Major Group: Women
We are pleased with the connections made between women?s livelihoods and industrial
development in the Chair?s draft text, which include employment and entrepreneurship
opportunities for women, reducing the negative social impacts of industrial restructuring, and
enhanced access to credit for women.
However, the Women?s Major Group has always looked beyond the needs of the world?s women
and taken a strong stance on policies that are dangerous to all human beings and the environment.
We would like to draw attention to the alarming focus on the development and dissemination of
fossil fuels in the Chair?s text. We are certain that many governments in this room share our
concern that the Commission on Sustainable Development is diverting time and resources away
from the urgent task of up-scaling renewable energy development. The CSD is charged with
implementing two of the most important global agreements in the history of the United Nations?
Agenda 21 and the Johannesburg Plan of Action?and neither of these agreements call for
heightened dependence on fossil fuels.
We request that the outcome document of CSD-15 focus instead on reducing reliance on fossil
fuels. In addition to contributing to global warming, combustion of fossil fuels produces air
pollution that negatively impacts human health, particularly in poor and disadvantaged
communities. Extraction and transportation of coal and oil also negatively impacts communities
by destroying land and degrading water resources, not only in developing countries. In fact,
during CSD-14 last year, a group of women and men from the Appalachia region of the United
States?where coal mining is a major industry?visited the CSD to share their stories about
health issues and other threats to their lives from fossil fuel development.
Governments, institutions, and all of us, have a part to play in promoting investments in
alternative energy technologies and raising awareness about the economic development
opportunities inherent in shifting industrial development toward sustainability. Alternative
energy technologies are now more accessible than ever ? including wind and solar, small
hydroelectric generators, modern biofuel systems, and energy efficiency mechanisms. Developed
countries currently have the most unsustainable consumption and production rates and should use
policy measures, awareness campaigns, legal requirements, and economic incentives to promote
industrial development that prioritizes renewable energy and energy conservation and efficiency.
Countries in transition are currently basing their economic growth on unsustainable consumption
of energy and natural resources. Therefore stronger regulatory systems are needed to address
health and environmental risks from industrial pollution and out-of-date technologies. An
important role for NGOs is to build the capacity of women to pressure industries to reduce their
negative environmental impacts and governments to promote full implementation of the ?polluter
pays? principle.
Finally, we ask that the Chair?s text reflect the widespread concern among governments and the
Major Groups about the dangers of nuclear energy. Given the wide-reaching and dangerous
impacts of nuclear accidents and radioactive nuclear wastes, environmental degradation due to
uranium mining, and health risks from nuclear energy, the CSD and governments should work to
ensure that nuclear energy sources are phased out as unsustainable energy choices.
development in the Chair?s draft text, which include employment and entrepreneurship
opportunities for women, reducing the negative social impacts of industrial restructuring, and
enhanced access to credit for women.
However, the Women?s Major Group has always looked beyond the needs of the world?s women
and taken a strong stance on policies that are dangerous to all human beings and the environment.
We would like to draw attention to the alarming focus on the development and dissemination of
fossil fuels in the Chair?s text. We are certain that many governments in this room share our
concern that the Commission on Sustainable Development is diverting time and resources away
from the urgent task of up-scaling renewable energy development. The CSD is charged with
implementing two of the most important global agreements in the history of the United Nations?
Agenda 21 and the Johannesburg Plan of Action?and neither of these agreements call for
heightened dependence on fossil fuels.
We request that the outcome document of CSD-15 focus instead on reducing reliance on fossil
fuels. In addition to contributing to global warming, combustion of fossil fuels produces air
pollution that negatively impacts human health, particularly in poor and disadvantaged
communities. Extraction and transportation of coal and oil also negatively impacts communities
by destroying land and degrading water resources, not only in developing countries. In fact,
during CSD-14 last year, a group of women and men from the Appalachia region of the United
States?where coal mining is a major industry?visited the CSD to share their stories about
health issues and other threats to their lives from fossil fuel development.
Governments, institutions, and all of us, have a part to play in promoting investments in
alternative energy technologies and raising awareness about the economic development
opportunities inherent in shifting industrial development toward sustainability. Alternative
energy technologies are now more accessible than ever ? including wind and solar, small
hydroelectric generators, modern biofuel systems, and energy efficiency mechanisms. Developed
countries currently have the most unsustainable consumption and production rates and should use
policy measures, awareness campaigns, legal requirements, and economic incentives to promote
industrial development that prioritizes renewable energy and energy conservation and efficiency.
Countries in transition are currently basing their economic growth on unsustainable consumption
of energy and natural resources. Therefore stronger regulatory systems are needed to address
health and environmental risks from industrial pollution and out-of-date technologies. An
important role for NGOs is to build the capacity of women to pressure industries to reduce their
negative environmental impacts and governments to promote full implementation of the ?polluter
pays? principle.
Finally, we ask that the Chair?s text reflect the widespread concern among governments and the
Major Groups about the dangers of nuclear energy. Given the wide-reaching and dangerous
impacts of nuclear accidents and radioactive nuclear wastes, environmental degradation due to
uranium mining, and health risks from nuclear energy, the CSD and governments should work to
ensure that nuclear energy sources are phased out as unsustainable energy choices.