Kuala
Lumpur, Malaysia
9 - 11 July 2001
I. INTRODUCTION
1.
At its Millennium Session in 2001, the United Nations General
Assembly agreed to undertake a ten-year review of progress in the
implementation of the outcomes of the 1992 United Nations Conference on
Environment and Development (UNCED).
This review will take place at the World Summit on Sustainable
Development in South Africa in the year 2002 – the Johannesburg
Summit. However, an important challenge is to
ensure that the outcome of the Summit is not limited to a review but
leads to new visions, commitments, partnerships and plans for practical
implementation to make sustainable development real at all levels.
2.
As a unique and major feature of the preparations for the 2002
Summit, it was agreed that the main issues for the Summit would arise
from participatory national and regional assessments and discussions
drawing from all segments of society and regions of the world.
3.
The global inter-governmental process, which will involve three
preparatory meetings to be held in the first half of 2002, will benefit
from Regional Inter-governmental Preparatory meetings (“PrepComs”)
to be held in all regions in the second half of 2001. In order to
support this process and to take advantage of the views of experts, the
United Nations is convening independent Regional Roundtables of eminent
persons and leaders of civil society in the five regions of the world.
4.
The East Asia and the Pacific Eminent Persons Regional Roundtable
was held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia from 9 to 11 July 2001. This report
attempts to capture the key concerns expressed and proposals for action
made by the participants. The
participants attended in their personal capacities and provided their
perspectives on the progress achieved and the obstacles and challenges
faced by the region, major constraints on sustainable development as
well as proposals for action to address the specific issues identified.
5.
The report is intended to help in the preparatory process leading
up to the Summit with new ideas, based on the participants’ practical
experience and interest in sustainable development, to develop a
platform which outlines key policy issues, priorities and follow up
actions for the region as well as at the global level.
6.
This report will be forwarded to all of the regional and
sub-regional PrepComs. It
will also be made available to the global preparatory meetings.
Furthermore, the Roundtable report will be posted on the
Johannesburg Summit web site.
7.
The East Asia and the Pacific Roundtable was organised by the
Secretariat of the World Summit on Sustainable Development in
collaboration with the Government of Malaysia The Roundtable was chaired
by Tan Sri Razali Ismail. A
full list of participants is attached as an Annex to this report.
8.
At the opening of the Roundtable, introductory statements were
made by Dato Haji Zainal Dahalan, Deputy Minister of Science, Technology
and Environment, on behalf of the Minister for Science, Technology and
Environment and Ms. JoAnne DiSano, Director, Division for Sustainable
Development, United Nations.
II. OVERVIEW
A.
Characteristics and Challenges of the East Asia and Pacific
region
10.
The East Asia and Pacific region has special characteristics that
affect conditions for implementing sustainable development objectives in
the various countries of the region.
Prior to the financial crisis in 1997, countries of the region,
each in its own way, were attempting to address the challenges of
sustainable development. In the aftermath, however many of the issues
have re-emerged in more critical form and the capacity of the countries
to address these challenges has been diminished.
11.
Many issues, in particular environmental issues, faced by the
countries of the region are trans-boundary in nature and national
actions often have profound regional and global implications.
This is particularly true with regard to environmental
degradation and resource depletion that has intensified in the region
since Rio. There is an urgent need for more accountability among nations
in the region to pursue effective measures of regional co-operation.
12.
The East Asia-Pacific is among the most diverse regions of the
world, and thus faces particular challenges in sustainable development.
Although many problems faced by the various countries or
sub-regions are similar there are no “one size fits all” solutions.
13.
Countries of the region cover the full spectrum of economic
development. While in many countries of the region, absolute poverty has
decreased, income inequality has increased. According to UNDP’s Human
Development Index, the state of social development varies considerably.
There is also wide political diversity ranging from authoritarian states
to constitutional monarchies, to strong parliamentary systems, and
evolving democracies. The region possesses an extremely rich diversity
of cultures, being the birthplace of some of the world’s oldest
civilizations. The natural
environment is the source of life, identity and spiritual values for the
East Asia and Pacific region where many people still depend on
subsistence living.
14.
The increase of militarisation in the form of increased military
activities, involvement of the military in civil affairs and
unaccountable military budgets continue to escalate in East Asia and the
Pacific is a matter of great concern and has led to an increase of small
arms trade and military bases being set up in the region.
This has negative effects on sustainable development and social
welfare.
15.
The region’s diversity is particularly evident in its
biological resources and, consequent environmental challenges. With
countries from small island States to landlocked countries, the region
possesses a wide diversity of eco-systems and natural resource
endowments, including coastal and marine resources, agriculture and
forest-based economies, and rich mineral deposits.
16.
Dynamic economic developments in the region in the last two
decades have led to rapid urbanization due to high rates of rural/urban
migration, with East Asia having several of the world’s mega-cities,
with populations exceeding 10 million. Mounting ecological imbalances
have resulted in increasing air and water pollution, elimination or
pollution of mangroves and wetlands, forest destruction, soil erosion
and land degradation, climate change, increasingly prevalent natural and
man-made disasters, and problems in water resource and solid waste
management.
17.
Atmospheric aerosols, produced by the burning of biomass and
industrial emissions have reduced crop and ecosystem productivity with
consequent impacts on food security and biodiversity. Reduced vegetation
cover has affected the amount of rainfall produced by the Asian monsoon
with consequent effects on agricultural productivity. At the same time,
agricultural development in the river catchments has tended to increase
the amount of sediment, nitrogen and phosphorus reaching the region’s
coastal zones. These land-based effluents, by stimulating biological
activity and changing eco-system processes, have had an impact on the
atmosphere and marine systems.
18.
In addition, in the past 30 years, East Asia has lost half its
forest cover, along with countless unique animal and plant species.
Desertification in Mongolia and other countries of the region as
well as deforestation in both East Asia and the Pacific are rapidly
increasing. A third of the
continent’s agricultural land has been degraded. Over-fishing in East
Asia and the Pacific has caused a rapid depletion of fish stocks, which
not only compromises the natural recovery of such fish stocks, but also
causes extreme hardship on small fishing families and coastal people.
Indigenous peoples in particular have been further marginalized.
19.
Small islands in the region have been particularly vulnerable to
natural disasters. Small island states have limited capacity to respond
to or recover from natural disasters. While small island states
contribute the least to environmental degradation, they are among those
nations most threatened by global climactic and environmental changes,
such as sea level rise.
B.
Progress Towards Sustainable Development in the East Asia and
Pacific region
20.
In the post-Rio period, some countries in the East Asia and the
Pacific region have actively responded to the challenge of sustainable
development as addressed in Agenda 21 and the other outcomes of Rio.
These responses, however, reflected limited progress in
sustainable development and in the implementation of Agenda 21.
21.
Many nations in the region have established initiatives to
increase progress towards sustainable development. These include public
policy initiatives such as economic incentives, education, caps on
resource consumption, some impressive examples of participatory
management, conservation strategies and legislated limits on pollution.
In the private sector, voluntary targets for reducing resource
consumption are slowly spreading and awareness of environmental issues
has increased. About 26 countries have prepared
‘National Agenda 21” or “Green Vision 21” statements.
National Councils of Sustainable Development or their equivalents are
becoming platforms for dialogue among stakeholders on the planning and
implementation of sustainable development.
For example in Thailand, the Chulabhorn Research Institute has
focused much energy on the improvement of
people’s quality of life by protecting the environment.
This includes reforestation as well as teaching young people to
create “community forests.” The CRI has also established the
International Centre for Environmental and Industrial Toxicology (ICEIT).
The All-China Women’s Federation has been carrying out a
project called “March the Eighth Forestation Project” since 1990.
22.
At the regional level, the “Regional Action Programme on
Environmentally Sound and Sustainable Development, 1996-2005”
specified numerous programme areas, which provided a basis for
transforming the principles of sustainable development contained in
Agenda 21 into specific action; that would also guide future actions,
including improving the urban environment through a network of cities in
the region.
23.
Corporate social responsibility has increased resulting in an
accelerating trend toward
“green business” or “green management” including an increase in
the number of companies achieving certification under the ISO 14001
standards. Green purchasing both by companies and consumers has
increased along with the construction of “zero waste” plants.
Investment instruments such as “eco-funds” have also been more
widely used within the region.
24.
Civil society has emerged as an important factor in promoting
sustainable development. Civil society, including non-governmental
organizations and other major groups, have been instrumental, albeit
unevenly, in challenging development paradigms, creating new knowledge
bases and initiating tripartite partnerships with governments and
business in pursuit of sustainable development at the local, national
and regional levels.
25.
While there has been
progress, improvement for the region as a whole is not obvious,
certainly not readily discernible. State strategies and policies in
parts of the region have not been operationalized. Indeed, in some cases
sound sustainable development policies have yet to be formulated or
implemented. It is a matter of concern that in some parts of East Asia
and the Pacific, support for implementing sustainable development
policies has slipped, while natural resource depletion and environmental
degradation have been allowed to continue to occur. Urgent measures need
to be formulated to assist countries to better cope and strengthen
commitment to sustainable development.
III. ISSUES OF NATIONAL CONCERN
26.
Sustainable development also needs to be based on a sound
philosophy that would benefit from being founded on local, spiritual,
traditional, indigenous and tribal values and lifestyles.
In many countries, these values are under attack by increasing
commercialism and consumerism that emphasize personal and individual
gratification over community, cultural and environmental values. In this
regard, education was seen as particularly important.
27.
It is necessary to strengthen a sense of collective ownership and
responsibility for the implementation of sustainable development
objectives and programmes among stakeholders at the national and local
levels. In this regard, the role and commitment of governments to
sustainable development remains essential.
Governments have to exercise strong leadership in co-ordination
of action and encouraging participation and partnerships.
Environment and sustainable development issues need to be more
effectively taken into account by Ministers of Finance, Trade and
Economic Development.
Poverty Eradication and Empowerment of
the Poor
28.
Poverty in its various dimensions is an impediment to achieving
progress in sustainable development. While economic development is
critical to poverty eradication, it is equally essential to guarantee
the rights of individuals, families and indigenous communities to
economic self-sufficiency. In
some countries, rapid economic growth has been accompanied by increased
social inequalities and marginalization of disadvantaged groups,
resulting in further social conflicts.
In some cases, rapid economic growth has failed to take into
account eco-system vulnerabilities. Hence, it is essential to integrate
economic, social and environmental concerns in policies targeted to
poverty eradication, reduction or prevention.
Proposals
for Action:
-
Governments
should establish fiscal policies that progressively tax high income
groups and finance human resource development and empowerment of the
poor, with special emphasis on women, indigenous peoples and other
vulnerable groups to improve their access to and ownership of
natural resources, enabling them to manage such resources in a
sustainable manner and improve access to health care facilities.
-
Methods should
be developed in all countries to examine the sustainability
implications of all new legislation before they are enacted and to
modify laws, if necessary.
-
Governments
should develop affirmative action policies to provide better access
of the poor to land titles and tenure, credits, education and
training, and science and technology.
-
Systems for
improved social equity should be established and promoted.
-
National and
regional financial institutions should be encouraged to facilitate
access to micro-credit or other micro-financing schemes and other
economic opportunities for the poor and in support of small-scale
and family businesses, taking into account experiences gained with
already existing schemes.
-
Governments,
with the support and active participation of NGOs and other civil
society groups should implement on the job training for poor people
as an important means to promote economic self-sufficiency.
-
-
Access
of the poor to information and knowledge is essential to achieve a
better understanding of the interaction of social, economic and
environmental aspects of sustainable development and contributes to
people’s empowerment. In
this regard, Internet kiosks could be established, where
appropriate, in villages, through co-operation between local NGOs,
the private sector and governments.
Globalization
29.
It is recognized that globalisation and increasing liberalization
through the WTO are a “two-edged sword”, with as many benefits as
there are “pains” that have far reaching effects on sustainable
development, involving not merely the economic and social aspects of
human activity but also cultural, moral, behavioural, technological and
environmental consequences that are not readily measurable
quantitatively. Moreover, the more visible and recognizable benefits are
not equitably distributed among nations and region (certainly Asia &
Pacific). The consequential “pains” that have since emerged (and are
still emerging) have strong negative and pervasive impact on families,
traditional values and cultures, habits, and people’s way of living
generally. Studies on such impact in all its facets are few and far
between, especially on whether the “twin” economic efficiency and
competitiveness rationales behind globalisation are consistent with the
growing demand in Asia for a more caring and compassionate world, where
decency, civil behaviour and protection of the weak, the disadvantaged
and the uncompetitive have a place under a more and more prosperous
“sun”. There is an urgent need to engage the surge in globalisation
with at least 5 strategic imperatives based on the principles of
rationality, readiness, representation, responsibility and
self-determination.
Proposals
for Action:
-
UNCED did not
have the benefit of engaging the complex dimensions of globalisation
(as we know it today) in the context of increased national, regional
and international efforts to promote sustainable and environmentally
sound development. Globalisation and its impact most certainly
deserves a separate heading at the 2002 Summit. The CSD should
include this matter high on its Agenda in Johannesburg.
-
All aspects of
the impact of globalisation (warts and all) should be thoroughly
examined and studied. Towards this end, the CSD should organize
regional Roundtable meetings to exchange information and
experiences, monitor progress and impact, as well as promote
networking to actively help in this assessment. Best results would
come with the broadest participation: government, private business,
transnational corporations, NGOs, professionals, experts, women and
civil society generally.
-
New
efforts are needed in reshaping globalisation to promote the
progress of women in coping with new phenomenon, especially gender
equality and justice, and human development generally.
-
Establish
a global agreement, supported by the force of international law, to
minimize the transfer between countries of polluting industries and
practices and reduce the impact on resource use of free trade and
the reduction of trade barriers.
Capacity-Building
through Education, Training and Public Awareness
30.
The importance of education, training and public awareness for
capacity-building, with particular emphasis on the needs and roles of
young people, as the successor generation of sustainable development,
was stressed. Related to
this is the need to have a well-informed media and public communications
network that promotes public awareness, informs and educates the public
about key sustainable development issues. Further dialogue, research and
focus on science and knowledge for sustainable development is
particularly important.
Proposals
for Action:
-
The academic
institutions of the world should launch a broad-based dialogue on
science for sustainable development, with the active participation
of scientific institutions of the East Asia and Pacific and other
regions of the world to enhance the understanding of the dynamic
interactions between nature and society.
In this context, a regional symposium on science for
sustainable development should be organized.
-
Custodians of
traditional knowledge have much to offer learning about
sustainability, but its incorporation into academic research and
public policy must be carefully regulated by governments to ensure
the interests and intellectual property rights of indigenous
peoples.
-
East Asia and
Pacific countries should jointly develop higher education courses
and research programmes at the regional level to advance the
knowledge of young people on the concept of science for
sustainability and its application to the conditions and
requirements for sustainable development in the region.
-
International
and national funding schemes should be reformed to better finance
interdisciplinary research on science for sustainable development.
In this regard, it was suggested to establish partnerships
between the private sector and academic institutions, where the
private sector would finance scholarships and workshops, while the
scientific sector would provide training in science for sustainable
development to the private sector.
-
Countries should
actively pursue the integration of the concept of sustainable
development in the curricula for primary, secondary and tertiary
education to promote more sustainable consumption and life styles
and to raise people’s awareness of environmental protection and
sustainable development through formal and non-formal education,
e.g. school education, tertiary education, popular education, family
and community education. In
this context, the concept of science for sustainable development
should become an integral part of the curricula in schools and
institutions for higher education.
Indigenous knowledge, values and lifestyles should be part of
the science for sustainable development concept.
-
Awareness-raising
campaigns should be launched to mobilize public support for
sustainable development actions, including the use of
environmentally friendly means of transportation, such as bicycles,
as well as planting trees and protecting the environment.
-
Governments
should ensure a free flow of information on sustainable development
to the public and the media to contribute to education and awareness
raising and facilitate the important functions of the media, in this
regard.
-
The Earth
Charter could be a useful means to raise public awareness about
sustainable development values and issues.
Finance for Sustainable Development
31.
Sustainable development needs adequate financing.
UNCED recognised that sustainable development is not simply a
matter of environmental protection but has economic, social, cultural
and environmental dimensions. As
such, some tradeoffs among objectives related to these different
dimensions are inevitable. Any
tradeoffs are essentially a national matter although for Asia, regional
and global priorities do matter. Hence,
the need for measured sustainable development strategies to ensure that
financial and other resources are directed towards the highest priority
among objectives. Sensitivity
to regional/global dimensions requires concerted and co-ordinated
actions by nations and the provision of adequate global financial
transfers, especially from the developed world.
While recognizing financial resources as essential for
sustainable development, they are on their own not sufficient for
achieving it. Without
proper policies, consumer and producer behaviour will not shift to more
sustainable patterns, and the financing gap will remain wide.
Good policies hold the promise of not only being able to mobilise
new financial resources but also reducing such a need.
Three major sources for sustainable development are relevant : (i)
external fund flows (particularly ODA for poor nations), debt relief,
foreign private capital flows, and multilateral finance (especially IMF,
World Bank and regional development banks); (ii) domestic resource
mobilisation through new fiscal resources, public expenditure reforms
and redirection of resources for sustainable development; and (iii)
promoting innovative financial mechanisms (national, regional and
international) for sustainable development, including new international
taxes/charges (such as, Tobin tax and international air transport levy),
innovative carbon taxes/charges and tradable permits, green funds,
sustainable development trust funds and swaps, etc.
Unfortunately, progress since UNCED in all these areas have been
slow (indeed, too slow) due mainly to the lack of political will to
boldly move forward.
Proposals
for Action:
-
Revive
the issue of finance for sustainable development as a priority issue
of concern at the 2002 Summit, going beyond financing environmental
protection and involving programmes that integrate economic, social,
cultural and environmental development.
-
Push for urgent
reform of the international monetary architecture, including
restructuring the Bretton Woods twins and regional/multilateral
financial agencies, especially their programmes and delivery
mechanisms.
-
Assist poor
nations (especially the highly indebted poor countries - HIPCs) in
particular, and in a positive way engage donor countries in meeting
their responsibilities to assist them financially in implementing
best practices in sustainable development, especially in eradicating
poverty (including leveraging limited ODA resources to maximum
effect).
-
Donor countries
are urged to honor their commitment of achieving the ODA target of
0.7 per cent of their GDP as agreed upon by the United Nations.
-
Preferred
financial instruments are those that not only raise revenue, but
simultaneously change production and consumptions patterns in ways
that promote sustainable development.
To be effective, innovative mechanisms should be actively
promoted with the bulk of new resources coming from, and invested
by, the private sector.
-
Actively engage
the market in a combination of incentive-based policies and targeted
technical assistance efforts, based on the “polluter pays
principle,” to simultaneously mobilise financial resources,
stimulate technological transfer and innovation, and shift
production and consumption toward more sustainable patterns.
-
More support
should be given to mobilize financial resources from within the
region, for example, through the establishment of a special trust
fund or through debt for nature swaps schemes that have already been
used in some countries in the region.
-
Considerable
experience and ongoing experimentation with incentive-based
financial mechanisms exist in industrialised and developing
countries and economies in transition.
There is an urgent need to compile and communicate this
information more effectively, especially to policymakers and the
public, and to enhance national capacities to identify, develop, and
implement appropriate incentive-based policies.
-
The CSD should
continue to give high priority in promoting global and regional
experts meetings on cross-sectional and sectoral financial issues of
Agenda 21. In this
context, the CSD should also continue to support the exchange of
information of financial mechanisms among interested parties through
meetings, publications, networking and the development of electronic
databases. The CSD
should make a special effort to involve in its activities, and to
disseminate information to, representatives of ministries of finance
and other ministries concerned with economic management, in order to
make them more receptive to the intergrated view of resource
mobilisation and policy reform to promote SD, that its Expert Group
on Finance has developed in its five regional meetings since 1994.
Transfer of Environmentally Sound
Technology
32.
Technology transfer for sustainable development is usually
focused on three issues: first,
using limited public resources both to support research and development
directly, and to leverage private sector investment in environmental
technology; second, encouraging the development and transfer of
industrial process technologies that increase efficiency in input use
and reduce the production of waste products (shifting the focus from
end-of-pipe pollution control to pollution prevention); and third,
developing new financial incentives to achieve these two goals.
From the private sector perspective, the fundamental barriers to
the development, transfer and commercialization of environmentally
friendly technology include suppliers’ perception of low rates of
return and several types of market imperfections, such as: (a) the need
for environmental technologies to be tailored for particular uses,
making it difficult for potential buyers (particularly for small and
medium enterprises) and suppliers to identify each other; (b) the need
to ensure technology suppliers adequate returns without unduly
restricting access to such technologies; and (c) limited public and
private funding constraining development and dissemination of
environmentally-sound technologies.
33.
As a result, there has been little progress since the Rio Earth
Summit in this vital area, which urgently needs a clear and
implementable solution.
34.
Another emerging issue is the increasing trend for
commercialization of technologies for agricultural production and
environmental management which for the most part had previously been
undertaken under the public domain.
Such trend threatens to
severely restrict: (a) access to potentially beneficial technologies,
and (b) public knowledge on their environmental impacts.
Proposals for Action
-
International
agencies, financial institutions, governments, the private sector,
and NGOs should work together to seek the appropriate balance
between ensuring adequate incentives and rewards for the development
of environmentally-sound technologies on one hand, and ensuring wide
access to such technologies on the other.
This should include efforts to develop and implement
technical assistance programs that help users and suppliers of
technology identify each other, reduce pre-investment costs through
technical, financial and legal assistance, and identify and support
projects that demonstrate and disseminate environmentally sound
technologies in specific sectors.
-
A more radical
and unconventional approach needs to be identified by experts to
address the balance between: (a) public and private sector
technology generation, and (b) adequate compensation for private
sector investments in environmentally sound technologies, and
ensuring wide access to such technologies, especially in developing
countries and small & medium enterprises.
-
Private
companies that are marketing new technologies in agriculture, such
as genetic technology, should be required by governments to bear the
costs of independent monitoring of their environmental impacts.
Public Participation and Governance
35.
To ensure that the needs of the people are truly met, it is
essential to involve the public in the entire process of policy
development, including planning, implementation and monitoring of
sustainable development strategies and action plans.
Civil society must be considered active partners of governments
in decision-making for sustainable development, even as they retain
their essential role of advocacy. The effectiveness of multi-stakeholder
dialogues and the readiness of national stakeholders to participate
depend on the quality of leadership and direction that governments can
provide. There is a need
for new governance schemes. In such schemes, governments would retain
their essential responsibility for planning, coordinated action,
guidance to other stakeholder as well as establishing appropriate legal
frameworks. Implementation action would be increasingly delegated to
local communities. In this regard, indigenous peoples should be
guaranteed the democratic right to be guardians and overseers of their
own resources.
Proposals
for Action:
-
Mechanisms
should be established as a platform for multi-stakeholder dialogue
and public participation on issues of sustainable development.
Such mechanisms should also be used to ensure better
accountability of all stakeholders with regard to the implementation
of commitments made to sustainable development.
Where National Councils for Sustainable Development exist,
they could be used as mechanisms for multi-stakeholder
decision-making.
-
Voluntary
initiatives of the private sector to integrate sustainable
development concerns in their business operations need to be
encouraged and promoted.
-
Public
participation in regional negotiations should be enhanced, e.g., in
regional trade negotiations.
-
Adequate
financial resources and technical assistance should be provided for
civil society participation in the implementation of sustainable
development projects.
-
Adopt, support
and/or strengthen community-based natural resource management
initiatives.
-
Governments
should open up space and encourage opportunities for civil society
groups to express diverse, different and opposing views.
Developing National Strategies for
Sustainable Development
36.
Greater progress in sustainable development has to be achieved on
the basis of well-focused national strategies or their equivalents.
Each country needs to identify its own priorities in sustainable
development, consistent with the needs of the people, long-term economic
development objectives and environmental requirements.
In identifying national priorities, it is important to apply a
bottom up approach and to involve all national stakeholders to ensure
that their interests are met and they are committed to participate in
implementing those priorities.
Proposals
for Action:
-
Countries of the
regions that have not so far done, should establish national
sustainable development strategies or their equivalent, which
integrate social, economic and environmental concerns.
Such strategies should include tools that facilitate
consideration of both strong and weak sustainability.
-
Countries should
develop national indicators of sustainable development to facilitate
assessing progress in the implementation of sustainable development
objectives identified in their national sustainable development
strategies or action plans.
-
Full efforts
should be taken to focus research on the establishment of national
accounting systems, acceptable, in general, by every country.
Currently, much research on this subject has successfully
been done, but no satisfactory results have been achieved.
More resources should be allocated to this research and
concerted research efforts should be focused.
Food Security
37.
Soil and water resource degradation, conversion of agricultural
lands due to population and commercial pressures and increasingly
liberalized international trade in agricultural products threaten food
security. In this context, there is a need for a collective and
multi-lateral approach to food security in the region.
While overall food supply is generally adequate within the
region, it is often allocated for commercial purposes rather than being
available to meet peoples’ basic needs.
Proposals
for Action:
-
Consider
establishment of a regional or sub-regional buffer stock scheme for
North East Asia, ASEAN and the Pacific region.
-
Ensure sustained
and increased funding for agricultural research and development.
-
Provide
mechanisms for exchange of information on experiences utilizing
targeted food subsidies for the poor.
-
Ensure that
specific measures are taken to preserve the existing variety of
indigenous seeds and plants.
-
Governments
should ensure the diversity of staple food supplies.
-
Organic farming
should be broadly promoted.
-
Governments
should take effective measures to prevent the dumping of wastes,
including nuclear and other toxic wastes in the oceans and seas
because such dumping has serious impacts on fish stocks and other
marine resources related to food supplies.
Population and Migration
38.
While population is growing in all parts of the world, it is a
particular issue in East Asia and the Pacific region. For several
countries, both internal migration, rural to urban, and migration
between countries within the region present a range of social and
economic problems that are a challenge for countries of the region.
These include rapid urbanization, marginalization of indigenous
populations, unemployment and related social conflicts and health
problems.
Proposals
for Action:
Environmental Health and Safety
39.
A healthy environment is essential to a healthy population and
essential for sustainable development. The link between health and
environmental degradation is becoming increasingly apparent in all
regions of the world. In
the East Asia and Pacific region, major water borne diseases such
malaria, dengue fever and cholera and infectious diseases such as
HIV/AIDS and TB are
increasing rapidly along with health problems related to industrial
growth and environmental pollution. Waste management is an issue of
growing concern throughout the region. Both fish and livestock are
threatened by the wide use of antibiotics and growth hormones. In the
East Asia and Pacific region, a large proportion of the poor population
work in the informal sector without the benefit of health insurance
coverage
40.
Work place safety and environmental standards are also being
compromised by the concessions that governments are frequently required
to make to attract national and international private sector
investments.
Proposals
for Action:
-
Government
sponsored and private health insurance programmes should be extended
to the poor and marginalized population groups currently not covered
by existing programmes.
-
Existing health
and information programmes by government, the private sector, media
and civil society organizations should be expanded to promote safer
life styles and behaviors.
-
In accordance
with ILO conventions, government should adopt, implement and monitor
legislation governing occupational safety and health.
-
Governments
should ensure respect for workers’ rights to freedom of
associations and organizations and to promote the active
participation of workers and unions in industrial strategies and
policies.
-
The relationship
between human health and environmental degradation should be given
special attention.
IV.
REGIONAL ISSUES OF CONCERN
41.
The diversity and richness of the region’s eco-systems were
highlighted as being unique. However, many environmental problems that
the countries of the region face have regional dimensions and impacts.
Hence, in deciding on specific actions at the national level, the
regional and global implications have to be carefully assessed so as to
avoid that their implementation is not at the detriment of other
countries.
Proposals
for Action:
-
Establish a
Regional Council for Sustainable Development, which would act as a
network for regional co-operation embracing: (a) regional civil
society organizations (b) regional institutions, such as the Asian
Development Bank, the IMF, the World Bank and UN regional offices,
(c) national councils of sustainable development established in
countries of the region, (d) regional business associations.
-
Strengthen
existing regional and sub-regional co-operation schemes and
mechanisms to promote co-operation on issues of particular concern
to the countries of the region, such as sustainable energy
development, tourism, management of freshwater and marine resources,
air pollution, illegal trade in forest products and logging, the
impact of climate change, desertification, and the sustainable use
and management of the region’s natural resources and eco-systems.
-
Strengthen
existing and, where appropriate, establish regional information
systems to provide information on environmental resources and
eco-systems, obsolete technologies, and polluting activities in the
region. These information systems could be supplemented by satellite
and surface-based integrated monitoring systems.
The data collected by these monitoring systems should also be
used as inputs to an economic-environmental integration model, which
will be developed to facilitate assessment of trends and projections
of areas of potential environmental stress.
-
Strengthen the
prohibition and control of drug production, trade and use.
-
Success stories
on sustainable development should be widely shared among countries
of the region.
Military Expenditures and the
Proliferation of Small Arms and Weaponry
42.
The proliferation of small arms, land mines and high tech
weaponry and the spread of violence, internal conflicts and piracy are
having a detrimental affect on sustainable development in the East Asia
and Pacific region. These arms damage the physical and communal
environment, destroy families and communities and tear at the very
fabric of society. Reduction in overall military expenditures throughout
the region would provide substantial financial resources to support and
advance sustainable development programmes.
Proposals
for Action:
-
A regional
scheme of multi-lateral cooperation, which may include the UN system
and ASEAN, is urgently needed to stop the illegal flow of small arms
and weaponry, to collect and destroy those arms already in
circulation and to redirect military expenditures to more worthwhile
sustainable development goals.
-
Governments
should make expenditures for military purposes more transparent.
-
Governments
should ensure that the transport or uranium and nuclear wastes
across the oceans and seas do not have detrimental effects on health
and the environment. The oceans and seas of the region should not
become the dumping grounds for the nuclear and other wastes.
V.
MECHANISMS FOR IMPLEMENTATION
Proposals
for Action:
43.
Participants stressed the need to identify specific mechanisms
that could be used to more effectively implement sustainable
development. These included such things as:
-
Greater use by
countries of National Councils of Sustainable Development or similar
mechanisms with multi-stakeholder participation and the possibility
of setting up a regional forum or council on sustainable development
with multi-stakeholder participation that could better focus
regional cooperation for sustainable development. In this regard,
governments should exercise leadership in co-ordination of action
and by encouraging participation and partnerships.
-
A regional trust
fund should be established that could work in conjunction with the
proposed regional council. Operations of the trust fund should be
fully transparent and work through appropriately qualified
non-governmental organizations to promote implementation of Agenda
21.
-
Workable and
practical models of sustainable development are required that
respond to country specific needs, particularly on how to
integrate issues, based on research, development and
traditional knowledge and experience.
-
National
management and auditing systems, such as those used by the private
sector, should be developed by governments in consultation with
local communities and civil society groups as a means to better
manage sustainable development issues.
-
Agreed
mechanisms should be established for NGOs, indigenous peoples and
civil society participation in regional and global
inter-governmental negotiations, especially in the context of
preparations for the World Summit on Sustainable Development.
-
Establish a
regional information network on population, resources and
environment with the
participation of governments, civil society, academic institutions,
the private sector and the media that would facilitate
information exchange amongst governments and other
stakeholders regarding population, resources and environment.
-
Agreed
mechanisms for monitoring and evaluation of actions taken by
governments.
-
A
regional treaty should be established to protect natural resources,
with particular emphasis on the prevention of over-fishing.
-
A regional food
security mechanism should be established that could serve to assist
countries that experience difficulties in meeting basic food needs.
-
Micro-credit and
suitable finance schemes should be more widely replicated as a means
to empower the poor and marginalized.
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