| Working
Paper 3 - UNEP/EWWP4/3 of 2 March 1998
Agenda
Item 4: Task Manager functions for Chapter 40
EXTRACTS
RELEVANT TO INFORMATION FOR DECISION-MAKING
FROM
THE PROGRAMME FOR THE FURTHER IMPLEMENTATION
OF AGENDA 21
(Adopted by the Special Session of the General Assembly, 23-27 June
1997)
[emphasis added]
1. Integration of economic, social and environmental
objectives
24. (b) In integrating economic,
social and environmental objectives, it is important that a broad package
of policy instruments, including regulation, economic instruments, internalization
of environmental costs in market prices, environmental
and social impact analysis and information, be worked out
in the light of country-specific conditions to ensure that integrated
approaches are effective and cost-efficient. To this end, a transparent
and participatory process should be promoted....
Changing
consumption and production patterns
28. ...Actions in this area
should focus on:
(c) Developing core
indicators to monitor critical trends in consumption and
production patterns, with industrialized countries taking the lead;
Health
31. ...The clear linkage
between health and the environment needs to be emphasized and the lack
of information on the impact of environmental pollution on
health should be addressed. Health issues should be fully integrated
into national and subnational sustainable development plans and should
be incorporated into project and programme development as a component
of environmental impact assessments. Important to efforts at national
levels is international cooperation in disease prevention, early
warning, surveillance, reporting, training and research,
and treatment.
2.
Sectors and issues
Freshwater
34. ...There is an urgent
need to:
(f) Strengthen the capability
of Governments and international institutions to collect
and manage information, including scientific, social and environmental
data, in order to facilitate the integrated assessment and
management of water resources, and foster regional
and international cooperation for information dissemination and exchange
through cooperative approaches among United Nations institutions, including
UNEP, and centres for environmental excellence. In this regard, technical
assistance to developing countries will continue to be important;
Oceans
and seas
36. ...there is an urgent
need for:
(g) Governments to take actions,
individually and through their participation in competent global and
regional forums, to improve the quality and quantity of scientific
data as a basis for effective decisions related to the protection
of the marine environment and the conservation and management of marine
living resources; in this regard, greater international cooperation
is required to assist developing countries, in particular small island
developing States, to operationalize data networks and clearing houses
for information-sharing on oceans. In this context, particular emphasis
must be placed on the collection of biological and other fisheries-related
information and the resources for its collation, analysis and
dissemination.
Atmosphere
54. There is also a need
to strengthen systematic observational networks to identify the
possible onset and distribution of climate change and assess potential
impacts, particularly at the regional level.
Radioactive
wastes
61. Increased global and
regional cooperation, including exchange of information and experience
and transfer of appropriate technologies, is needed to improve the management
of radioactive wastes....
Biodiversity
66. .. There is an urgent
need... to:
(h) Stress the importance
of the establishment of a clearing-house mechanism by Parties
consistent with the provisions of the Convention;
Small
island developing States
72. Considerable efforts
are being made at the national and regional levels to implement the
Programme of Action. These efforts need to be supplemented by effective
financial support from the international community. External assistance
for building the requisite infrastructure and for national capacity-building,
including human and institutional capacity, and for facilitating access
to information on sustainable development practices and transfer
of environmentally sound technologies in accordance with paragraph 34.14
(b) of Agenda 21 is crucial for small island developing States to effectively
attain the goals of the Programme of Action. To assist national capacity
building, the small island developing States information network
and small island developing States technical assistance programme should
be operationalized as soon as possible, with support to existing regional
and subregional institutions.
3.
Means of implementation
Transfer
of environmentally sound technologies
88. The availability of
scientific and technological information and access to and transfer
of environmentally sound technologies are essential requirements for
sustainable development....
95. Governments of developing
countries should take appropriate measures to strengthen South-South
cooperation for technology transfer and capacity- building. Such measures
could include the networking of existing national information systems
and sources on environmentally sound technologies, and the networking
of national cleaner production centres, as well as the establishment
of sector-specific regional centres for technology transfer and capacity-building....
97. There is a need to further
explore and enhance the potential of global electronic information
and telecommunication networks. This would enable countries to choose
among the available technological options that are most appropriate
to their needs. In this respect, the international community should
assist developing countries to enhance their capacities.
Capacity-building
100. ...Both developed and
developing countries, in cooperation with relevant international institutions,
need to strengthen their efforts to develop and implement strategies
for more effective sharing of environmental expertise and data.
Science
102. International consensus-building
is facilitated by the availability of authoritative scientific evidence.
There is a need for further scientific cooperation, especially across
disciplines, in order to verify and strengthen scientific evidence and
make it accessible to developing countries. This evidence is
important for assessing environmental conditions and changes. Steps
should also be taken by Governments, academia, and scientific institutions
to improve access to scientific information related to the environment
and sustainable development. Promotion of existing regional and global
networks may be useful for this purpose.
104. The international community
should also actively collaborate to promote innovations in information
and communication technologies for the purpose of reducing environmental
impacts, inter alia, by taking user-needs based approaches to technology
transfer and cooperation.
International
legal instruments and the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development
108. Access to information
and public participation in decision-making are fundamental to sustainable
development. Further efforts are required to promote, in the light of
country-specific conditions, the integration of environment and development
policies, through appropriate legal and regulatory policies, instruments
and enforcement mechanisms at the national, state, provincial and local
levels. At the national level, each individual shall have appropriate
access to information concerning the environment that is held
by public authorities, including information on hazardous materials
and activities in the communities, and the opportunity to participate
in decision- making processes....
110. Implementation of and
compliance with commitments made under international treaties and other
instruments in the field of environment remains a priority.... It is
also important to further improve reporting and data-collection systems
and to further develop appropriate compliance mechanisms and procedures,
on a mutually agreed basis, to help and encourage States to fulfil all
their obligations, including means of implementation, under multilateral
environmental agreements. Developing countries should be assisted to
develop these tools according to country-specific conditions.
Information
and tools to measure progress
111. The further development
of cost-effective tools to collect and disseminate information for
decision makers at all levels through strengthened data collection
including, as appropriate, gender disaggregated data, including information
that makes visible the unremunerated work of women for use in programme
planning and implementation, compilation and analysis is urgently
needed. In this context, emphasis will be placed on support of national
and international scientific and technological data centres with
appropriate electronic communication links between these centres.
112. A supportive environment
needs to be established to enhance national capacities and capabilities
for information collection, processing and dissemination, especially
in developing countries, to facilitate public access to information
on global environmental issues through appropriate means including
high-tech information and communication infrastructure related to
the global environment, in the light of country-specific conditions,
using, where available, such tools as geographic information systems
and video transmission technology, including global mapping.
In this regard, international cooperation is essential.
113. Environmental Impact
Assessments (EIAs) are an important national tool for sustainable development.
In accordance with Principle 17 of the Rio Declaration, EIAs shall be
undertaken for proposed activities that are likely to have a significant
adverse impact on the environment and are subject to a decision of a
competent national authority, and, where appropriate, they shall be
made available early in the project cycle.
114. The Commission's work
programme on indicators of sustainable development should result
in a practicable and agreed set of indicators, suited to country-specific
conditions, including a limited number of aggregated indicators,
to be used at the national level, on a voluntary basis, by the year
2000. Such indicators of sustainable development, including, where appropriate,
and subject to nationally specific conditions, sector-specific
ones, should play an important role in monitoring progress towards
sustainable development at the national level and in facilitating national
reporting, as appropriate.
115. National reports
on the implementation of Agenda 21 have proved to be a valuable means
of sharing information at the international and regional levels
and, even more important, of providing a focus for the coordination
of issues related to sustainable development at the national level within
individual countries. National reporting should continue. (See also
paragraph 133 (b) and (c).)
D.
International institutional arrangements
1.
Greater coherence in various intergovernmental organizations and processes
119. Institutional arrangements
for the convention secretariats should provide effective support and
efficient services, while ensuring that in order for them to be efficient,
at their respective locations, appropriate autonomy is necessary. At
the international and national levels there is a need for, inter alia,
better scientific assessment of ecological linkages between the
conventions; identification of programmes that have multiple benefits;
and enhanced public awareness-raising for the conventions. Such
tasks should be undertaken by UNEP in accordance with the relevant decisions
of its Governing Council and in full cooperation with the conferences
of the parties to and governing bodies of relevant conventions. Efforts
of convention secretariats, in response to requests from the respective
conferences of the parties, to explore, where appropriate, modalities
for suitable liaison arrangements in Geneva and/or New York for the
purpose of enhancing linkages with delegations and organizations
at those United Nations centres are welcomed and fully supported.
120. It is necessary to strengthen
the ACC Inter-Agency Committee on Sustainable Development and its system
of task managers, with a view to further enhancing system-wide intersectoral
cooperation and coordination for the implementation of Agenda 21
and for the promotion of coordinated follow-up to the major United Nations
conferences in the area of sustainable development.
2.
Role of relevant organizations and institutions of the United Nations
system
124. ... UNEP should continue
providing effective support to the Commission on Sustainable Development,
inter alia, in the form of scientific, technical and policy information,
analysis and advice on global environmental issues.
4.
Methods of work of the Commission on Sustainable Development
133. ... the Commission...
should:
(b) Continue to provide a
forum for the exchange of national experience and best practices in
the area of sustainable development, including through voluntary national
communications or reports. Consideration should be given to the results
of ongoing work aimed at streamlining requests for national information
and reporting and the results of the "pilot phase" on indicators
of sustainable development. In this context, the Commission should
consider more effective modalities for the further implementation of
commitments made in Agenda 21, with an appropriate emphasis on means
of implementation....
|
