national or regional context. Many countries
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have already gained positive experience with tailor-made planning, regulatory,
economic and technological measures as well as communication strategies
others can benefit from.
Furthermore, we plead for the development of reliable transport databases and
tools as well as reporting mechanisms on the basis of an agreed set of
indicators, explored in a participatory process.
We encourage the CSD 19 to take up the above aspects in order to foster a
globally harmoniz ed and consistent progress in developing sustainable
transport patterns worldwide.
On Chemicals
First of all, we would like to express our satisfaction for the open and
informative discussions on chemicals.
Like others, the EU and its Member States consider that much progress has
been made, but more needs to be done, to improve the sound management of
chemicals in a sustainable manner. We welcome the advances that are being
made under the globally harmonized system, SAICM, the mercury
negotiations, and efforts to improve the coherence and co -operation between
the chemicals and waste Conventions.
We note that the consultative process on financing for chemicals management
is ongoing and that it is too early to prejudge the outcome. However, all viable
solutions must remain on the table and be explored further.
We need to continue seeking further support for improvement in the long term
cooperation among existing and new chemicals management instruments, so
that we do not add complexity to the system, duplicate efforts and/or avoid
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competing for resources.
On Waste management
We believe that it is essential to move towards a recycling society, by using
integrated approaches, and putting in the first place a strong emphasis on
waste prevention and minimization, followed by reuse, recycling, energy
recovery and environmentally sound disposal. In this regard, we have two
suggestions to amend the Chair's draft, which we'll transmit to the Chair.
Clear responsibilities and strict requirements are crucial for sustainable
development in waste management.
In our view, t is also vital to move towards increased sound and safe
management of hazardous waste, especially when it comes to the issue of the
illegal shipment of waste and the e-waste challenge. Hazardous waste should
be regulated under strict specifications in order to prevent or limit, as far as
possible, the potential negative effects on the environment and on human
health due to inappropriate management.
On Mining
From the very fruitful discussions on mining, it resulted clear that there is
broad agreement on the need to introduce a more sustainable holistic
approach to the mining sector in general.
This IPM meeting provided a useful picture of the main challenges in this area.
The need for good governance, the fair distribution of benefits from mining
activities among local communities, the promotion of transparency and
implementation of relevant international conventions have inter alia been
emphasized during the discussions.
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We have listened to calls for more support in terms of sound technology,
know-how, capacity building and financial means. The EU and its Member
States will continue to support developing countries in their efforts to address
in a sustainable manner their concerns in the mining sector. In particular, as
regards paragraph 46g, while we are mindful of the need to improve market
access to developing countries, we would like to recall that the appropriate
forum for these ongoing discussions is the WTO.
Regarding paragraph 46h, we would like to recall that part of the income
generated by mining should be channeled specifically to the environmental
recovery of abandoned and orphan mining areas.
Finally, we welcome the reference made in the Chair's draft to the need to
eradicate child labour from the mining sector, since this is one of the EU's top
priorities.
On the 10-Year Framework of Programmes on Sustainable Production
and Consumption Patterns
Regarding 10 Year Framework of Programmes I would like to express our
satisfaction that we have in front of us the draft negotiating document that we
need in order to start fruitful and constructive negotiations.
In particular paragraph 65 summarizes our agreement to establish an
actionable and feasible framework on the basis of a common vision inspired by
all our previous sustainable development commitments. We want to underline
that the proposed annex is also part of the 10 YFP.
We hope all countries will express high political support for this framework and
recommend its endorsement by CSD 19. In this regard we call for the
involvement of all relevant stakeholders, including private sector.
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While we welcome the reference to the SWITCH-ASIA program in paragraph 75
(i) on SIDS, we would like to recall that the scope of this programme goes far
beyond SIDS.
On Inter-linkages and Cross-cutting issues
We welcome the constructive discussion that took place on Inter-linkages and
cross-cutting issues. In this context, just like the EU and its Member States,
many other delegations referred to issues such as poverty eradication,
resource efficiency, gender equality , education or capacity building.
Much remains to be done, however, and action is required by all of us. We call
on the CSD-19 to make progress on the provision of means of implementation
as this is a critical element for implementing global, regional and national level
policies related to the themes on the current CSD-cycle.
Regarding the Chair's draft, however, we noticed in paragraph 86b a quite
unusual formulation regarding financial support. At this stage the EU and its
Member States would caution against new language on this issue, on which we
have serious concerns, and would like to remind the Chair of our preference for
the full, efficient and effective use of existing resources and sources of funding
when implementing the decisions of CSD 19, instead of the repetition of the
new and additional resources.
On resource efficiency (paragraph 83), we would like to underline that it is
important to have a broad approach.
Final remark
In conclusion, Mr Chairman, I am confident that we will keep the momentum
until May and I wish to underline that the EU and its Member States are ready
and willing to continue working together with CSD members and all other
stakeholders with a view to reach a successful and ambitious outcome at CSD
19 in May.
Thank you
