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United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development Rio+20
Rio de Janeiro, 20 -22 June 2012
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S T A T E M E N T
by
H. E. Mr. MarcinKorolec
Minister of the Environment of the Republic of Poland
Head of the Polish Delegation
Rio de Janeiro, June 22nd, 2012
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Mr./MdmePresident, Excellenices, Distinguished Delegates, Ladies
and Gentleman,
Let me firstly congratulate the Government of Brazil and the people of
beautiful city of Rio de Janeiro for great hospitality provided for us
and excellent organization of this important Conference.
We have gathered here to draw up new, global consensus on how to
further implement the principles of sustainable development and to
secure the future for next generations.
The growing scarcity and degradation of natural resource coupled
with the pressure of world population and economic growth calls for a
new paradigm that enables to overcome of existing dichotomies
between conservation and development will stimulate global dialogue
and lead to consensus for affirmative actions supporting achievements
for conservation and development goals.
We want to transfer the whole nations from poverty into welfare, from
food and water scarcity to security of supply and resource efficiency.
Over the last two decades Poland has certainly gained some relevant
experiences in managing similar transitions and I believe we have got
a lot to share.
Poland started to pursue the path of sustainable development around
20 years ago after the switch to the market economy and deep,
fundamental reforms of the social, economic and environment nature.
Over the time, Poland recorded 200% of GDP growth and managed to
cut greenhouse gas emissions by 30%. The resource-efficiency factor
in the last decade increased by 15%.
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Our economy continues to grow fast increasing standard of living of
our society and reducing poverty, proving that greening and economic
growth at the same time are possible if proper policy framework and
tools are put in place.
Taking this opportunity, I would like to share with you some of our
experience aboutcreating innovative funding mechanisms and
implementing green projects in Poland.
One of the examples is the National Fund of Environmental Protection
and Water Management. The mission of the National Fund is to
financially support undertakings intended for environmental
protection on the basis of the principle of sustainable development.
It is supplied with income from fees and fines for the use of the
environment resources, ecosystem services, recycling fees, and many
other sources. Its annual average disbursement of funds raised
domestically amounts to250million USD.
The main form of financing projects arepreferential loans which
means that the National Fund is a renewable source of
funding.Measure of the spectacular achievements of the projects
financed by the National Fund is a visible improvement of the
environment in Poland, in particular significant increase of investment
in environmental infrastructure.
Another example of innovative financial mechanism is the swap-forenvironment
debts instrument. The history dates back to 1991, when
the Paris Club uniting a group countries that were creditors of Poland
decided to reduce the Polish debt by 50%. The Government of Poland
proposed further 10% of the debt to be allocated for supporting the
most urgent environmental protection undertakings.
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Such an initiative was probably the first in the world. The amounts of
the debt allocated for the debt-for-environment swap were established
in bilateral agreements between the Polish government and
governments of donor countries. The EcoFund Foundation was an
institution independent from the government and responsible for
managing the debt-for-environment swap program by granting
subsidies only for investment projects which were in line with the
objectives of the international environmental agreements.
Having in mind Poland’s experience I can say that mobilisation of
domestic financial resources for transformation towards sustainable
economy is crucial. External sources of finance, including both from
public and private sourcesand international financial institutions are
important, but to large extend will remain additional to the resources
that must be mobilized domestically. Thanks to establishment of
sound and reliable domestic financing Poland was able to use the
financial support from EU funds in an effective way.
Distinguished Delegates, Ladies and Gentlemen,
Even considering all the Polish initiatives I mentioned, I still have to
admit that Poland has a relatively short history on the path of the
green growth. However, we have got an excellent record in managing
transformation to market-based economy and steady growth and
switching to a sustainable mode is just another transformation we are
initiating now.
Bearing this in mind, and the fact that our transformation was enabled
and facilitated by the Solidarity movement and was always based on a
solidarity principle, we are ready to share our experience and
knowledge acquired and we hope that some countries will find them
helpful on their way towards green and sustainable economy. We
strongly believe that we have a strong role to play in this.
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All the topics debated during Rio+ 20 based on their relevance to the
furthering of sustainable development, focusing on two themes: a
green economy in the context of sustainable development poverty
eradication and the institutional framework for sustainable
development. These challenges call for appropriate actions and
participatory approach based on local needs, national priorities and
international cooperation.
I am convinced that the exchange of views over the last three days
will bear fruits and results in accelerating the political momentum
towards identifying concrete proposals for the implementation of
actions and measures identified in Rio Declaration. Poland is
determined to ensure that Rio+20 will be a success, helping humanity
to address some of its most pressing global challenges in the most
innovative ways possible.
Thank you for your attention.
