8 February 2002

Second Session of the Preparatory Committee for the
World Summit on Sustainable Development

Chairman's Paper

I.     Introduction

1.    The UN Conference on Environment and Development held in Rio, Brazil in 1992 provided us with the fundamental principles and the programme of action for achieving sustainable development. We reaffirm our commitment to the Rio principles and the full implementation of Agenda 21 and the programme for the further implementation of Agenda 21 for the achievement of sustainable development and the goals of the UN Millennium Declaration.

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. 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 ensure 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 Rio, the world is still confronted with the challenges of endemic poverty, unsustainable lifestyles and environmental degradation. This gap can be bridged with renewed political will, practical steps and partnerships to promote sustainable development.

II.     Poverty Eradication

Eradicating poverty, hunger and promoting sustainable livelihoods are central to the achievement of sustainable development. Realization of poverty related goals contained in Agenda 21 and the Millennium Declaration will require actions to:

1.    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.

2.    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,

3.    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.

4.    Develop multi-stake holder approaches to public-private cooperation to improve outreach in basic sustainable agricultural techniques and knowledge to farmers with small-holdings and to the rural poor.

5.    Provide funding for integrated rural development plans, programmes and strategies at 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.

6.    Increase food availability in areas where it is produced, thus reducing support transport costs and excessive dependence on international markets.

7.    Integrate measures to combat desertification fully into poverty eradication policies and programmes.

8.    Promote access by the poor to land, water resources and other agricultural inputs and promote land tenure modification that recognize and protect indigenous and common property resource management systems.

9.    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.

10.    Extend secure tenure to the urban poor in improving access to shelter and basic social services, creating private capital and increasing employment, credit and income opportunities.

11.    Improve the lives of 100 million poor people living in inadequate human settlements, by 2015, in accordance with the commitments in the Istanbul Declaration and the Habitat Agenda on urban renewal and development.

12.    Strengthen the capacity of health systems to deliver basic health services, with technical assistance to developing countries, and implement the Health for All Strategy.

13.    Make 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

Sustainable development cannot be achieved without fundamental changes in the way industrial societies produce and consume. To change unsustainable consumption and production pattern, specific measures are needed. Urgent actions are required to:

1.    Adopt policies and measures in developed countries aimed at changing unsustainable patterns of production and consumption via technological and educational policies which, inter alia: (a) raise consumer awareness of the importance of sustainable production and consumption patterns; (b) improve the role of the media and other public information tools in promoting sustainable consumption and production; (c) provide incentives to industry to adopt cleaner production processes, with technical assistance for small and medium-sized companies; (d) encourage publicly-funded research and development institutions to undertake research on sustainable development; and (e) enhance corporate responsibility and accountability.

2.    Use economic instruments and market incentives, including policies to internalize external costs through fiscal instruments and market mechanism.

3.    Achieve a four-fold increase in energy and resource efficiency in developed countries by 2012

4.    Eliminate environmentally harmful and trade-distorting subsidies that encourage unsustainable consumption and production patterns.

5.    Establish and support national cleaner production centers to assist enterprises, especially small and medium enterprises, to identify, acquire, adapt and integrate technologies that improve productivity, reduce pollution and conserve natural resources.

6.    Encourage industry and publicly funded research and development institutions to engage in strategic alliances in order to enhance research and development of cleaner production technologies and accelerate the commercialization and diffusion of those technologies.

7.    Encourage industry to adopt voluntary initiatives, including certification, such as ISO 14000.

8.    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.

9.    Assist small and medium-sized companies in developing countries and economies in transition, through information and training programmes, to grasp the business opportunities arising from increasing consumer awareness of sustainable consumption.

10.    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.

11.    Promote regional, cultural and ethical values in carrying out sustainable development initiatives.

12.    Diversify the energy supply, by developing cleaner and more efficient fossil fuel technologies, innovative technologies and increase the share of new renewable energy sources at least 5% of total energy use by 2010 in all countries.

13.    Encourage the use of natural gas, especially for urban and industrial areas, and the elimination of gas flaring, by intensifying regional and international cooperation.

14.    Adopt policies that reduce market distortions in the energy sector, including restructuring taxation and phasing out harmful subsidies.

15.    Promote cooperation between oil consuming and producing countries to reduce supply and demand instabilities on international markets.

16.    Assist developing countries that are highly dependent on the export and consumption of fossil fuels in diversifying their economies.

17.    Promote financial and technological support by the international community to implement the other recommendations and conclusions of CSD-9 on energy and sustainable development.

18.    Promote investments in the development of multi-modal mass public transport systems, with technical and financial assistance for developing countries and economies in transition.

19.    Implement transport strategies reflecting specific national and local conditions, so as to improve the efficiency and convenience of transportation as well as improving urban air quality and public health, including through environmentally friendly vehicles and cleaner fuels.

20.    Provide international support for small-scale waste recycling initiatives, supporting urban waste management and generating income opportunities.

21.    Promote the rapid ratification and implementation of international instruments on chemicals, including the Basel Convention, the Convention on Prior Informed Consent (PIC) and the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs), and their related amendments.

22.    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 Protocol, while mitigating climate change and promoting sustainable development.

IV.     Protecting and Managing the Natural Resource Base of Economic and Social Development

Human activities are having an increasing impact on the integrity of complex natural ecosystems that provide essential support for human being and economic activities. Managing this natural resource base is essential for protecting the land, water and living resources on which human life and development depend, and this requires actions to:

1.    Improve equity and efficiency in the use of water resources with a view to maintaining water for nature and ecosystem and preserving or restoring ecological integrity in fragile environment and initiate programmes to protect water resources against domestic and industrial pollution.

2.    Provide international support to 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.

3.    Improve governance and institutional arrangements and the mobilization of financial resources for infrastructure and services, capacity building and sharing technology and knowledge, keeping in mind that water infrastructure and services must be pro-poor and gender-sensitive.

4.    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.

5.    Assist developing countries to monitor and assess water resources quantity, quality, including development of water resources databases, including remote sensing and satellite data, and should link data collection and mapping efforts including the development and application of relevant indicators.

6.    Promote programmes for the transfer of technology and capacity building in non-conventional water resources, including desalination of seawater, and recycling technologies to countries facing water scarcity conditions.

7.    Support activities leading to International Year of Freshwater (2003) and beyond.

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8.    Fully implement the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea that sets out the legal framework within which all activities in the oceans and seas must be carried out.

9.    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 and for the efforts underway for the full implementation of the Global Programme of Action for the Protection of the Marine Environment from Land-based Activities.

10.    Encourage the implementation of sustainable fisheries and their related ecosystems as a basis for food security and sustainable livelihoods, through relevant agreements including the Reykjavik Declaration on Responsible Fisheries in the Marine Ecosystem (2001), the 1995 FAO Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries, the relevant FAO international plans of action and technical guidelines.

11.    Encourage the ratification for the full and effective implementation of the UN Fish Stocks Agreement and any regional agreements established in accordance with this UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and the adherence and implementation of the UNESCO Convention on Underwater Cultural Heritage.

12.    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, harmful anti-foulants and dumping of waste at sea.

13.    Consider on an urgent basis the endorsement of a comprehensive plan of action to address as a priority illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing and over-capacity of fishing vessels, including, in particular, the issue of gflags of convenienceh and the elimination of all subsidies that contribute to IUU fishing and over-capacity and increase efforts to implement the 1993 FAO Compliance Agreement and the international plan of action concluded within the framework of the 1995 FAO Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries.

14.    Promote the use of environmental impact assessment (EIA) and environmental evaluation reporting techniques more extensively for projects that may be potentially harmful to the marine environment and its living resources, in particular, dealing with waste management for coastal cities.

15.    Provide assistance, on an urgent basis to developing countries, in particular the least developed States and Small Island Developing States (SIDS) to enable them to develop their national regional and sub-regional capacity for the integrated management and sustainable use of fisheries.

16.    Promote the development and increased coverage of coastal protected areas to conserve biodiversity

17.    Promote the sustainable use and conservation of marine and coastal biodiversity as stipulated in the Jakarta Mandate on Marine and Coastal Biodiversity of the UN CBD, which require urgent financial and technological support.

18.    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,

19.    Strengthen capacities in marine science capacities among all relevant stakeholders, to develop and transfer appropriate marine science and marine technologies concerning living and non-living marine resources.

20.    Promote more effective coordination and cooperation in the area of oceans among UN organizations and between the UN and other international and regional bodies,

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21.    Promote regional strategies containing medium and long-term actions and early warning systems to mitigate the impacts deriving from the El Nino/La Nina and other cyclical weather phenomena and other hydrological risks.

22.    Provide funding and technological assistance to assist vulnerable countries to mitigate the impact of climate change, establish early warning systems, and rehabilitate communities following disasters in synergy with the objectives of the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction.

23.    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.

24.   Promotes pre-disaster preparedness, mitigation, vulnerability assessments and reduction, adaptation strategies and national capacities, and other measures to reduce human and economic losses.

25.    Encourage international joint observation and research and the dissemination of scientific knowledge for effective disaster mitigation and risk reduction.

26.    Encourage dissemination and use of traditional and indigenous knowledge to mitigate the impact of disasters.

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27.    Make every effort to ensure the entry into force of the Kyoto Protocol in 2002, in accordance with the Millennium Declaration.

28.    Provide assistance to developing countries for the implementation of the UNFCCC and the Kyoto Protocol, taking into account the Marrakech Ministerial Declaration.

29.    Support climate research programmes and global climate observing systems, building scientific capacities and networks for exchange of scientific data and information.

30.    Develop adaptive strategies, and provide financial and technical assistance for the adaptation of developing countries vulnerable to climate change, climate variability and sea-level rise.

31.    Support the initiative to assess the environmental, social and economic consequences of climate change on the Arctic and, in particular, on the indigenous peoples living there.

* * *

32.    Enhance regional and sub-regional 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.

33.    Reinforce the mechanism established in the Vienna convention and the Montreal Protocol for the protection of the Ozone Layer and Provide affordable, accessible, cost-effective, safe and environmentally sound alternatives to ozone depleting substances (ODS) to developing countries before 2010 in order to assist those countries in complying with the phase-out schedule under the Montreal Protocol.

* * *

34.    Promote the integration of agriculture with other aspects of land management and ecosystem conservation in order to promote both environmental sustainability and agricultural production.

35.    Promote programmes to enhance productivity of land and water resources in agriculture, forestry, artisanal fisheries, etc., especially through community-based approaches.

35.    Reverse the declining trend in public sector finance for agricultural research and for sustainable agriculture and rural development, in particular through increased external assistance.

36.    Provide incentives for agricultural enterprises to monitor water use and quality and to improve efficiency and reduce pollution. As agriculture is the main consumer of water, more efficient use of water in agriculture is of primary importance.

37.    Assist governments of developing countries that are involved in undertaking land tenure reform to promote and support land redistribution and land use reforms, including policy advice, in order to enhance sustainable livelihoods.

38.    Encourage well-defined and enforceable land rights, 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.

39.    Enhance international cooperation to combat illicit crops taking into account their negative social, economic and environmental impacts.

* * *

39.    Strengthen the implementation of UNCCD as a global sustainable development convention and ensure adequate and predictable financial resources and capacity building at national and local levels, particularly for its implementation in Africa in order to restore land for agriculture and to address poverty resulted from land degradation.

40.    Support the implementation of the national action programmes within UNCCD, and through decentralized projects at the local level, by providing predictable and stable financial resources.

41.    Integrate measures to combat desertification into land management policies and programmes.

42.    Call on the next GEF Assembly to declare the GEF as financing mechanism for the implementation of the UNCCD.

43.    Provide financial and technological support to the development of regional action programmes of the UNCCD to operate and improve monitoring and early warning related to desertification.

* * *

44.    Support a mechanism for the sustainable development of mountain ecosystems, taking into account the spirit of the International Year of Mountains 2002, in particular, the encouragement of comprehensive management approaches, in accordance with the fragility of these ecosystems.

45.    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.

* * *

46.    Promote sustainable tourism development in order to increase the benefits from the tourism resources for the population in the host communities and maintain the cultural and environmental integrity of the host community.

* * *

47.    Support country initiatives to promote and supplement the Agenda 21 and in achieving the international target of reversing the current trend in loss of biodiversity at global and national levels by 2015.

48.    Encourage, on an urgent basis, the ratification and implementation by all states, of the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and support for capacity building to developing countries in dealing with the challenges and opportunities of genetically modified organisms should be provided.

49.    Encourage, as a priority, the successful conclusion of existing processes under the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) intergovernmental committee on intellectual property rights on genetic resources and traditional knowledge, with the goal of ensuring that benefits derived from the use of genetic materials are equitably shared with indigenous and local communities.

50.    Promote effective, transparent and predictable framework for access to genetic resources and the equitable sharing of benefits from their use.

51.    Encourage countries to take steps required to implement the international Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture.

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52.    Enhance the implementation of the Intergovernmental Panel on Forests (IPF) and the Intergovernmental Forum on Forests (IFF) proposals for action, as included in the United Nations Forum on Forests (UNFF) Plan of Action, 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.

53.       Enhance cooperation, coordination, and synergies among international organizations and instruments related to forests, in the framework of the Collaborative Partnership on Forests (CPF).

54.    Address, in a holistic manner, the issue of illegal trade in timber, non-timber forest products, and genetic resources, including their underlying causes.

* * *

55.    Address all aspect of minerals and mining development, such as integration of adverse economic, social and environment impact, benefit sharing, assuring that benefits could be sustained, cleaning and reclaiming and promote participation of local and indigenous communities in decision making on this issue

V.     Sustainable Development in a Globalizing World

Globalization, if appropriately managed, has the potential to promote sustainable development for all. However, there are increasing concerns that globalisation has led to the marginalization of a number of developing countries and increased instability in the international economic and financial system. Promoting sustainable development in a globalizing world require actions to:

1.    Encourage coordinated macroeconomic policy management at both national and international levels, in order to promote sustainable development.

2.    Promote coherence and close cooperation among the United Nations, the Bretton Woods Institutions and the World Trade Organizations.

3.   Promote a universal, rule-based, open, non-discriminatory and equitable multilateral trading system, that benefit all countries in the pursuit of sustainable development.

4 Encourage the WTO members to implement the outcome of the Fourth WTO Ministerial Conference so that world trade support sustainable development in all countries, including least developed countries, small island developing States, land-locked 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.

5.    Promote corporate responsibility and accountability through initiatives such as the Global Reporting Initiative, and tools such as environmental management accounting and environmental reporting.

6.    Fulfil the WTO Doha commitment to initiate negotiations aimed at substantial improvements in market access for agricultural products and reductions, with a view to phasing out, all forms of export subsidies, and substantial reductions in trade-distorting domestic support, with special and differential treatment for developing countries as an integral part of the negotiations.

7.    Increase technical cooperation and capacity building to allow developing countries, and in particular the least developed countries, to participate effectively in multilateral trade negotiations, in accordance with the Doha Ministerial Declaration, and implement the New Strategy for WTO Technical Cooperation for Capacity Building, Growth and Integration.

8.    Improve preferential market access for LDCs by working toward the objective of duty-free and quota-free market access for all LDCsf products to the markets of developed countries, with improvements in market access for LDCs granted on a secure and predictable basis, in accordance with the undertaking in the Brussels Programme of Action for LDCs for the decade 2000-2010, and in the WTO Doha Ministerial Declaration.

9.    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, social, economic and environment gap in 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 to developing countries.

10.    Provide government incentives to the private sector in developed countries to increase the flow of FDI to developing countries.

11.    Make FDI more supportive to sustainable development and support developing countries in their efforts for creating a domestic environment conducive to attracting foreign capital, by providing a stable investment climate, secure property rights and contract enforcement.

12.    Eliminate tariff, including tariff peaks, high tariffs, and tariff escalation, as well as 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.

13.    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.

14.    Assist developing countries and countries with economies in transition in narrowing the digital divide and in harnessing the potential of information and communication technologies (ICTs) for development.

15.    Promote public/private partnerships and voluntary initiatives by which economic actors, particularly multinational companies, are encouraged to assume their social, environmental and economic responsibilities

16.    Develop global multilateral guidelines on public access to information and participation in decision-making, drawing on existing experience, including regional initiatives designed to implement Principle 10 of Rio Declaration.

VI.     Health and Sustainable Development

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 emerged as a major challenge to sustainable development. Actions are required to:

1.    Integrate health concerns into strategies, policies and programmes for sustainable development.

2.    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.

3.    Support programmes and initiatives particularly by WHO, to promote research and to eradicate threats to health such as malaria, tuberculosis, dengue fever and other endemic, parasitic and infectious diseases in an environmentally sound way..

4.    Strengthen regional and national programmes, with technical and financial assistance for developing countries, to reduce respiratory disease and other health impacts of traditional cooking and heating practices.

5.    Strengthen and support efforts for the phasing out of lead in gasoline, reduction of sulphur and benzene in fuels, and reduction of particulates in vehicle exhaust, including through cleaner fuels, to reduce health impacts, particularly in children.

6.    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.

7.    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 with a goal of reducing HIV infection rates by 25% by 2005 in the most affected countries

8.    Fulfil commitments to support the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

9.    More fully utilize the workplace as a basis for tackling public health problems such as HIV/AIDS and other communicable diseases by following the ILO Code of Practice on HIV/AIDS and the World of Work.

10.    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, while applying international food and animal husbandry safety standards and guidelines.

11.    Promote the use of plant-based and traditional medicine, in combination with modern medicine, ensuring effective intellectual property rights protection of traditional knowledge.

12.    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

Economic and environmental vulnerability is a major constraint facing Small Island Developing States (SIDS), 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:

1.    Support initiatives to accelerate national and regional implementation of the Barbados Programme of Action (BPoA) with necessary financial resources, transfer of environmentally sound technologies and assistance for capacity building provided by the international community.

2.    Support relevant regional fisheries management organizations (RFMOs) and arrangements to address sustainable fisheries management such as the recently established Caribbean Regional Fisheries Management Programme and the new Convention on the Highly Migratory Fish Stocks of the Central and West Pacific.

3.    Assist SIDS 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.

4.    Support SIDS in their efforts to adjust to globalization and trade liberalization, including through effective operationalization of special and differential treatment, market access, trade-related capacity building initiatives, and removing supply-side constraints.

5.    Accelerate the establish of a global sustainable energy programme by 2004, including through the UN system, that can ensure that adequate, affordable and environmentally safe energy, including renewable energy, is available to promote the sustainable development of SIDS, including through the UN system to assist and support SIDS.

6.    Promote initiatives on tourism for sustainable development that will lead to development of community based initiatives and build the capacity necessary to protect cultural identity and the effective conservation and management of the natural resources.

7.    Extend necessary assistance to SIDS communities that are suffering the consequences of disasters and other emergencies.

8.    Support the early operationalization of the economic and environmental vulnerability indices for the promotion of the sustainable development of SIDs.

9.    Promote a global initiative to assist vulnerable countries in mobilizing all resources for adaptation to climate change as well as to extreme weather events.

10.    Undertake the full and comprehensive review of the BPoA at a Second Global Conference in 2004.

VIII.     Sustainable Development Initiatives for Africa

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 globalisation. Urgent actions are required to:

1.    Promote the establishment of mechanisms needed for immediate implementation of the New Partnership for Africafs Development (NEPAD) in its totality with clear resource commitments, including financing, technology partnerships and human, institutional capacity-building at regional, sub-regional, national and local levels.

2.    Support and promote the process of the Tokyo International Conference for African Development (TICAD).

3.    Support a global initiative to provide technology, financial resources and capacity-building for integration and streamlining of African regional and sub-regional economic communities to enhance further economic cooperation.

4.    Support regional, sub-regional 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, etc.

5.    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 this regard.

6.    Promote the restructuring of international aid and establishment of appropriate and effective aid levels to reduce dependency, promote 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 HIPC initiative for debt cancellation.

7.    Encourage new measures for securing affordable access by African countries to appropriate technologies.

8.    Enhance the industrial productivity and competitiveness of African countries through a combination of appropriate financing and technological support services.

9.    Promote a global initiative to achieve access by 2005 to affordable and diversified energy sources for Africa, especially in rural areas,

10.    Promote an integrated global initiative to bridge the digital divide and reverse the marginalization of Africa by 2005.

11.    Double agricultural productivity in Africa within a reasonable time frame, so as to ensure food security and opportunities for market expansion by setting up effective institutional framework for coordination.

12.    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.

12.    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 market, through a combination of appropriate financing and technological support services.

13.    Support the implementation of improved and expanded public transport systems and other infrastructure for African countries

IX.     Means of Implementation

Agenda 21 recognized that 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 as well as the 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 goals of Agenda 21. Urgent action is required to:

Finance

1.    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.

2.    Urge developed countries that have not done so to make concrete efforts toward the achievement of the target of 0.7% of GNP as ODA to developing countries by 2010.

3.    Realize allocation of 0.15-0.20% of GNP to LDCs or exercise of individual best efforts to increase developed countriesf ODA to LDCs as reiterated by Brussels Programme of Action.

4.    Enhance the absorptive capacity and financial management of the recipient countries to utilize aid, in order to promote the use of 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.

5.    Improve the coordination of assistance of donor countries to developing countries and countries with economies in transition to ensure effective use of limited financial resources, in close cooperation with recipient countries.

6.    Encourage private foundations and civil society institutions through tax incentives to provide assistance to developing countries

7.    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.

8.    Improve the lending policies of the international financial institutions as well as their role in the management of volatile short-term capital in order to make these coherent and consistent with sustainable development objective of developing countries

9.    Ensure a successful conclusion of the third replenishment of GEF and make the GEF more responsive to the needs and concerns of developing countries by, inter alia, improving management of funds through more speedy and streamlined procedures.

10.    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f debt sustainability caused by natural catastrophes, severe terms-of-trade shocks or conflict.

11.   Encourage donor countries to take steps to ensure that resources provided for debt relief should not detract from ODA resources intended to be available for developing countries

12.   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.

13.   Speed up the concerted action to address effectively the debt problems of LDCs, middle-income developing countries and countries with economies in transition in a comprehensive, equitable, development-oriented and durable way through various measures, through, inter alia an international debt-work-out mechanism, a long-term strategy to relieve these countries from debt and aid dependency.

14.    Assist countries with ecosystems of global significance, taking into account the role such ecosystems play in the provision of global ecological services.

Trade

15.    Enhance market access for developing countries exportsf, particularly in areas of interest to them.

16.    Reduce, with a view to eventual phasing out, export subsidies and

reductions in trade distorting domestic support measures.

17.    Address the problems of the commodity-dependent countries, including international assistance for economic diversification and sustainable resource management.

18.    Develop supply side capacity to enhance the gains for developing countries from trade liberalization.

Transfer of technology

19.    Promote 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, technology sourcing and match-making.

20.    Promote, in particular at the bilateral and regional levels, initiatives to develop and strengthen the net-working of related institutional support structures like technology and productivity centres, research and development institution as well as national and regional cleaner production centres.

21.    Provide developing countries with access to publicly owned environmentally sound technologies and promote capacity building for absorbing and adapting knowledge and techniques.

22.    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 economies in transition.

23.    Promote public-private partnerships at the national, regional, sub-regional and global levels geared towards assisting developing countries through provision of financial and technical assistance for productivity enhancement and ecological management,.

24.    Promote, in particular at the national, regional and sub-regional levels, processes to provide incentives to companies and trans-national corporations to facilitate access of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to environmentally sound technologies.

25.    Establish mechanism by 2004, for development, transfer and diffusion of environmentally sound technologies to developing countries.

26.    Promote the creation of a mechanism to deal with patent issues pertaining to the transfer of technologies, in particular biotechnologies, to developing countries in appropriate forums.

27.    Promote a patent regime that acknowledges indigenous knowledge and facilitates equitable and fair distribution of benefits and assist developing countries in building capacity to implement patent laws and regulations.

Science and Education

28.    Facilitate building greater capacity in science and technology through improved collaboration among research institutions, the private sector and governments, and facilitate improved collaboration and partnerships between and among scientists, governments and all stakeholders on research and development (R&D) and its widespread application.

29.    Promote the use of science and technology for informed policy/decision-making.

30.    Promote and advance formal, non-formal and informal education and public awareness needed to promote to sustainable development, including environment education. Promote and provide assistance, with support of the international community, to national education action plans and programmes that are relevant to local conditions and needs.

31.    Promote the understanding for the potential of education for sustainability to reduce poverty, to train people for sustainable livelihoods, and to catalyse necessary public support for sustainable development initiatives.

32.    Promote a significant increase in allocation of ODA to sustainable development education and to sustainable development initiatives.

33.    Strengthen education, research and developmental institutions in developing countries and countries with economies in transition.

34.    Support the empowerment of women and girls by improving access to basic and higher education, training and capacity building, with emphasis on the mainstreaming of gender.

35.    Strengthen networks for sustainable development education at national, regional and international levels with the aim of sharing experiences and know-how to raise awareness for sustainable development stewardship.

Capacity building

36.    Promote partnerships for a global capacity building initiative, that would be delivered through effective regional and sub-regional institutions, to respond to both immediate and long-term needs of peoples in developing countries and countries with economies in transition

37.    Encourage international support, including 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.

38.    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

39.    Strengthen national and regional statistical and analytical services and encourage donor support for relevant programmes.

40.    Encourage national level indicators of sustainable development in the context of national assessments for monitoring the attainment of sustainable development goals. This activity should also be linked to efforts at sub-regional level.

41.    Promote the development and wider use of satellite technology applications; including global mapping and geographic information systems, through international co-operation, to provide vital information on, for example, environmental impacts, land use and land use changes.

42.    Encourage the development of applications for the atmosphere, oceans, and land components including global mapping and geographic information systems, through international cooperation.

43.    Support the elaboration of indicators for disaster reduction with specific emphasis on social, economic and environmental vulnerability to hazards, within the sustainable development set of indicators, related to the vulnerability for small island states and other existing international indicator systems. Launch implementation of these vulnerability indexes.

X.     Strengthening Governance for Sustainable Development at the National,Regional and International levels.

Note: This section will be developed during the third session of the Preparatory Committee.