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Statement
by Mr. Jayant Malhoutra, Member of Parliament
on October 22, 1999 in
the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) of the United Nations. At
the outset, my delegation wishes to associate itself with the statement of
the Chairman of the Group of 77 & China. We have read with interest
the reports by the Secretary General on the sub-items under this agenda
item 'Environment and Sustainable Development'. Specifically, we would
like to commend the quality of some of the reports, notably on the follow
up to Agenda 2l and the Nineteenth UNGA Special Session, for their
incisive analysis of constraints in implementation of their mandates. It
would be useful if a similar analytical approach were to be adopted in the
case of the reports on the other sub-items, particularly on the various
Environmental Conventions; Some of these are merely descriptive, and give
us little sense of the value that we can add, in the GA to the
deliberations on these inter-related issues. The
global partnership for sustainable development and environment that we
launched at UNCED (UN Conference on Environment and Development) was based
on the premise that environmental problems should not be seen in isolation
and that the basic developmental needs of developing countries needed to
be fulfilled. It recognized that economic growth and poverty eradication,
which are and must be overriding priorities for developing countries,
preclude the generation of adequate resources to tackle environmental
concerns. We had also agreed that pressing global environmental concerns
require urgent action by the industrialised world, both corrective and
preventive. Seven years after UNCED, it is clear that few significant
steps have been taken by developed countries to alter their unsustainable
consumption and production patterns. Similarly, no significant measures
have been taken to alter or to address the financial resource intensity of
the new environmentally sound technologies that have been and are being
evolved. We are also witness to a reluctance among developed countries to
fulfil their obligations in areas such as cutbacks of emissions or to take
on additional obligations, in view of their historical industrialisation
and technology choices. Earlier this year, at the negotiations on the
Biosafety Protocol, the international community paradoxically found that
the very same environmental concerns that were being pushed by developed
countries in other fora were set aside in view of their huge commercial
concerns. The
global partnership for sustainable development and environment, that
includes within its fabric the range of Environmental Conventions, the
work we do, in the UN, through the Commission on Sustainable Development
and UNEP, was also predicated on the premise, expressly stated in Agenda
21, that substantive new and additional resources would be transferred to
developing countries to meet, at the minimum, the incremental costs
involved in addressing environmental obligations. However, although since
UNCED, additional commitments have been made at the World Social Summit
for Development, the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, the
various environmental Conventions on Climate Change, Desertification,
SIDS, Bio-diversity, etc., these have been paralleled by a decline in
financial resources that were available before UNCED. Gross ODA levels
have fallen to their lowest and account for 0.23% of GDP. Resources for
UNEP are at an all time low and the Secretary General’s report on the
implementation of Agenda 21 repeatedly points out that the primary
constraint in implementation of Agenda 21 and Programme of Action for
further implementation of Agenda 21 is the lack of financial resources. The
second primary area of concern when we address the issues of sustainable
development and environment is the lack of progress on the question of
transfer of environmentally sound technologies on concessional and
preferential terms. It is a matter of concern to us that technologies
critical for industrial development are being denied on dubious grounds
such as alleged dual use. Much more work needs to be done on publicly
owned technology and its dissemination. We also have an opportunity, in
the review of TRIPS, to strike a balance between the need for incentives
for innovation and the need to ensure that such technological progress is
diffused and disseminated widely and harnessed for the greater benefit of
mankind. Rio+10 We
have noted with interest the analysis in the Secretary General’s report
on 'Measures taken in the UN system to accelerate progress in
Implementation of Agenda 21 and the Programme for Further Implementation
of Agenda 21.’ Although the review itself will take place only in 2002,
it is imperative that we begin our work well in advance, particularly in
terms of commissioning reports that will enable us to analyse the
constraints and challenges facing the UN system in this task, so that we
will be equipped to make the hard decisions that will be necessary to
remove the existing constraints and to improve the implementation
machinery in the review in 2002. We have noted that the three major
constraints identified by the Secretariat are a) "the lack of
adequate resources for implementation of work programmes, particularly on
education, public awareness and training for sustainable development"
b) "lack of institutional capacity, vague mandates and lack of
clearly defined priorities and lastly bureaucratic procedures and poor
managerial practices" and c) "inconsistent decisions in various
governing bodies of the UN system". While
we commend the efforts already underway in the Secretariat to address the
inhouse constraints through the ACC and the Interagency Committee on
Sustainable Development, we recognize that we will have to do much more
both to generate the will necessary to find the additional resources and
to ensure that clear mandates and priorities are established by us to
facilitate implementation. Desertification India
attaches great importance to the UN Convention to Combat Desertification
and will be participating actively in the Third Conference of Parties to
be held in Recife (Brazil) in November 1999. India was among the early
signatories to this Convention and it is a matter of gratification that
over 149 States have now acceded to the Convention. It is our hope that
the Convention will attract universal accession at an early date. It is a
matter of continuing concern that the Convention continues to experience
major financial constraints. We have noted that the Managing Director of
the Global Mechanism has presented the first draft of an operational
strategy and await presentation of the complete development of this
strategy. It is our hope that this will reflect a comprehensive analysis
of the Global Mechanism's various functions and focus on modalities
whereby it will be made far more effective in mobilising and channeling
financial resources to further the Convention's objectives. Climate
Change and Kyoto Protocol India
will participate actively in the forthcoming Convention of Parties Meeting
of the Framework Convention on Climate Change. We would at the same time
reiterate the call by the Nonaligned countries at the Durban Summit last
year to developed countries to undertake urgent and effective steps to
implement their commitments under the Kyoto Protocol through domestic
action. It is our belief that emissions trading for implementation of such
commitments can only commence after issues relating to the principles,
modalities, etc. of such trading, including the initial allocation of
emissions entitlements on an equitable basis to all countries, have been
agreed to by the FCCC. We would also again reiterate the urgent need for
immediate measures to provide developing countries with the necessary
financial and technological resources and environmentally sound technology
to enable them to meet their existing commitments under the Framework
Convention on Climate Change. Convention
on Bio-diversity We
will also be participating in the forthcoming Conference of Parties on
Biodiversity. We had also participated in the negotiations on the
Biosafety Protocol earlier this year to which we attach the highest
importance. It is our belief that major technological innovations such as
genetically modified organisms have enormous potential for food production
and enhancing food security. They also have serious long-term implications
for the environment, particularly bio-diversity and human health. While we
fully acknowledge the need to tap such technological innovations, we also
believe that it is prudent to fully test and examine the environmental and
human health implications of such technologies before they are introduced
into the environment. We are convinced that with far greater political
will and understanding, we will be able to strike a balance between
commercial concerns and the need to ensure both human health and to
preserve biodiversity. At
the same time, in the context of the Convention on Bio-diversity, it is
our belief that one of the issues that needs to be urgently addressed is
the development of proprietary patents based on bio-diversity/traditional
knowledge of indigenous communities, without obtaining the prior informed
consent of the developing countries concerned and without coming to any
agreement on benefit sharing with these developing countries, which are
storehouses of such bio-diversity and indigenous knowledge. There is a
clear and pressing need to extend and render effective protection to
indigenous biotechnology, developed over the millennia, to ensure a
flowback of benefits from patentees to original developers. SIDS My
delegation had participated actively in the recent Special Session that
was held to review implementation of the Barbados Programme of Action on
27 & 28 September 1999. As a country with a long coastal line
stretching more than 700 kms and with over 5000 islands, India has
traditionally attached the highest importance to the implementation of the
Barbados Plan of Action. We were among those that participated actively in
the process leading to the elaboration of this Programme of Action. The
Barbados Programme of Action had appropriately recognized that small
island developing states and also islands supporting small communities
would require special programmes and approaches appropriate to their
special situations, problems and needs, since they embody a unique
combination of vulnerability to ecological fragility, natural disasters
and turbulence in the international economic environment. The small size
of their populations, reserve base, market, relative divergence, isolation
and differences in ecological and geographical characteristics hinder
their ability to embark on self-sustaining development. With a large
number of islands, we in India have some experience of the problems faced
by small islands supporting small isolated communities. To tackle their
special problems, we have set up an Island Development Authority under the
chairmanship of the Prime Minister. Our
approach to the sustainable development of these islands has involved
programmes for maintenance, regeneration and restoration of the ecosystem.
Our objective is to restore the productive potential and provide
employment to local communities. We have found decentralisation and
involvement of local communities an effective way of managing this
process. This would require creation of local bodies and institutional
structures. Therefore, human resource development, administrative capacity
building, access to information and professional knowledge are also
crucial. It
is our belief that small island developing states require not just
periodic infusions of assistance or technology, but integration into a
system which ensures self-sustaining interactions for technological
benefit, economic growth, trade earnings and a reduced vulnerability to
natural and economic uncertainties. We need to ensure that the terms of
trade do not decline, that market access for their products is assured and
that industries are well developed with appropriate insurance schemes. It
is also important to ensure development of technologies relevant to them,
particularly for utilization of renewable energy sources, tapping of fresh
water, etc. The real challenge before us, therefore, is to ensure
implementation of the Barbados Programme of Action and the document we
have recently adopted, and ensure the integration of SIDS into a global
economic system. A
major part of India’s technical cooperation programmes is devoted to the
small island developing states. Moreover, our contributions to the
development of small island developing nations and to the implementation
of the Barbados Programme of Action, are of necessity, a small part of the
efforts that are required from the international community. It is
essential that the international community and those more fortunate than
us shoulder their responsibilities for the provision of adequate
assistance to the small island developing nations. Similarly, they should
also promote the transfer of appropriate technologies to them, on
preferential and concessional terms. Other aspects related to the special
vulnerabilities of these States also need to be urgently addressed. We
sincerely hope that when we meet in a Special Session in 2004 to review
comprehensively the implementation of the Barbados Programme of Action, it
would be to applaud the success of such international cooperation, whose
lack today we lament. |