06_ecow_sce_026_APEC High Level Meeting on Sustainable Development Concept Paper

______________________________________________________________ 2006/SOM1/ECOW/SCE/026 Agenda Item: 6.d.3. APEC High Level Meeting on Sustainable Concept Paper Purpose: Information Submitted by: Chile SOM Steering Committee on ECOTECH/ Committee of the Whole Meeting Hanoi, Viet Nam 26-27 February 2006 CHILE APEC HIGH LEVEL MEETING ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT CONCEPT PAPER Sustainable Development The modern view of development seeks not only to increase human welfare levels but also sees to the possibility of passing on to future generations a planet with sound environmental health and economic conditions. However, overpopulation is demanding increasing amounts of food and better spaces and consequently putting more pressure on natural resources, thus affecting human development. The world is placed in a dilemma: how to satisfy present needs without affecting the satisfaction of the future necessities of the mankind. This challenge led to the concept of sustainable development, i.e. a development satisfying present needs without compromising the ability of future generations of satisfying their own. This concept has been widely accepted and endorsed. However, it has been more difficult to shape it into objectives, programs and policies, which economies can join, particularly because of the differences in their circumstances. The application of the sustainable development concept is an important tool for to mitigate poverty, generate resources for development and prevent environmental degradation. But the difficult lies in to know which the quality of growth would be and how its benefits would be allocated; improving health care, education and social welfare, considering that human development is decisive for economic development. THE BASES OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT Sustainable development rests on three pillars: social, economic and environmental issues. During the last decades, the international community has deployed its best efforts in these three areas, whether by making policies and entering into international agreements on social issues, by strengthening cooperation and international trade or laying the foundations for collective global action to mitigate adverse impacts on the environment, seriously threatened because of the distortions placed on it by the actions of a human population that now numbers more than 6 000 million. - // - CHILE In this regard, unless both short and long-term changes are instigated, sustainable development will remain as an ideal . There is need for a balanced approach towards sustainable development. All three pillars — social, economic and environmental — are mutually supportive and all three are essential. Neglecting any one, is not only shortsighted but leads to a policy dead end. The disintegration of any of them will lead to the inevitable collapse of the others. THE ENVIRONMENT Despite increased awareness of the environment, efforts to stem deterioration have met with mixed results. There are successes and failures. Over the past three decades, massive investments of human and financial resources have been used to exploit the environment. To reverse damages, policies have been introduced to face many of the challenges posed by development, such as the phased suppression of ozone-depleting substances or efforts to reduce anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases under the Kyoto Protocol and Climate Change Convention and the protection of biological diversity as is stated in the Biodiversity Convention and the Cartagena Protocol However, there are still several challenges to be faced, at all levels, by policy-makers during next decades. Large numbers of people, especially in developing economies, in both rural and urban areas, still lack access to clean water and adequate sanitation, good air quality, cleaner energy and waste management. This continues to lead to the degradation of the natural assets base, ill health and vulnerability to environmental threats. Highly complex environmental issues, which are not yet adequately addressed, include the increasing prevalence of persistent toxic substances, unsafe handling, disposal and dispersal of chemical and hazardous wastes, and management of transboundary river systems and shared water bodies. By way of example, in the near future, climate change will cause inevitable damage in the medium and long term (low-lying islands and coastal areas, arid and semi-arid ecosystems). Developing economies are the least able to adapt to events caused by climate change but are the most likely to be affected by them. - // - CHILE SOCIAL ASPECTS To reduce poverty and social inequality looms as the international community’s largest challenge. The United Nations has asserted that the proportion of the world population which survives on less than US$1 a day is currently 22 per cent. As long as millions of the world’s population remains poor, sustainable development will be an unachievable idea. Reducing and eliminating poverty are inextricably linked with sound environmental management and economical development, which includes such issues as property and usage rights, the provision of basic services to protect the environmental asset base, adequate infrastructure, and funding for education, public health and sound environment activities. THE ECONOMICS ASPECTS Economics and trade are, beyond any doubt, the most significant issues when analyzing sustainable development. Economic development needs foster a strong competition among countries. Trade restrictions, may limits the prospects of economic growth in the developing economies. The need exists to encourage sustainable trade, that mean an international exchange of goods and services having a positive impact on the social, economic and environmental areas, and reflecting the fundamental principles of sustainable development. Many instruments exists that can make the market work for sustainable development, including tradable permit schemes, removing market barriers and environmentally damaging government subsidies, creating markets for environmental and social services, encouraging disclosure policies and recycling tax revenues. Accordingly, more attention should be paid to harnessing the potential of both voluntary action by individuals and formal voluntary initiatives in business. Voluntary initiatives are increasingly recognized by the private sector as a way of contributing to the environmental agenda. - // - CHILE CONCLUSIONS Since 90s, the concern about mounting ecological degradation, social changes and fair trade has been important issues of the Multilateral Agenda. The environmental concern was crystallized in the 1992 UN World Conference on Environment and Development, known as the Rio Summit. That Conference established the concept of "sustainable development," under the idea that environmental protection should be built into the design of economic development plans and policies, and not as an aftermath of economic growth. In this matter the Summit produced the a plan of action named "Agenda 21" and called to implement it. The objectives of the Agenda 21 was reaffirmed in the Johannesburg Plan of Action and the United Nations Millennium Declaration where the Countries agreed to undertake concrete actions and measures at all levels and to enhancing international cooperation, taking into account the Rio principles and promote the integration of three components of sustainable development as interdependent and mutually reinforcing aspect of the Sustainable Development. The Social issue was arise in the World Summit for Social Development held in Copenhagen, in March 1995, where the governments declare that the economic development, social development and environmental protection are interdependent and mutually reinforcing components of sustainable development and recognize, that social development is central to the needs and aspirations of people throughout the world and a the responsibilities of Governments and all sectors of civil society. In the economic area, environmental and social issues could appears opposing to the globalization phenomenon and its institutions, like the WTO, World Bank and IMF, but in fact theses institutions are trying to include the environmental and socials concerns under the scheme based on a economy and environment integration Sustainable development within the framework of globalization has turned increasingly interdisciplinary. As a whole, it no longer entails economic growth only, but also structural, economic, technological, political and environmental changes, where human being shall play a key active role in transforming the environment. Sustainable development cannot be seen as a concept focused only on economic results; rather, it shall be deemed as a process revolving around the human being. - // - CHILE The goal for APEC in the incoming years is to successfully combine economic development, environment protection and social development, so its benefits will reach all the parties. The challenge for APEC today is to try to integrate disperses activities that has being carried out in the APEC economies under a common framework,. sharing experiences and strategies approaches in order to better implement the Sustainable Development. - // -