Secretary-General Mr. Kofi Annan
Secretary-General's remarks to the UN Commission on Sustainable Development
New York, 28 April 2004
Mr. Chairman, Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I would like to thank the many ministers and other stakeholders who have gathered for
this session. It is encouraging to know that you represent a broad range of portfolios, and
not just environment or development ministries. That mindset -- that awareness of
linkages and cross-cutting concerns -- is just what we need if we are to achieve
sustainable development.
As of now, our progress towards that goal is at best uneven.
On the positive side, important agreements have been adopted, most notably the
Johannesburg Plan of Implementation. New and binding international conventions are
entering into force, for example on persistent organic pollutants and on rules for
international trade in pesticides and other hazardous chemicals. The developing countries
capacity has been strengthened in many areas. Official development assistance has risen
after a long decline. Partnerships have expanded, as have corporate social responsibility
initiatives. And awareness of what sustainable development means has deepened ? in
particular the crucial understanding that it rests on three pillars: not just environmental
protection, but also social progress and economic development.
Yet key challenges remain. The natural resource base is under siege. Unsustainable
patterns of consumption and production are still the norm. Progress in slowing
deforestation and biodiversity loss has been glacial. The AIDS epidemic is an enormous
and still growing burden. The global trading system, including economically and
environmentally harmful subsidies, remains biased against developing countries,
hampering their efforts to rise out of poverty. Vulnerable small islands states face
enormous threats; some may not survive at all. Unless the United States or the Russian
Federation ratifies the Kyoto Protocol, we cannot fully and properly address the issue of
climate change.
As if all that wasn't enough, high- level political attention has been diverted from
sustainable development by the recent emphasis given to terrorism, weapons of mass
destruction, and the war in Iraq. However understandable that focus might be, we cannot
lose any more time, or ground, in the wider struggle for human well-being. Just as we
need balanced development, so do we need a balanced international agenda.
Your session is focusing on some of the central aspects of that agenda: water, sanitation
and human settlements. In those aspects, perhaps more than in any other area of
sustainable development, we see the linkages that make our work at once so complex and
yet so filled with potential.
Water is intimately linked with education and gender equality. Girls who have to spend
time gathering water for the family tend not to be in school. And where schools have
sanitation, attendance is higher, especially for girls.
Water is connected to health, since millions of children get sick and die every year from
water-borne diseases and for lack of basic sanitation and hygiene.
It is linked to environmental protection, since poor water management degrades and
squanders a precious resource.
It is linked to the urbanization of poverty, since rural impoverishment rooted in water and
land-tenure issues drives people to migrate to already crowded cities ? and most often to
their growing slums.
Tensions over water could even generate conflict, within and across borders, although
water also offers great opportunities for cooperation.
So the stakes are high. Without an integrated approach, we could face a tangle of
problems. But with one, we could generate a cascade of progress. Let us remember,
though, that however much can be done at the international level ? through aid and
partnerships, for example -- ultimately action on water, sanitation and settlements must
be national and local: effective public administration, inclusive governance that involves
communities and a real commitment to equity.
These issues need greater prominence, globally and locally. It was with that in mind that
last month I announced the formation of an Advisory Board on Water and Sanitation. The
Board is meant to complement existing efforts, not to supplant them. Chaired by former
Prime Minister Hashimoto of Japan, the Board's membership is still taking shape but
already includes a range of technical experts and eminent men and women with extensive
experience in water issues. I have asked them to raise awareness and help mobilize
resources for water and sanitation programmes. They will certainly, at their first meeting,
look at the links between their work and yours.
Excellencies,
As the world attempts to find a more secure and equitable path of development, you have
multiple roles to play. This Commission must be a watchdog, alert to threats and fearless
in sounding alarms. We look to you for coherent, effective policy. And you must
continue to give voice to all stakeholders, not just governments. We must all listen to
what science is telling us about our planet, and to what ordinary people ? the billions
without water or sanitation, or living in slums ? are telling us about their lives. We need
to overcome the entrenched interests and economic short-sightedness that hinder progress.
And we need to act urgently on what has already been agreed. Let us, together, build the
critical mass of actors and attitudes that is necessary to change course.
Thank you very much.
New York, 28 April 2004
Mr. Chairman, Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I would like to thank the many ministers and other stakeholders who have gathered for
this session. It is encouraging to know that you represent a broad range of portfolios, and
not just environment or development ministries. That mindset -- that awareness of
linkages and cross-cutting concerns -- is just what we need if we are to achieve
sustainable development.
As of now, our progress towards that goal is at best uneven.
On the positive side, important agreements have been adopted, most notably the
Johannesburg Plan of Implementation. New and binding international conventions are
entering into force, for example on persistent organic pollutants and on rules for
international trade in pesticides and other hazardous chemicals. The developing countries
capacity has been strengthened in many areas. Official development assistance has risen
after a long decline. Partnerships have expanded, as have corporate social responsibility
initiatives. And awareness of what sustainable development means has deepened ? in
particular the crucial understanding that it rests on three pillars: not just environmental
protection, but also social progress and economic development.
Yet key challenges remain. The natural resource base is under siege. Unsustainable
patterns of consumption and production are still the norm. Progress in slowing
deforestation and biodiversity loss has been glacial. The AIDS epidemic is an enormous
and still growing burden. The global trading system, including economically and
environmentally harmful subsidies, remains biased against developing countries,
hampering their efforts to rise out of poverty. Vulnerable small islands states face
enormous threats; some may not survive at all. Unless the United States or the Russian
Federation ratifies the Kyoto Protocol, we cannot fully and properly address the issue of
climate change.
As if all that wasn't enough, high- level political attention has been diverted from
sustainable development by the recent emphasis given to terrorism, weapons of mass
destruction, and the war in Iraq. However understandable that focus might be, we cannot
lose any more time, or ground, in the wider struggle for human well-being. Just as we
need balanced development, so do we need a balanced international agenda.
Your session is focusing on some of the central aspects of that agenda: water, sanitation
and human settlements. In those aspects, perhaps more than in any other area of
sustainable development, we see the linkages that make our work at once so complex and
yet so filled with potential.
Water is intimately linked with education and gender equality. Girls who have to spend
time gathering water for the family tend not to be in school. And where schools have
sanitation, attendance is higher, especially for girls.
Water is connected to health, since millions of children get sick and die every year from
water-borne diseases and for lack of basic sanitation and hygiene.
It is linked to environmental protection, since poor water management degrades and
squanders a precious resource.
It is linked to the urbanization of poverty, since rural impoverishment rooted in water and
land-tenure issues drives people to migrate to already crowded cities ? and most often to
their growing slums.
Tensions over water could even generate conflict, within and across borders, although
water also offers great opportunities for cooperation.
So the stakes are high. Without an integrated approach, we could face a tangle of
problems. But with one, we could generate a cascade of progress. Let us remember,
though, that however much can be done at the international level ? through aid and
partnerships, for example -- ultimately action on water, sanitation and settlements must
be national and local: effective public administration, inclusive governance that involves
communities and a real commitment to equity.
These issues need greater prominence, globally and locally. It was with that in mind that
last month I announced the formation of an Advisory Board on Water and Sanitation. The
Board is meant to complement existing efforts, not to supplant them. Chaired by former
Prime Minister Hashimoto of Japan, the Board's membership is still taking shape but
already includes a range of technical experts and eminent men and women with extensive
experience in water issues. I have asked them to raise awareness and help mobilize
resources for water and sanitation programmes. They will certainly, at their first meeting,
look at the links between their work and yours.
Excellencies,
As the world attempts to find a more secure and equitable path of development, you have
multiple roles to play. This Commission must be a watchdog, alert to threats and fearless
in sounding alarms. We look to you for coherent, effective policy. And you must
continue to give voice to all stakeholders, not just governments. We must all listen to
what science is telling us about our planet, and to what ordinary people ? the billions
without water or sanitation, or living in slums ? are telling us about their lives. We need
to overcome the entrenched interests and economic short-sightedness that hinder progress.
And we need to act urgently on what has already been agreed. Let us, together, build the
critical mass of actors and attitudes that is necessary to change course.
Thank you very much.