STATEMENT BY H.E. STAFFORD NEIL, PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE
OF JAMAICA TO THE UNITED NATIONS AND
CHAIRMAN OF THE GROUP OF 77 AND CHINA,
TO THE THIRTEENTH SESSION OF THE
COMMISSION ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
(New York, 11th to 22nd April, 2005)
Monday, 11th April, 2005
Mr. Chairman,
Allow me to again congratulate you on your election as Chairman of this
Thirteenth Session of the Commission on Sustainable Development, and for your
efforts during these past few months in preparation for the policy session of this
first thematic cycle of the Commission. Also, I congratulate you for your
initiatives to facilitate the participation of developing countries. The G-77 and
China reiterates its pledge of co-operation and support to you during the next two
weeks, which we hope will be characterised by constructive, innovative
deliberations and a genuine search for policy actions which will increase
significantly the level of development in the three target areas.
Mr. Chairman,
This policy session is important both because of the significance of the issues of
water, sanitation and human settlements and also because it establishes
precedents for the policy sessions on the other thematic areas to be considered
within the CSD. The discussions in the preparatory meeting were necessarily
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wide ranging and this is reflected in your report. This policy session must
necessarily be more specific and action-oriented.
The G-77 and China expects to make detailed statements and other specific
recommendations on each of the thematic areas in the next few days. I will,
therefore, confine this initial statement to some of the overarching, cross-cutting
issues of policy critical to achieving the goals in all three areas of water,
sanitation and human settlements and to the treatment of these themes after the
end of CSD-13.
In our statement to the Inter-Governmental Preparatory Meeting for the CSD-13,
we emphasised the need to address key issues militating against development
generally and to treat with water, sanitation and human settlements wherever
feasible in as integrated a manner as possible. This brings to the fore
immediately a number of longstanding systemic deficiencies in the current
development paradigms to which many, including the G-77 and China, have
consistently drawn attention. I speak here of issues such as the inadequacy of
financial resources and the net outflow of resources from developing countries;
the lack of integrated planning; the inconsistency between project financing and
the long-term programmatic needs of these sectors; the need for research and
access to environmentally friendly technology on affordable terms; the limited
institutional and technical capacity; the lack of coherence in international policies
and within national policies and the persistently unfavourable terms of trade
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between developed and developing countries and between urban and rural
areas.
Your report of the Preparatory Meeting mentions many of these issues, but
because of its thematic structure, does not pull the issues together in a manner
which brings out their full implications for either international or national policy
actions except in the area of integrated planning in the section on inter linkages.
The G-77 and China reiterates that these systemic issues must be tackled and
appropriate recommendations for action included in the outcomes of the Meeting.
Mr. Chairman,
Since the Preparatory Meeting, the UN Secretary-General has issued his report,
"In Larger Freedom: Towards Development, Security and Human Rights for
All". He has confirmed that many countries especially in Africa and among
LDCs have become poorer in the last ten years and are in danger of not meeting
many of the MDGs including the water, sanitation and human settlements
targets. In our initial reaction to the Secretary-General?s Report, we stressed and
we now re-emphasise the need for the international community to adopt
aggressive, immediate, and far-reaching actions to eradicate poverty and ensure
sustained development, as a key part of the strategy to achieve the water,
sanitation and human settlements targets.
Mr. Chairman,
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We stressed, in the Preparatory Meeting, that a key constraint to the
achievement of the targets in all three sectors is limited financial resources. The
developing countries have made significant efforts but these have had less than
optimum results, especially since these areas are not attractive to private sector
investment, particularly in the least developed and small island developing
states, in poor urban areas and in rural areas with dispersed population. There is
need for significant international support especially in the form of increased
official development assistance; debt relief, including debt swaps and debt
cancellation; and greater opportunities for earning from trade. This issue has
been treated in a fair amount of detail in the Report in the section on Water.
However, it is very inadequately treated in the sections on Sanitation and on
Human Settlements. Furthermore, there is no place in the Report which
examines the implications of the combined financial requirements of the three
sectors.
The Group of 77 and China considers it important for policy purposes that the
financial needs of the three sectors be presented in an integrated manner and
that there be a consistent approach in addressing the financial issue across the
sectors.
Mr. Chairman,
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The importance of research, of access to appropriate technology and of
facilitating the transfer of technology among developing countries was stressed in
the Preparatory Meeting as critical in all three sectors. There are references to
these issues in parts of the Report. However, there should have been greater
effort to highlight the linkages among them, so that they could have been
addressed in an integrated manner.
Mr. Chairman,
The G-77 and China recognise that urgent action is required if the MDGs are to
be achieved. The Group emphasises, however, that the level and sustained
nature of the actions are equally, if not more, important. The actions must
involve people within their particular social and cultural context, which varies
among countries and within each country. To this end, responses to water,
sanitation and human settlement issues should involve public awareness and
education in its most holistic form, and should encourage the full ?buy-in? by all
stakeholders, including women and community groups. The G-77 and China
recommends that this Meeting fashion long -term programmatic
recommendations, with significant short-term actions to build confidence, relieve
suffering and provide the basis for sustainability.
Mr. Chairman,
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The G-77 and China proposes concretely that this Meeting recommend policy
actions across the three thematic areas of water, sanitation and human
settlements, to :
Ø Strengthen the means of implementation through, inter alia, significantly
increased official development assistance; debt cancellation, debt swaps
or other debt-relief measures; providing and facilitating access to and
transfer of appropriate and environmentally-friendly technology; and
building and beneficially using local capacity including indigenous
knowledge;
Ø Strengthen education and public awareness, arrangements for planning
and policy formulation and for broad-based involvement and participation;
Ø Integrate and mainstream the three issues i n national development
polices, plans and programmes, including budgeting processes;
Ø Integrate water, sanitation and human settlement plans into disaster
mitigation and preparedness policies and plans, with particular attention
to the security of women and girls , as well as other vulnerable groups;
Ø Strengthen efficiency in resource use including through better donor coordination,
reduction of ?tied aid? and policy conditionalities, reduction of
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bureaucracy, better co-ordination at the national level and the delegation
of responsibility, as far as possible, to local and community levels with
effective management and controls.
Mr. Chairman,
The issue of appropriate follow-up must be addressed by this first policy session.
It is a critical issue which requires deep consideration since decisions here will
create precedents for action on future thematic areas. The G-77 and China will
have specific proposals when the Meeting engages in those discussions. We will
only say at this stage that the G-77 and China reiterates the important role of the
CSD as the high-level forum for follow-up to the implementation of Agenda 21
and the Johannesburg Programme of Action. We also recall that the Mauritius
Strategy mandated the CSD to be the main inter-governmental body for follow-up
to its recommendations. It is not good management to divide co-ordinating
responsibility.
The G-77 and China also wishes to recall that there are some key cross-cutting
issues which CSD-11 mandated be addressed continuously by the Commission.
I refer here in particular to the issue of changing of changing unsustainable
patterns of consumption and production; the sustainable development of the
Small Island Developing States, on which there has been an international
meeting which adopted a strategy for the further implementation of the
programme of action since CSD-11; and the sustainable development of Africa,
where meeting the MDGs is a major development challenge.
Mr. Chairman,
I close by re-emphasising that the G-77 and China will work with you and all
partners to achieve real positive recommendations for policy action.
I thank you.
