John Gilliland
Sustainable Development Commissioner for Northern Ireland
Intervention at the 14th Session of the United Nations Commission on Sustainable
Development
New York, 11/05/06
Thank you Mr Chairman for this opportunity. My name is John Gilliland. I am the Sustainable
Development Commissioner for Northern Ireland. I would like to inform the UN Commission on
Sustainable Development, of the progress of Northern Ireland, as a region of the United
Kingdom, to embed Sustainable Development. We believe that our experience can considerably
add to the theme of this session, ?Making a Difference.? I have really appreciated and learnt
from this session?s interventions from the major stakeholder groups, here today.
As the Session delegates are well aware, over the last 35 years, N. Ireland has struggled to find a
lasting peace with stability.
Next week we try again to form a local power sharing Assembly, where local politicians will be
allowed to give leadership and embed peace and reconciliation.
In any lasting peace, the principles of Sustainable Development must be embedded within both
Central and local Government.
To that end, two days ago, the N. Ireland Secretary of State, Peter Hain launched our first
Sustainable Development Strategy.
At its core, is the agreement to move SD from the Department of Environment to the office of
First and Deputy First Minister, so that it can be embedded as the leading cross cutting, local
Government policy.
Secondly, a legal obligation will be put on all Government Departments and District Councils to
implement their SD Action Plans, through the use of a Statutory Duty, with in our primary
legislation.
Political Leadership will be given through the commitment that the Government Estate, the
largest in N. Ireland, will have a Carbon Neutral Footprint by 2015.
Considerable finance has been made available through an Environment and Energy fund, to
reduce N. Ireland?s 97% dependence on imported fossil fuels which are used to provide our
energy requirements. This fund will be used in Research & Development; Demonstration and the
market acceleration of new innovative, environmental and renewable technologies.
Considerable progress has been made in key areas of SD, for example, water quality, air quality,
energy diversification and energy security, through well developed relationships with our
colleagues, in the Republic of Ireland.
In 2007, both Governments on the island of Ireland will launch the Single, Irish Electricity
Market, a must for a sustainable Irish Energy Policy.
The construction of this Strategy, has been an excellent practical example, where it has been
created through extensive stakeholder engagement, with all our major groups, similar to the
groups participating here today. We believe that this is essential if we are to secure significant
local buy in, from people on the ground.
We are confidant that through this mix of Central Political Leadership and buy in from our major
stakeholders, we will succeed in embedding SD Principals at the heart of any lasting peace and
reconciliation in N. Ireland.
This will allow our People to leave behind our dark days of threats of intimidation and violence;
and will replace it with a considerable improvement in our quality of life and wealth generation,
while making great strides to reduce our environmental footprint at the same time.
Our vision, by 2015, will be that N. Ireland will be perceived by the International Community as
an exemplar for peace and reconciliation, where violence will have been replaced by the
dynamic use of the fundamental principals of Sustainable Development and through the use of
innovative, environmental and renewable technologies; generating a vibrant society attracting
people from across the World to come and see for themselves.
Mr Chairman, can I thank you for giving N. Ireland the time to make this intervention. We would
be delighted to share our experience with others, who may be still struggling through a similar
dynamic and inclusive process?
Thank you
John Gilliland OBE
N. Ireland Sustainable Development Commission
11/05/06
