Mr. Jose Antonio Ocampo
Statement of the
Under-Secretary-General Jose Antonio Ocampo
to the 13t' Session of the Commission on Sustainable Development
11 April 2005
Distinguished delegates,
I would like to welcome you to this, the first Policy Session of the Commission on
Sustainable Development since the Johannesburg World Summit in 2002 . I would like to
thank the Chair, Ambassador John Ashe, and commend him for the skill with which he
has managed the work of the Commission. This session builds on the outcomes of the
12th session of the Commission and the Intergovernmental Preparatory Meeting held in
February, as well as the Secretary-General's reports on Water, Sanitation and Human
Settlements prepared for both. The task at this 13th session is to agree on policies and
practical measures that countries could adopt to accelerate progress towards the
internationally agreed goals and targets on safe drinking water, basic sanitation, and
improving the lives of slum dwellers - issues that are closely inter-related. We also face
the challenge of ensuring the sound management of the earth's freshwater resources for
the many uses essential to life and to an improved quality of life .
A moment's reflection should persuade us that the goals and targets before us in this
Commission session are closely linked to the other Millennium Development Goals
(MDGs). Without adequate water, agriculture cannot feed the world's growing
population. Water-poor, agriculture-dependent societies are among the poorest in terms
of income per person. Along with other major killers like HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and
malaria, water-related diseases cause millions of deaths each year in poor countries,
mostly of young children. Girls' time and energy devoted to hauling water for family
needs can detract from their schooling;. inadequate school sanitation facilities also
discourage their school attendance . As a consequence, girls grow up with too little
education and both their families and the larger society pay a heavy price . The circle of
poverty is closed.
In his recent report "In Larger Freedom", the Secretary-General has called for a big push
by the international community to enable poor countries and their citizens to break out of
their poverty traps . While the concept is an old one, what is new is the historical moment .
The September meeting of the General Assembly presents the international community
with the opportunity to rise to the challenge of doing what it takes to put all countries on
track to meet the commitments made in the United Nations Summits and Conferences of
the 1990s and early 2000s, particularly the MDGs . In a sense, the outcome of this
Commission meeting will provide a litmus test of international political will to tackle
global poverty and the broader United Nations Development Agenda.
Since 1990, more than one billion people have gained access to improved water sources
and sanitation facilities . That represents genuine and impressive progress . We would do
well to internalize the lessons of how this has been achieved, to benefit from one
anther's experience and know how. Still, if we are to meet the water and sanitation
targets, we will need to ensure over the next decade that :
1
? safe drinking water reaches an additional 1 .5 billion people, and
?
basic sanitation becomes available to an additional 1 .9 billion people .
Measured against these water 'and sanitation targets, as well as against the scale of the
slum problem, the target of significantly improving the lives of 100 million slum
dwellers by 2020 is not nearly ambitious enough .
While achieving the targets is feasible, it will require strong political resolve, translated
into sizeable additional resource flows to poor countries, together with enhanced
domestic resource mobili7,ation. The estimated cost of meeting the water, sanitation and
slum targets are in the range of $30 to $40 billion a year . Even in the best of all possible
worlds, capital will remain scarce in most poor countries, so its effective investment will
be critical .
Developing country Governments need detailed strategies and investment plans for
meeting the water, sanitation and human settlement, targets, clearly indicating what
resources can be mobilized domestically and how to bridge the remaining financing gap .
Donors will need to come forward with supplemental financing for well-conceived
investment plans. Coorrlination is crucial. All Governments need integrated water
resource management plans that tackle actual and looming water scarcities . Tackling the
most serious inefficiencies in the biggest water user sectors would free up sizeable
resources for other uses .
Progressive fiscal policy and tariff structures for public services like water and sanitation
can help finance access by the poor . Getting enough water for basic consumption needs
should not have to compete with putting enough food on the table or being able to buy
essential medicines to treat sick family members . The rich will need to subsidize the
provision of essential services like water and sewerage for the poor, both within countries
and between countries . For poor countries that are heavily burdened by debt, debt relief is
needed. In some cases, debt swaps for water and sanitation could be effective .
Over the next quarter century, all population growth will be urban . This is one of the
biggest challenges facing the developing world, whose cities will have to absorb an
additional 1 .6 billion people by 2030, an increase of almost three-quarters over the
current urban population. (By comparison, during the quarter century 1950-1975 postwar
boom in Europe, urban population rose by roughly 60%, and the absolute increase
was 165 million, or only one-tenth of the projected increase in developing country city
dwellers .) Building decent .housing, providing basic infrastructure and services, and
creating well-paying jobs are both a tremendous economic opportunity and a tremendous
policy challenge.
The challenge is all the more daunting in view of the huge backlog of unmet demand for
decent housing, infrastructure, services and jobs in the world's slums and informal
settlements . Getting the growth engine turning over - and keeping it from stalling - is a
major priority in most developing countries . Once a steady stream of quality jobs is being
created, other pieces of the puzzle tend to fall into place . Still, Governments need to take
explicit measures to ensure that the growth generated is inclusive, that the interests of the
poor are protected . Progressive real estate taxation can provide revenue to finance low-
2
cost housing, for example, through capitalizing housing and infrastructure funds for poor
neighbourhoods . Measures to control land speculation may be needed, as may measures
to ensure that poor communities have access to financial services . Promotion of inclusive
finance is an overriding priority . Housing loans to low-income households, including
facilities that allow them to buy construction materials to gradually upgrade their
housing, and financial schemes to facilitate access by the poor to sanitation facilities play
a crucial role in the sectors under consideration in this CSD . They may include public
sector subsidies and government-supported loan guarantee or insurance schemes . Setting
aside or reclaiming land for low-cost housing development can also be a useful pro-poor
policy.
Local authorities bear much of the responsibility for making sure that human settlements
are liveable - through urban planning, land administration and zoning, infrastructure
planning and investment, and provision of social services like health and education . Often
they lack the fiscal powers needed to execute those responsibilities effectively . They may
also lack adequate human resource' and institutional capacities . These are deficiencies that
need to be addressed.
Already, poor communities around the world are making the best of difficult
circumstances, making do with acutely limited resources, drawing on a vast reservoir of
human creativity to solve basic problems of survival . In our efforts to craft effective
policy responses to the challenges before this Commission, we would do well to remind
ourselves of the need to engage fully with the poor themselves, to learn from and build on
their experience, to help them mobilize the resources to invest in their own communities,
and to provide them with the public services of which they are too often deprived .
Governments would also do well to engage all civil society actors in the tasks at hand,
from local authorities to organizations 'of women, farmers, workers, and indigenous
peoples, to NGOs and community-based organizations, to the private sector and the
scientific and technical community, each of whom has its own experience and expertise
to contribute to finding and implementing solutions .
Distinguished delegates, you have set for yourselves the task of making decisions on how
to accelerate progress on a number of specific goals and targets whose attainment is
critical to the lives of poor people - people without safe drinking water, basic sanitation,
decent housing, and secure and sustainable communities . You will need to decide in the
coming days on concrete, effective actions that the international community can take to
support developing countries in their efforts to provide these to all their citizens . As Deng
Xiao Ping once said: "It doesn't matter whether the cat is black or white, as long as it
catches mice" .
Under-Secretary-General Jose Antonio Ocampo
to the 13t' Session of the Commission on Sustainable Development
11 April 2005
Distinguished delegates,
I would like to welcome you to this, the first Policy Session of the Commission on
Sustainable Development since the Johannesburg World Summit in 2002 . I would like to
thank the Chair, Ambassador John Ashe, and commend him for the skill with which he
has managed the work of the Commission. This session builds on the outcomes of the
12th session of the Commission and the Intergovernmental Preparatory Meeting held in
February, as well as the Secretary-General's reports on Water, Sanitation and Human
Settlements prepared for both. The task at this 13th session is to agree on policies and
practical measures that countries could adopt to accelerate progress towards the
internationally agreed goals and targets on safe drinking water, basic sanitation, and
improving the lives of slum dwellers - issues that are closely inter-related. We also face
the challenge of ensuring the sound management of the earth's freshwater resources for
the many uses essential to life and to an improved quality of life .
A moment's reflection should persuade us that the goals and targets before us in this
Commission session are closely linked to the other Millennium Development Goals
(MDGs). Without adequate water, agriculture cannot feed the world's growing
population. Water-poor, agriculture-dependent societies are among the poorest in terms
of income per person. Along with other major killers like HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and
malaria, water-related diseases cause millions of deaths each year in poor countries,
mostly of young children. Girls' time and energy devoted to hauling water for family
needs can detract from their schooling;. inadequate school sanitation facilities also
discourage their school attendance . As a consequence, girls grow up with too little
education and both their families and the larger society pay a heavy price . The circle of
poverty is closed.
In his recent report "In Larger Freedom", the Secretary-General has called for a big push
by the international community to enable poor countries and their citizens to break out of
their poverty traps . While the concept is an old one, what is new is the historical moment .
The September meeting of the General Assembly presents the international community
with the opportunity to rise to the challenge of doing what it takes to put all countries on
track to meet the commitments made in the United Nations Summits and Conferences of
the 1990s and early 2000s, particularly the MDGs . In a sense, the outcome of this
Commission meeting will provide a litmus test of international political will to tackle
global poverty and the broader United Nations Development Agenda.
Since 1990, more than one billion people have gained access to improved water sources
and sanitation facilities . That represents genuine and impressive progress . We would do
well to internalize the lessons of how this has been achieved, to benefit from one
anther's experience and know how. Still, if we are to meet the water and sanitation
targets, we will need to ensure over the next decade that :
1
? safe drinking water reaches an additional 1 .5 billion people, and
?
basic sanitation becomes available to an additional 1 .9 billion people .
Measured against these water 'and sanitation targets, as well as against the scale of the
slum problem, the target of significantly improving the lives of 100 million slum
dwellers by 2020 is not nearly ambitious enough .
While achieving the targets is feasible, it will require strong political resolve, translated
into sizeable additional resource flows to poor countries, together with enhanced
domestic resource mobili7,ation. The estimated cost of meeting the water, sanitation and
slum targets are in the range of $30 to $40 billion a year . Even in the best of all possible
worlds, capital will remain scarce in most poor countries, so its effective investment will
be critical .
Developing country Governments need detailed strategies and investment plans for
meeting the water, sanitation and human settlement, targets, clearly indicating what
resources can be mobilized domestically and how to bridge the remaining financing gap .
Donors will need to come forward with supplemental financing for well-conceived
investment plans. Coorrlination is crucial. All Governments need integrated water
resource management plans that tackle actual and looming water scarcities . Tackling the
most serious inefficiencies in the biggest water user sectors would free up sizeable
resources for other uses .
Progressive fiscal policy and tariff structures for public services like water and sanitation
can help finance access by the poor . Getting enough water for basic consumption needs
should not have to compete with putting enough food on the table or being able to buy
essential medicines to treat sick family members . The rich will need to subsidize the
provision of essential services like water and sewerage for the poor, both within countries
and between countries . For poor countries that are heavily burdened by debt, debt relief is
needed. In some cases, debt swaps for water and sanitation could be effective .
Over the next quarter century, all population growth will be urban . This is one of the
biggest challenges facing the developing world, whose cities will have to absorb an
additional 1 .6 billion people by 2030, an increase of almost three-quarters over the
current urban population. (By comparison, during the quarter century 1950-1975 postwar
boom in Europe, urban population rose by roughly 60%, and the absolute increase
was 165 million, or only one-tenth of the projected increase in developing country city
dwellers .) Building decent .housing, providing basic infrastructure and services, and
creating well-paying jobs are both a tremendous economic opportunity and a tremendous
policy challenge.
The challenge is all the more daunting in view of the huge backlog of unmet demand for
decent housing, infrastructure, services and jobs in the world's slums and informal
settlements . Getting the growth engine turning over - and keeping it from stalling - is a
major priority in most developing countries . Once a steady stream of quality jobs is being
created, other pieces of the puzzle tend to fall into place . Still, Governments need to take
explicit measures to ensure that the growth generated is inclusive, that the interests of the
poor are protected . Progressive real estate taxation can provide revenue to finance low-
2
cost housing, for example, through capitalizing housing and infrastructure funds for poor
neighbourhoods . Measures to control land speculation may be needed, as may measures
to ensure that poor communities have access to financial services . Promotion of inclusive
finance is an overriding priority . Housing loans to low-income households, including
facilities that allow them to buy construction materials to gradually upgrade their
housing, and financial schemes to facilitate access by the poor to sanitation facilities play
a crucial role in the sectors under consideration in this CSD . They may include public
sector subsidies and government-supported loan guarantee or insurance schemes . Setting
aside or reclaiming land for low-cost housing development can also be a useful pro-poor
policy.
Local authorities bear much of the responsibility for making sure that human settlements
are liveable - through urban planning, land administration and zoning, infrastructure
planning and investment, and provision of social services like health and education . Often
they lack the fiscal powers needed to execute those responsibilities effectively . They may
also lack adequate human resource' and institutional capacities . These are deficiencies that
need to be addressed.
Already, poor communities around the world are making the best of difficult
circumstances, making do with acutely limited resources, drawing on a vast reservoir of
human creativity to solve basic problems of survival . In our efforts to craft effective
policy responses to the challenges before this Commission, we would do well to remind
ourselves of the need to engage fully with the poor themselves, to learn from and build on
their experience, to help them mobilize the resources to invest in their own communities,
and to provide them with the public services of which they are too often deprived .
Governments would also do well to engage all civil society actors in the tasks at hand,
from local authorities to organizations 'of women, farmers, workers, and indigenous
peoples, to NGOs and community-based organizations, to the private sector and the
scientific and technical community, each of whom has its own experience and expertise
to contribute to finding and implementing solutions .
Distinguished delegates, you have set for yourselves the task of making decisions on how
to accelerate progress on a number of specific goals and targets whose attainment is
critical to the lives of poor people - people without safe drinking water, basic sanitation,
decent housing, and secure and sustainable communities . You will need to decide in the
coming days on concrete, effective actions that the international community can take to
support developing countries in their efforts to provide these to all their citizens . As Deng
Xiao Ping once said: "It doesn't matter whether the cat is black or white, as long as it
catches mice" .