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A Holistic, Earth-Centered Response Preliminary Draft |
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Commission on Sustainable Development acting as the preparatory committee for the World Summit on Sustainable Development Third session 25 March-5 April 2002 Item 2 of the provisional agenda*
Consideration of the Chairman's paper transmitted from the second session of the Commission acting as the preparatory committee, together with other relevant inputs to the preparatory process 
Information Habitat: Where Information Lives Preliminary Draft Ten years after the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, the need for a profound shift in the path of human development is more critical than ever. Such a shift can only take place if we can discover another way of seeing the world - of seeing the world as an inter-related whole, and seeing it from an Earth-centred perspective that goes beyond ways that we have been able to see the world before now.
(A/CONF.199/PC/L.1)
{Table of Contents
1. The United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, which was held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, provided us with the fundamental principles and the programme of action for achieving sustainable development. We reaffirm our commitment to the Rio principles1 and the full implementation of Agenda 212 and the Programme for the Further Implementation of Agenda 213 for the achievement of sustainable development and the goals of the United Nations Millennium Declaration4. 2. Enabling national and international environments are critical for achieving sustainable development. National efforts to pursue sustainable development should be supported by an enabling international environment{, mindful of the context of the transition to a global knowledge-based economy and the ECOSOC 2000 Ministerial Declaration4bis}. The international community must lend its full support to national endeavours. Good governance within each country and at the international level, as well as transparency in the financial, monetary and trading systems, are essential for sustainable development. Sound economic policies, solid democratic institutions responsive to the needs of the people and improved infrastructure are the basis for sustained economic growth, poverty eradication and employment creation. Peace, security and stability are essential for achieving sustainable development and ensuring that sustainable development benefits all. 3. It has been widely recognized that despite domestic and international actions there is still a major gap in the implementation of Agenda 21. Ten years after the Rio Conference, the world is still confronted with the challenges of endemic poverty, unsustainable lifestyles and environmental degradation. {It has also been widely recognized that the phenomenal growth of information and communication technology in the past ten years has transformed the face of the global economy through the emergence of an new economic framework based on the economics of information, and has become the primary engine of economic development and globalization.} That gap can be bridged with renewed political will{ and vision}, practical steps and partnerships to promote sustainable development{, with particular attention to the properties and characteristics of the emerging knowledge-based economy, and with the widespread adoption of a new global ethic that recognizes the value of the entire Earth community}. 4. Eradicating poverty, hunger and promoting sustainable livelihoods are central to the achievement of sustainable development. The realization of the poverty-related goals contained in Agenda 21 and the Millennium Declaration will require actions to: (a) Initiate a global plan of action with clear, time-bound commitments, resources and monitoring mechanisms to realize the Millennium Declaration target of reducing by half the number of people who are unable to reach or to afford safe drinking water; (b) Improve access to modern energy services in rural and peri-urban areas through rural electrification and decentralized energy systems by intensifying regional and international cooperation, including in financial and technological assistance, with a view to providing, by 2015, energy services to half of the two billion people who currently have no access to modern energy services; (c) Promote sustainable agriculture and rural development to ensure food security, diversification of rural economies, and improved access to markets and market information, as well as provide financial and technological support for rural infrastructure, enterprise development and access to credit for the rural poor; (d) Develop multi-stakeholder approaches to public-private cooperation to improve outreach in basic sustainable agricultural techniques and knowledge to farmers with smallholdings and the rural poor; (e) Provide funding for integrated rural development plans, programmes and strategies at the national and regional levels, with particular emphasis on investment in economic and social infrastructure in rural areas, enterprise development, human resource development and capacity-building for local governance; (f) Increase food availability in areas where it is produced, thus reducing transport costs and excessive dependence on international markets; (g) Fully integrate measures to combat desertification into poverty eradication policies and programmes; (h) Promote access by the poor to land, water resources and other agricultural inputs, and promote land tenure modifications that recognize and protect indigenous and common property resource management systems; (i) Promote more comprehensive rural education and extension programmes, directed particularly at the rural poor, with major emphasis on efforts to reduce illiteracy, particularly among women and girls; (j) Extend secure tenure to the urban poor as a means of improving access to shelter and basic social services, creating private capital and increasing employment, credit and income opportunities; (k) Improve the lives of 100 million poor people living in inadequate human settlements by 2015, in accordance with the commitments on urban renewal and development contained in the Istanbul Declaration on Human Settlements5 and the Habitat Agenda;6 (l) Strengthen the capacity of health systems to deliver basic health services, with technical assistance to developing countries, and implement the Health for All Strategy; (m) Make the fight against HIV/AIDS an integral part of all national poverty reduction, sustainable development and economic growth strategies. III. Changing unsustainable patterns of consumption and production 5. Sustainable development cannot be achieved without fundamental changes in the way industrial societies produce and consume. To change unsustainable consumption and production patterns, specific measures are needed. Urgent actions are required to: (a) Adopt policies and measures in developed countries aimed at changing unsustainable patterns of production and consumption via technological and educational policies which, inter alia: (i) Raise consumer awareness of the importance of sustainable production and consumption patterns;{ (i bis) Establish a comprehensive database of ecological properties of products and services - using the Universal Product Code (UPC), inter alia, as a key - so that consumers can have direct access to the full environmental, social and health costs associated with the prodcuts and services;} (ii) Improve the role of the media and other public information tools in promoting sustainable consumption and production; (iii) Provide incentives to industry to adopt cleaner production processes, with technical assistance for small and medium-sized companies{, inter alia, using the evolving discipline of industrial ecology}; (iv) Encourage publicly funded research and development institutions to undertake research on sustainable development; (v) Enhance corporate responsibility and accountability{, including the development and adoption of full-cost accounting procedures}; (b) Use economic instruments and market incentives, including policies to internalize external costs through fiscal instruments, as well as market mechanisms{ that are based on full-cost accounting protocols, including the incorporation of full-cost accounting into electronic commerce protocols}; (c) Achieve a fourfold increase in energy and resource efficiency in developed countries by 2012; (d) Eliminate environmentally harmful and trade-distorting subsidies that encourage unsustainable consumption and production patterns; (e) Establish and support national cleaner production centres to assist enterprises, especially small and medium enterprises, in identifying, acquiring, adapting and integrating technologies that improve productivity, reduce pollution and conserve natural resources; (f) Encourage industry and publicly funded research and development institutions to engage in strategic alliances in order to enhance research and development in the area of cleaner production technologies, and accelerate the commercialization and diffusion of those technologies; (g) Encourage industry to adopt voluntary initiatives, including certification, such as the ISO 14000 environmental management standards; (h) Promote voluntary eco-design, eco-labelling and other transparent, verifiable, non-misleading and non-discriminatory consumer information tools, ensuring that they are not used as disguised trade barriers; (i) Assist small and medium-sized companies in developing countries and economies in transition, through information and training programmes, in grasping the business opportunities arising from increasing consumer awareness of sustainable consumption; (j) Develop and disseminate renewable energy technologies to increase the share of renewable energy in energy production and consumption, and accelerate the development, diffusion and use of energy-efficient technologies; (k) Promote regional, cultural and ethical values in carrying out sustainable development initiatives; (l) Diversify the energy supply by developing cleaner and more efficient fossil fuel technologies and innovative technologies, and increase the share of new renewable energy sources to at least 5 per cent of total energy use by 2010 in all countries; (m) Encourage the use of natural gas, especially for urban and industrial areas, and the elimination of gas flaring by intensifying regional and international cooperation; (n) Adopt policies that reduce market distortions in the energy sector, including restructuring taxation and phasing out harmful subsidies; (o) Promote cooperation between oil-consuming and oil-producing countries to reduce supply and demand instabilities on international markets; (p) Assist developing countries that are highly dependent on the export and consumption of fossil fuels in diversifying their economies; (q) Promote financial and technological support by the international community to implement the other recommendations and conclusions of the Commission on Sustainable Development at its ninth session on energy and sustainable development; (r) Promote investments in the development of multi-modal mass public transport systems, with technical and financial assistance for developing countries and economies in transition; (s) Implement transport strategies that reflect specific national and local conditions so as to improve the efficiency and convenience of transportation and that improve urban air quality and public health, including through environmentally friendly vehicles and cleaner fuels; (t) Provide international support for small-scale waste recycling initiatives, supporting urban waste management and generating income opportunities; (u) Promote the rapid ratification and implementation of international instruments on chemicals, including the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal,7 the Rotterdam Convention on Prior Informed Consent Procedures for Certain Hazardous Chemicals and Pesticides in International Trade8 and the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants,9 as well as related amendments to those instruments; (v) Promote capacity-building and transfer of technology for developing countries and economies in transition in energy efficiency and energy conservation, and enable them to benefit from the clean development mechanism of the Kyoto Protocol10 to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change11 while mitigating climate change and promoting sustainable development. IV. Protecting and managing the natural resource base of economic and social development 6. Human activities are having an increasing impact on the integrity of complex natural ecosystems that provide essential support for human well-being and economic activities. Managing that natural resource base is essential for protecting the land, water and living resources on which human life and development depend, which requires actions to: (a) Improve equity and efficiency in the use of water resources with a view to maintaining water for nature and ecosystems and preserving or restoring ecological integrity in fragile environments, and initiate programmes to protect water resources against domestic and industrial pollution; (b) Provide international support to help developing countries, in particular least developed countries and small island developing States, to develop their own solutions and models, including integrated river basin and watershed management strategies, plans and programmes; (c) Improve governance and institutional arrangements and the mobilization of financial resources for infrastructure and services, capacity-building and sharing technology and knowledge, keeping in view that water infrastructure and services must be pro-poor and gender-sensitive; (d) Promote public information and participation in decision-making as prerequisite conditions to the success of small and large water projects, and decentralize decision-making, implementation of projects and operation of services to the lowest level possible, with the watershed as the appropriate reference unit for integrated water resources management; (e) Assist developing countries in monitoring and assessing the quantity and quality of water resources, including the development of water resources databases, in particular remote-sensing and satellite data, and link data collection and mapping efforts, including the development and application of relevant indicators; (f) Promote programmes for the transfer of technology and capacity-building in the area of non-conventional water resources, including the desalination of sea water and recycling technologies, to countries facing water scarcity conditions; (g) Support activities leading to International Year of Freshwater 2003 and beyond. * * * 7. Actions are required to: (a) Fully implement the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea,12 which sets out the legal framework within which all activities in the oceans and seas must be carried out; (b) Support financial and technological assistance to advance the specific actions called for in the Montreal Declaration on the Protection of the Marine Environment from Land-based Activities,13 as well as the efforts under way for the full implementation of the Global Programme of Action for the Protection of the Marine Environment from Land-based Activities;14 (c) Encourage the implementation of sustainable fisheries and their related ecosystems as a basis for food security and sustainable livelihoods through relevant agreements, including the 2001 Reykjavik Declaration on Responsible Fisheries in the Marine Ecosystem,15 the 1995 Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries16 and the relevant Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) international plans of action17 and technical guidelines;18 (d) Encourage the ratification and full and effective implementation of the Agreement for the Implementation of the Provisions of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea of 10 December 1982 relating to the Conservation and Management of Straddling Fish Stocks and Highly Migratory Fish Stocks19 and any regional agreements established in accordance with the Convention on the Law of the Sea, and adherence to and implementation of the Convention on Underwater Cultural Heritage of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization;20 (e) Support implementation of the conventions of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) relating to the enhancement of marine safety and the prevention of marine pollution, and finalize and implement the IMO conventions relating to vessel-based pollution, such as ballast water discharge, harmful anti-foulants and dumping of waste at sea; (f) Consider on an urgent basis the endorsement of a comprehensive plan of action to address as a priority illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing and overcapacity of fishing vessels, including the issue of "flags of convenience" and the elimination of all subsidies that contribute to illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing and over-capacity, and increase efforts to implement the 1993 Agreement to Promote Compliance with International Conservation and Management Measures by Fishing Vessels on the High Seas,21 and the international plans of action concluded within the framework of the 1995 Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries; (g) Promote more extensive use of environmental impact assessments and environmental evaluation and reporting techniques for projects that may be potentially harmful to the marine environment and its living resources, in particular those dealing with waste management for coastal cities; (h) Provide assistance on an urgent basis to developing countries, in particular the least developed States and small island developing States, to enable them to develop their national, regional and subregional capacity for the integrated management and sustainable use of fisheries; (i) Promote the development and increased coverage of coastal protected areas to conserve biodiversity; (j) Promote the sustainable use and conservation of marine and coastal biodiversity, as stipulated in the Jakarta Mandate on the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine and Coastal Biological Diversity22 of the Convention on Biological Diversity,23 which require urgent financial and technological support; (k) Strengthen regional cooperation and encourage better coordination, inter alia, through the regional seas programmes, including raising public awareness of the importance of protection of the ocean environment and meeting social and economic needs and aspirations; (l) Strengthen capacities in marine science among all relevant stakeholders to develop and transfer appropriate marine science and marine technologies concerning living and non-living marine resources; (m) Promote more effective coordination and cooperation in the area of oceans among United Nations organizations and between the United Nations and other international and regional bodies. * * * {Disaster warning and mitigation} 8. Actions are required to: (a) Promote regional strategies containing medium and long-term actions and early warning systems to mitigate the impacts deriving from the El Niņo/La Niņa and other cyclical weather phenomena and hydrological risks; (b) Provide funding and technological assistance to assist vulnerable countries in mitigating the impact of climate change, establishing early warning systems and rehabilitating communities following disasters, in synergy with the objectives of the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction; (c) Establish a global early warning mechanism as the nucleus for a global early warning network, which should be integrated with national, regional and international mechanisms; (d) Promote pre-disaster preparedness, mitigation, vulnerability assessment and reduction, adaptation strategies and national capacities, as well as other measures to reduce human and economic losses; (e) Encourage international joint observation and research and the dissemination of scientific knowledge for effective disaster mitigation and risk reduction; (f) Encourage dissemination and use of traditional and indigenous knowledge to mitigate the impact of disasters. * * * 9. Actions are required to: (a) Make every effort to ensure the entry into force of the Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in 2002, in accordance with the Millennium Declaration; (b) Provide assistance to developing countries for the implementation of the Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol, taking into account the Marrakech Declaration;24 (c) Support climate research programmes and global climate observing systems and build scientific capacities and networks for the exchange of scientific data and information; (d) Develop adaptive strategies and provide financial and technical assistance for the adaptation of developing countries that are vulnerable to climate change, climate variability and sea-level rise; (e) Support the initiative to assess the environmental, social and economic consequences of climate change on the Arctic, in particular on the indigenous peoples living there. * * * 10. Actions are required to: (a) Enhance regional and subregional cooperation to reduce transboundary air pollution and acid rain, and strengthen the capacities of developing countries to measure and assess the impacts of transboundary air pollution; (b) Reinforce the mechanism established in the Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer25 and the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer26 and provide affordable, accessible, cost-effective, safe and environmentally sound alternatives to ozone-depleting substances to developing countries before 2010 in order to assist them in complying with the phase-out schedule under the Montreal Protocol. * * * 11. Actions are required to: (a) Promote the integration of agriculture with other aspects of land management and ecosystem conservation in order to promote both environmental sustainability and agricultural production; (b) Promote programmes to enhance the productivity of land and water resources in agriculture, forestry, artisanal fisheries etc., especially through community-based approaches; (c) Reverse the declining trend in public sector finance for agricultural research and for sustainable agriculture and rural development, in particular through increased external assistance; (d) Provide incentives for agricultural enterprises to monitor water use and quality and to improve efficiency and reduce pollution. Since agriculture is the main consumer of water, more efficient use of water in agriculture is of primary importance; (e) Assist Governments of developing countries that are undertaking land tenure reform in promoting and supporting land redistribution and land-use reforms, including policy advice, in order to enhance sustainable livelihoods; (f) Encourage well defined and enforceable land rights and legal security of tenure, and ensure equal access to land, water and other natural and biological resources, in particular for women and disadvantaged people living in poverty and indigenous communities; (g) Enhance international cooperation to combat illicit crops, taking into account their negative social, economic and environmental impacts. * * * 12. Actions are required to: (a) Strengthen the implementation of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification in Those Countries Experiencing Serious Drought and/or Desertification, Particularly in Africa27 as a global sustainable development convention, and ensure adequate and predictable financial resources and capacitybuilding at the national and local levels, particularly for its implementation in Africa, in order to restore land for agriculture and to address poverty resulting from land degradation; (b) Support the implementation of national action programmes under the Convention, including through decentralized projects at the local level, by providing predictable and stable financial resources; (c) Integrate measures to combat desertification into land management policies and programmes; (d) Call on the next Global Environment Facility (GEF) Assembly to declare GEF a financing mechanism for the implementation of the Convention; (e) Provide financial and technological support for the development of regional action programmes under the Convention to operate and improve monitoring and early warning related to desertification. * * * 13. Actions are required to: (a) Support a mechanism for the sustainable development of mountain ecosystems, taking into account the spirit of the International Year of Mountains 2002, in particular through the encouragement of comprehensive management approaches, taking into consideration the fragility of those ecosystems{ and the critical importance of mountain ecosystems for freshwater quantity and quality}; (b) Promote programmes at the national, regional and international levels to protect all ecosystems, based on an integrated approach to ensure benefit-sharing from the use of biological and genetic resources and traditional knowledge. * * * 14. Actions are required to promote sustainable tourism development in order to increase the benefits from tourism resources for the population in host communities, and maintain the cultural and environmental integrity of the host communities. * * * 15. Actions are required to: (a) Support country initiatives to promote and supplement Agenda 21 and to achieve the international target of reversing the current trend in loss of biodiversity at the global and national levels by 2015; (b) Encourage, on an urgent basis, the ratification and implementation by all States of the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety28 to the Convention on Biological Diversity, and provide support for capacity-building to developing countries in dealing with the challenges and opportunities of genetically modified organisms; (c) Encourage, as a priority, the successful conclusion of existing processes under the World Intellectual Property Organization Intergovernmental Committee on Intellectual Property and Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore{28bis}, with the goal of ensuring that benefits derived from the use of genetic materials are equitably shared with indigenous and local communities; (d) Promote an effective, transparent and predictable framework for access to genetic resources and equitable sharing of benefits from their use; (e) Encourage countries to take the steps required to implement the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture.29 * * * 16. Actions are required to: (a) Enhance the implementation of the proposals for action of the Intergovernmental Panel on Forests and the Intergovernmental Forum on Forests as included in the plan of action of the United Nations Forum on Forests,30 and intensify collective efforts by countries for the management, conservation and sustainable development of all types of forests, in particular the rehabilitation and restoration of degraded forests and lands by 2005; (b) Enhance cooperation, coordination, and synergies among international organizations and instruments related to forests, in the framework of the Collaborative Partnership on Forests; (c) Address, in a holistic manner, the issue of illegal trade in timber, nontimber forest products and genetic resources, including their underlying causes. * * * 17. Actions are required to address all aspects of minerals and mining development, including an integrated approach to adverse economic, social and environment impacts and benefit-sharing, ensuring that benefits can be sustained, cleaning and reclaiming land and promoting the participation of local and indigenous communities in decision-making on this issue. V. Sustainable development in a globalizing world 18. Globalization, if appropriately managed, has the potential to promote sustainable development for all. However, there are increasing concerns that globalization has led to the marginalization of a number of developing countries and increased instability in the international economic and financial system {and to the subordination of social and environmental concerns to the dictatorship of the marketplace}. Promoting sustainable development in a globalizing world requires actions to: (a) Encourage coordinated macroeconomic policy management at both the national and international levels {that is based on an appropriate balance between economic, social and environmental considerations} in order to promote sustainable development; (b) Promote coherence and close cooperation among the United Nations, the Bretton Woods institutions and the World Trade Organization; {(b bis) Provide effective and accessible opportunities for the participation of Major Groups in the consultation and decision-making processes of the Bretton Woods institutions and the World Trade Organization - with particular attention to participation by the disadvantaged and by groups that have been adversely affected by globalization;} (c) Promote a universal, rule-based, open, non-discriminatory{, just, ecologically sound} and equitable multilateral trading system that benefits all countries {and all sectors within countries} in the pursuit of sustainable development; (d) Encourage World Trade Organization (WTO) members to implement the outcome of the Fourth WTO Ministerial Conference, held in Doha, Qatar, from 9 to 14 November 2001, so that world trade supports sustainable development in all countries, including least developed countries, small island developing States, landlocked developing countries and countries with economies in transition, and to keep the needs and interests of developing countries at the heart of the WTO work programme; (e) Promote corporate responsibility and accountability through such initiatives as the global reporting initiative and such tools as environmental management accounting{, full-cost accounting} and environmental reporting; (f) Fulfil the WTO Doha commitment to initiate negotiations aimed at substantial improvements in market access for agricultural products and reduction with a view to phasing out all forms of export subsidies, and at substantial reductions in trade-distorting domestic support, with special and differential treatment for developing countries as an integral part of the negotiations; (g) Increase technical cooperation and capacity-building to allow developing countries, in particular the least developed countries, to participate effectively in multilateral trade negotiations, in accordance with the Doha Ministerial Declaration,31 and implement the new strategy for WTO technical cooperation for capacity-building, growth and integration; (h) Improve preferential market access for least developed countries by working towards the objective of duty-free and quota-free market access for all least developed countries' products to the markets of developed countries, with improvements in market access for least developed countries granted on a secure and predictable basis, in accordance with the undertaking contained in the Programme of Action for the Least Developed Countries for the Decade 2001-2010,32 adopted by the Third United Nations Conference for the Least Developed Countries, held in Brussels from 14 to 20 May 2001, and in the WTO Doha Ministerial Declaration; (i) Encourage international and regional institutions, as well as institutions in source countries, to increase their support for private foreign investment in infrastructure development and other priority areas, including projects to bridge the digital divide and to reduce the social, economic and environment gap between developed and developing countries and countries with economies in transition. Additional source country measures should also be devised to encourage and facilitate investment flows for promoting sustainable development in developing countries; (j) Provide government incentives to the private sector in developed countries to increase the flow of foreign direct investment to developing countries; (k) Make foreign direct investment more supportive of sustainable development and support developing countries in their efforts to create a domestic environment conducive to attracting foreign capital, by providing a stable investment climate, secure property rights and contract enforcement; (l) Eliminate tariffs, as well as tariff peaks, high tariffs, tariff escalation and non-tariff barriers, in particular on products of export interest to developing countries, in order to minimize resource use and maximize returns from value-added manufactured goods; (m) Strengthen efforts to increase the capacity of developing countries, particularly the least developed countries, to benefit from liberalized trade opportunities through improved productivity and competitiveness and transportation and communication infrastructure; (n) Assist developing countries and countries with economies in transition in narrowing the digital divide and harnessing the potential of information and communication technologies for {sustainable, knowledge-based} development {and promote broad-based understanding of the fundamental characteristics, properties and values of information-based economies, societies and environments}; (o) Promote public/private partnerships and voluntary initiatives through which economic actors, particularly multinational companies, are encouraged to assume their social, environmental and economic responsibilities; (p) Develop global multilateral guidelines on public access to information and participation in decision-making, drawing on existing experience, including regional initiatives {- with particular attention to the Aarhus Convention32bis -} designed to implement principle 10 of the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development.33 VI. Health and sustainable development 19. Sustainable development cannot be achieved without addressing the causes of ill health and its impact on development. Many health problems are caused or exacerbated by air and water pollution, noise, crowding, inadequate water supplies, poor sanitation, unsafe waste disposal, chemical contamination, poisoning and physical hazards associated with the growth of densely populated cities. HIV/AIDS has emerged as a major challenge to sustainable development. Actions are required to: (a) Integrate health concerns into strategies, policies and programmes for sustainable development; (b) Strengthen the capacity of health systems to deliver basic health services and to reduce environmental health threats, with financial and technical assistance to developing countries and countries with economies in transition, and implement the Health for All Strategy; (c) Support programmes and initiatives, particularly by the World Health Organization, to promote research and eradicate threats to health, such as malaria, tuberculosis, dengue fever and other endemic, parasitic and infectious diseases, in an environmentally sound way; (d) Strengthen regional and national programmes, with technical and financial assistance for developing countries, to reduce respiratory diseases and other health impacts of traditional cooking and heating practices; (e) Strengthen and support efforts for the phasing out of lead in gasoline, the reduction of sulphur and benzene in fuels and the reduction of particulates in vehicle exhaust, including through cleaner fuels, to reduce health impacts, particularly in children; (f) Promote public/private partnerships for the development and dissemination of technologies for safe water, sanitation and waste management for rural and urban areas in developing countries and countries with economies in transition, with international financial and technological support; (g) Fight HIV/AIDS as an integral part of all national poverty reduction, sustainable development and economic growth strategies, in accordance with the Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS,34 with the goal of reducing HIV infection rates by 25 per cent, by 2005 in the most affected countries; (h) Fulfil commitments to support the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria; (i) More fully utilize the workplace as a basis for tackling public health problems, such as HIV/AIDS and other communicable diseases, by following the International Labour Organization code of practice on HIV/AIDS and the world of work;35 (j) Promote health by ensuring access for all to sufficient, safe, culturally acceptable and nutritionally adequate food, and implementing the commitments made at the World Food Summit and the Millennium Summit of the United Nations General Assembly, while applying international food and animal husbandry safety standards and guidelines; (k) Promote the use of plant-based and traditional medicine, in combination with modern medicine, ensuring effective intellectual property rights protection of traditional knowledge; (l) Develop programmes to measure the effectiveness of health services through health information systems and integrated databases on development hazards, environmental exposures and health, and provide public access to that information to enable local citizens to protect their own health and environment. VII. Sustainable development of small island developing States 20. Economic and environmental vulnerability is a major constraint facing small island developing States, arising from the interplay of such factors as remoteness, geographical dispersion, marginalization, susceptibility to natural disasters, climate change, ecological fragility, exposure to economic shocks, small internal markets and limited natural resource endowments. Further measures are required to: (a) Support initiatives to accelerate national and regional implementation of the Programme of Action for the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States,36 with the necessary financial resources, transfer of environmentally sound technologies and assistance for capacity-building provided by the international community; (b) Support relevant regional fisheries management organizations and arrangements to address sustainable fisheries management, such as the recently established Caribbean Regional Fisheries Management Programme and the new Convention on the Conservation and Management of Highly Migratory Fish Stocks in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean;37 (c) Assist small island developing States and developing coastal States to define and manage in a sustainable manner their exclusive economic zones and the extended continental shelf areas, where appropriate, as well as relevant regional management initiatives; (d) Support small island developing States in their efforts to adjust to globalization and trade liberalization, including through effective operationalization of special and differential treatment, enhanced market access, trade-related capacity-building initiatives, and by removing supply-side constraints; (e) Accelerate the establishment of a global sustainable energy programme by 2004, including through the United Nations system, that can ensure that adequate, affordable and environmentally safe energy, including renewable energy, is available to promote the sustainable development of small island developing States; (f) Promote initiatives on tourism for sustainable development that will lead to the development of community-based initiatives and build the capacity necessary to protect cultural identity and effectively conserve and manage natural resources; (g) Extend the necessary assistance to small island developing States communities that are suffering from the consequences of disasters and other emergencies; (h) Support the early operationalization of economic and environmental vulnerability indices for the promotion of the sustainable development of small island developing States; (i) Promote a global initiative to assist vulnerable countries in mobilizing all resources for adaptation to climate change as well as to extreme weather events; (j) Undertake the full and comprehensive review of the Programme of Action at a second global conference in 2004. VIII. Sustainable development initiatives for Africa 21. Over the last 10 years, sustainable development in Africa has remained elusive. Most countries in the African region continue to be marginalized and negatively impacted by globalization. Urgent actions are required to: (a) Promote the establishment of the mechanisms needed for immediate implementation of the New Partnership for Africa's Development38 in its totality, with clear resource commitments, including financing, technology partnerships and human and institutional capacity-building at the regional, subregional, national and local levels; (b) Support and promote the process of the Tokyo International Conference for African Development; (c) Support a global initiative to provide technology, financial resources and capacity-building for integration and streamlining of African regional and subregional economic communities to enhance further economic cooperation; (d) Support regional, subregional and national initiatives and institutions to promote and achieve sustainable development, peace, security and stability in African countries to enable them to better deal with the displacement of people due to natural disasters, conflicts; (e) Encourage increased international financial and other support for the struggle against HIV/AIDS and other communicable diseases in Africa, and support North-South and South-South partnerships in that regard; (f) Promote the restructuring of international aid and establishment of appropriate and effective aid levels to reduce dependency, support primary social development objectives, such as safe drinking water, basic literacy and health care, and reinforce efforts to make African economies more stable and competitive. Strengthen and broaden the implementation of the heavily indebted poor countries (HIPC) initiative for debt cancellation; (g) Encourage new measures for securing affordable access by African countries to appropriate technologies; (h) Enhance the industrial productivity and competitiveness of African countries through a combination of appropriate financing and technological support services; (i) Promote a global initiative to achieve access by 2005 to affordable and diversified energy sources for Africa, especially in rural areas; (j) Promote an integrated global initiative to bridge the digital divide and reverse the marginalization of Africa by 2005; (k) Double agricultural productivity in Africa within a reasonable time frame so as to ensure food security and opportunities for market expansion by setting up an effective institutional framework for coordination; (l) Increase financial support by international funding organizations, including GEF, in the agricultural sector, and improve the development and dissemination of agricultural technologies within African countries and the transfer of applied agricultural research at affordable prices; (m) Promote the development of micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises, with a special focus on agro-industry, with direct participation of the communities involved, and provide access to domestic, regional and international markets through a combination of appropriate financing and technological support services; (n) Support the implementation of improved and expanded public transport systems and other infrastructure for African countries. 22. Agenda 21 recognized that the implementation of the programmes it called for would require a substantially increased effort, both by countries themselves and by the international community, including substantial new and additional financial resources and transfer of environmentally sound technologies, on concessional and preferential terms, as mutually agreed, and education, capacity-building and development of scientific capabilities. Lack of means of implementation remains a major constraint to the realization of the goals of Agenda 21. 23. Urgent actions are required to: (a) Promote the mobilization of new and additional resources for financing sustainable development from all sources and ensure that all funding contributes to economic growth, social development and environmental protection in the context of sustainable development and the implementation of Agenda 21; (b) Urge developed countries that have not done so to make concrete efforts towards the achievement of the target of 0.7 per cent of gross national product (GNP) as official development assistance (ODA) to developing countries by 2010; (c) Realize the allocation of 0.15-0.20 per cent of GNP as ODA to least developed countries or the exercise of individual best efforts to increase developed countries' ODA to least developed countries, as reiterated in the Programme of Action for the Least Developed Countries for the Decade 2001-2010; (d) Enhance the absorptive capacity and financial management of recipient countries to utilize aid in order to promote the use of the most suitable aid delivery instruments, responsive to the needs of developing countries and to the need for resource predictability, including budget support mechanisms, where appropriate and in a fully consultative manner; (e) Improve the coordination of assistance of donor countries to developing countries and countries with economies in transition to ensure the effective use of limited financial resources, in close cooperation with recipient countries; (f) Encourage private foundations and civil society institutions through tax incentives to provide assistance to developing countries; (g) Promote the creation of a trust fund to provide financial resources for the full implementation of Agenda 21, while making full and effective use of existing finance mechanisms; (h) Improve the lending policies of the international financial institutions as well as their role in the management of volatile short-term capital flows in order to make them coherent and consistent with the sustainable development objectives of developing countries; (i) Ensure a successful conclusion of the third replenishment of GEF and make GEF more responsive to the needs and concerns of developing countries by, inter alia, improving management of funds through more speedy and streamlined procedures; (j) Implement and further deepen and broaden the HIPC initiative, without imposing further burdens, to address debt relief and the sustainable development needs of developing countries, including appropriate additional measures to address any fundamental changes in countries' debt sustainability caused by natural catastrophes, severe terms-of-trade shocks or conflict; (k) Encourage donor countries to take steps to ensure that resources provided for debt relief should not detract from ODA resources intended for developing countries; (l) Apply innovative mechanisms to comprehensively address debt problems of developing countries, including middle-income countries and countries with economies in transition, inter alia, through debt-for-sustainable-development swaps; (m) Speed up concerted action to address effectively the debt problems of least developed countries, middle-income developing countries and countries with economies in transition in a comprehensive, equitable, development-oriented and durable way through various measures, including an international debt-work-out mechanism and a long-term strategy to relieve those countries from debt and aid dependency; (n) Assist countries with ecosystems of global significance, taking into account the role that such ecosystems play in the provision of global ecological services. 24. Urgent actions are required to: (a) Enhance market access for developing countries' exports, particularly in areas of interest to them; (b) Reduce with a view to eventually phasing out export subsidies and tradedistorting domestic support measures; (c) Address the problems of the commodity-dependent countries, including international assistance for economic diversification and sustainable resource management; (d) Develop supply-side capacity to enhance the gains for developing countries from trade liberalization. 25. Urgent actions are required to: (a) Promote the development, transfer and diffusion of environmentally sound technologies to developing countries and countries with economies in transition, including technical advisory and consultancy services, technology banks, marketing support, legal advice, research and development and laboratory facilities and services, assistance in project formulation and negotiation, and technology sourcing and match-making; (b) Promote, in particular at the bilateral and regional levels, initiatives to develop and strengthen networking of related institutional support structures, such as technology and productivity centres, research and development institutions, and national and regional cleaner production centres; (c) Provide developing countries with access to publicly owned environmentally sound technologies, and promote capacity-building for absorbing and adapting knowledge and techniques; (d) Assist developing countries in creating a domestic environment that is conducive to investment and technology transfer, inter alia, by promoting programmes of assistance to enhance industrial productivity and competitiveness in developing countries and countries with economies in transition; (e) Promote public-private partnerships at the national, regional, subregional and global levels geared towards assisting developing countries through the provision of financial and technical assistance for productivity enhancement and ecological management; (f) Promote, in particular at the national, regional and subregional levels, processes to provide incentives to companies and transnational corporations to facilitate access of small and medium-sized enterprises to environmentally sound technologies; (g) Establish a mechanism by 2004 for the development, transfer and diffusion of environmentally sound technologies to developing countries; (h) Promote the creation of a mechanism to deal with patent issues pertaining to the transfer of technologies, in particular biotechnologies, to developing countries, through appropriate forums; (i) Promote a patent regime that acknowledges indigenous knowledge and facilitates the equitable and fair distribution of benefits, and assist developing countries in building capacity to implement patent laws and regulations. 26. Urgent actions are required to: (a) Facilitate building greater capacity in science and technology through improved collaboration among research institutions, the private sector and Governments, and facilitate improved collaboration{, free and open exchange of information} and partnerships between and among scientists, Governments and all stakeholders on research and development and its widespread application; (b) Promote the use of science and technology for informed policy/decisionmaking{, }; (c) Promote and advance formal, non-formal and informal education and public awareness needed to promote sustainable development, including environment education{ and the opportunities for sustainable development that are afforded by the properties and characteristics of knowledge-based economies, societies and environments}. Promote and provide assistance, with the support of the international community, to national education action plans and programmes that are relevant to local conditions and needs; (d) Promote understanding of the potential of education to promote sustainability, reduce poverty, train people for sustainable livelihoods and catalyse necessary public support for sustainable development initiatives; (e) Promote a significant increase in the allocation of ODA to sustainable development education and sustainable development initiatives; (f) Strengthen education, research and developmental institutions in developing countries and countries with economies in transition; (g) Support the empowerment of women and girls by improving access to basic and higher education, training and capacity-building, with emphasis on gender mainstreaming; (h) Strengthen networks for sustainable development education at the national, regional and international levels with the aim of sharing experiences and know-how to raise awareness for sustainable development stewardship. 27. Urgent actions are required to: (a) Promote partnerships for a global capacity-building initiative that would be delivered through effective regional and subregional institutions to respond to both immediate and long-term needs of people in developing countries and countries with economies in transition; (b) Encourage international support, including the mobilization of financial resources, for regional centres of excellence for education and research that would contribute to the development of the knowledge capacity of developing countries and countries with economies in transition; (c) Promote programmes for capacity-building that are based not only on public investment but also on generating growth within communities and the private sector that relate to job creation and diversification of industries. Information for decision-making 28. Urgent actions are required to: (a) Strengthen national and regional statistical and analytical services {and the compilation of, and provision of access to, the statistics and analysis in geographic information system format}, and encourage donor support for relevant programmes; (b) Encourage national-level indicators of sustainable development in the context of national assessments for monitoring the attainment of sustainable development goals. Such activity should also be linked to efforts at the subregional levels; (c) Promote the development and wider use of satellite technology applications, including global mapping and geographic information systems, through international cooperation, to provide vital information on, for example, environmental impacts, land use and land-use changes; (d) Encourage the development of applications for the atmosphere, oceans and land components, including global mapping and geographic information systems, through international cooperation; (e) Support the elaboration of indicators for disaster reduction, with specific emphasis on social, economic and environmental vulnerability to hazards, within the set of sustainable development indicators related to the vulnerability of small island States and other existing international indicator systems, and launch implementation of those vulnerability indexes{; (f) Develop and implement an integrated framework with common standards for online availability of all international agreements and United Nations documents relating to sustainable development - in all official UN languages - and of national and local laws and regulations, so as to enable direct online access to bodies of related documents, agreements and legislation, through effective and systematic use of hypertext features of the World Wide Web}. [To be completed during the third session of the Commission acting as the preparatory committee] * A/CONF.199/PC.1. [return to document] 1 The "Rio principles" {- www.un.org/documents/ga/conf151/aconf15126-1annex1.htm -} are contained in the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, Agenda 21 and the Non-legally Binding Authoritative Statement of Principles for a Global Consensus on the Management, Conservation and Sustainable Development of All Types of Forests; see Report of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, Rio de Janeiro, 3-14 June 1992, vol. I, Resolutions Adopted by the Conference (United Nations publication, Sales No. E.93.I.8 and corrigenda), resolution 1, annexes I, II and III, respectively. [return to document] 2 Report of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development ..., resolution 1, annex II. {www.un.org/esa/sustdev/agenda21text.htm} [return to document] 3 General Assembly resolution S-19/2, annex. {www.un.org/documents/ga/res/spec/aress19-2.htm} [return to document] 4 General Assembly resolution 55/2. {www.un.org/millennium/declaration/ares552e.htm} [return to document] {4bis E/2000/L/9 Development and international cooperation in the twenty-first century: the role of information technology in the context of a knowledge-based global economy - www.igc.org/habitat/undocs/e2000l9.htm} [return to document] 5 Report of the United Nations Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat II), Istanbul, 3-14 June 1996 (United Nations publication, Sales No. E.97.IV.6), chap. I, resolution 1, annex I. {www.unhabitat.org/unchs/english/hagenda/ist-dec.htm} [return to document] 6 Ibid., annex II. {www.unhabitat.org/unchs/english/hagenda/} [return to document] 7 United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 1673, No. 28911. {www.basel.int} [return to document] 8 UNEP/FAO/PIC/CONF.5, annex III. {- www.pic.int} [return to document] 9 See www.chem.unep.ch/sc/. [return to document] 10 FCCC/CP/1997/L.7. {- http://unfccc.int/resource/convkp.html} [return to document] 11 A/AC.237/18(Part II)/Add.1 and Corr.1, annex I. {- http://unfccc.int} [return to document] 12 Official Records of the Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea, vol. XVII (United Nations publication, Sales No. E.84.V.3), document A/CONF.62/122. {- www.un.org/Depts/los} [return to document] 13 See E/CN.17/2002/PC.2/15, annex. {and www.gpa.unep.org/igr} [return to document] 14 A/51/116, annex II. {and www.unep.ch/seas/main/partners/gpatoc.html} [return to document] 15 See FAO document C 2001/INF/25, appendix I. {www.fao.org/docrep/meeting/004/Y2211e.htm} [return to document] 16 See International Fisheries Instruments (United Nations publication, Sales No. E.98.V.11), sect. III. {www.fao.org/fi/agreem/codecond/ficonde.asp} [return to document] 17 Four international plans of action have been elaborated to date within the framework of the Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries; see www.fao.org/fi/ipa/ipae.asp. [return to document] 18 Eight technical guidelines in support of the implementation of the Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries have been issued and others are under preparation; see www.fao.org/fi/agreem/codecond/codecon.asp#guidelines [return to document]. 19 See International Fisheries Instruments ..., sect. I; see also A/CONF.164/37 {www.un.org/Depts/los/convention_agreements/texts/fish_stocks_agreement/CONF164_37.htm}. [return to document] 20 See UNESCO document 31 C/64, para. 31. {www.unesco.org/culture/laws/underwater/html_eng/convention.shtml} [return to document] 21 See International Fisheries Instruments ..., sect. II. {www.fao.org/legal/treaties/012T-E.HTM} [return to document] 22 See A/51/312, annex II, decision II/10. {www.biodiv.org/decisions/default.asp?lg=0&m=cop-02&d=10} [return to document] 23 UNEP Environmental Law and Institutions Programme Activity Centre, June 1992. {www.biodiv.org/convention/articles.asp} [return to document] 24 TD/381. {www.unctad-10.org/preprocess/marrakech.en.htm or www.unctad-10.org/pdfs/ux_td381.en.pdf} [return to document] 25 International Legal Materials, vol. 26, No. 6 (November 1987). {www.unep.ch/ozone/vc-text.shtml} [return to document] 26 United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 1522, No. 26369. {www.unep.org/ozone/montreal.shtml} [return to document] 27 United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 1954, No. 33480. {www.unccd.int/convention/menu.php} [return to document] 28 UNEP/CBD/ExCOP/1/3, part two, annex, decision EM-1/3, annex. {www.biodiv.org/biosafety/} [return to document] {28bis See www.wipo.org/globalissues/igc} [return to document] 29 FAO document C 2001/REP, appendix D. {ftp://ext-ftp.fao.org/waicent/pub/cgrfa8/iu/ITPGRe.pdf} [return to document] 30 Official Records of the Economic and Social Council, 2001, Supplement No. 22 (E/2001/42/Rev.1), part two, chap. I, sect. B, resolution 1/2, annex. {www.un.org/documents/ecosoc/docs/2001/e2001-42PartII.pdf} [return to document] 31 WTO document WT/MIN(01)/DEC/1. {www.wto.org/english/thewto_e/minist_e/min01_e/mindecl_e.htm} [return to document] 32 A/CONF.191/11. {www.unctad.org/en/docs/aconf191d12.en.pdf} [return to document] {32bis Aarhus Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters - www.unece.org/env/pp/treatytext.htm} [return to document] 33 See Report of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development ..., resolution 1, annex I. {- www.un.org/documents/ga/conf151/aconf15126-1annex1.htm} [return to document] 34 General Assembly resolution S-26/2. {www.un.org/ga/aids/coverage/FinalDeclarationHIVAIDS.html}[return to document] 35 Geneva, International Labour Office, 2001 (ILO/AIDS/2001/2). {www.ilo.org/public/english/protection/trav/aids/pdf/acodeen.pdf}[return to document] 36 Report of the Global Conference on the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States, Bridgetown, Barbados, 25 April-6 May 1994 (United Nations publication, Sales No. E.94.I.18 and corrigenda), chap. I, resolution 1, annex II. {www.un.org/esa/sustdev/sidstbc.htm} [return to document] 37 See www.ocean-affairs.com/pdf/text.pdf. [return to document] 38 See www.dfa.gov.za/events/nepad.pdf {and www.nepad.org/MainInfo.asp?Sec=1&SubSec=1}. [return to document]
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