Sustainable Development
How can sustainable
development be achieved for all? [Challenge 1]
Water
How can everyone have
sufficient clean water without conflict? [Challenge 2]
-- Siggested Actions --
About a third of the actions suggested below repeat and hence reinforce those covered in Agenda 21. The new suggestions can be thought of as being complementary to Agenda 21. Additionally, this section adds to the sustainable development discussions a distilled range of thinking that can help identify areas of agreement for action. Although the implementation of Agenda 21 is lagging far behind what was anticipated in Rio in 1992, it does not mean that Agenda 21 is dead, that its goals are invalid, or that its steps to sustainability are wrong. The great coincidence of the Millennium Project’s present list of suggested actions with Agenda 21 proves the contrary.
1.1 Create (via UNEP, ICSU, and possibly WTO)
international scientific boards to define terms, standards, and measurements
necessary for commonly applied environmental policies such as tax incentives,
labels, and others listed below. Begin with the easiest standards such
as protection of resources like forests and fisheries, and replacement
of depleted stocks.
This is critical for real collaboration... Since the use of labels
for products is effective, it is essential to work out common international
criteria…. Maybe IPCC can do this, but it will be hard to get global agreement.
Use teleconferences, or Internet.… We should also define the economic value
of watersheds, forests, etc…. WTO should create and enforce environmental
standards in trade. Developing countries will see this as a new form of
protectionism. UNEP should do the research but would need a new treaty
to have enforcement powers. In the meantime, WTO is the only potential
leader to enforce results of such research.... Theoretically it is a good
action, but in practice, the standards that are acceptable for USA or Germany
are not acceptable for Russia, China or Latin American countries. It is
not possible to change the technological base in these countries immediately.
1.2 Governments, in cooperation with international
organizations, should encourage nations, perhaps through treaties, to abolish
environmentally inefficient subsidies.
This will work once an international consen-sus
is reached on the definitions of environmentally inefficient subsidies....
It is essential to eliminate subsidies.... Our government would like to
cooperate on this.... This action is difficult to implement, but that is
the current direction.... Methodologies for assessing environmental efficiency
include “net energy” and “ecological footprint analysis.”…. Some believe
that changing laws and attitudes are more important than finding new technologies
or scientific breakthroughs.
1.3 Government, in partnership with environmental
scientists and the private sector, should create taxes or fees for the
most environmentally damaging activities.
Initiate tariffs and/or taxes on polluting products
or technologies, with revenues collected for subsidizing the acquisition
of environmentally safe technologies; provide incentives for environmentally
sound technologies, goods, and equipment.
This will require an international scientific
panel to define measures and umpires like UNEP and WTO...NGOs will have
to lobby governments to create this via trade agreements.... Punitive actions
should be created to generate the income for the incentives. Governments
and corporations should pool money to give grants to create more environmentally
friendly products... We should tax resource usage and not incomes. There
should be different rates for different energy sources. Full cost accounting
should become the norm. It is stupid for government to subsidize tobacco,
a single-use plant which has a high impact on the environment and pay for
cancer research and treatment, while banning hemp, a multi-use plant with
a low impact on the environment.... Some preferential measures on tariffs
ought to be worked out for developing countries…. It is occurring to some
degree now…. There are limited possibilities internationally…. Expensive,
developed countries should take the lead.... This will work. Our government
has begun, but financial support is too modest.... Phase them in over time;
it is dangerous to do it all at once without giving producers time to respond....
Consider other forms of regulation in this package.... Only economic measures
are listed. We should add moral and educational actions. Can we, by taxing
our activities, change our morality and understanding of the world?…. This
should be preceded by getting regulation of the environment correct.
1.4 Governments, with some leadership from the
private sector and in cooperation with scientific research, should include
environmental costs in the pricing of natural resources and products.
Economic and environmental policy should be created
together as a sustainable economic policy. This could make a difference
to increase the more environmentally friendly production, but were be very
difficult to implement properly. How do you measure the costs?.... Include
the cost in destruction of resources.... Corporations will fight it....
It is partly realized in some parts of our country, and we are taking leadership
to continue implementation. It is included in the Annual State Report (Russia)
and in the president’s decree about the model of sustainable development.
But most of the implementation of this action is only on paper.... Governments
don’t control the prices; the global market and cartels control the prices
of natural resources.... Adjust the production systems instead.... This
action will kill our industry; it is an absurdity. There is no close relation
between pollution and profit.
1.5 Governments, with some assistance from international
organizations, should establish a system of national accounts that includes
the economic impacts of the depletion of natural resources.
The system of national accounts, which is adopted
by about 50 countries today, does not reflect the ecological domain.….
A USGS report tried to establish the quantitative basis for such a system....
World Bank and the regional development banks that currently train governments
in environmental impact assessment could add this element.... In Africa,
this will require OAU leadership to give mandates to regional organizations
like UNECA and ADB for technical assistance and training.... Although not
organized like this excellent action suggests, some countries have begun
policy changes in this direction, such as banning export of some tree species....
There are great difficulties in establishing neutral measures for this....
Instead, consider the establishment of a sustainable development index
that takes nature, society, and the economy into consid-eration.
1.6 Governments, with some leadership from the
private sector, should encourage placement of labels on consumer products
and information that indicates whether they have been produced in a sustainable
manner.
Labeling is good, but difficult for developing
countries’ trade. Although it seems very reasonable, lower-income countries
do not know how to judge this and would need external assistance. The definition
and measurements necessary to carry this out are not now possible.... It
won’t work; it is too easy to exploit labeling for protection of domestic
products and discrimination against competing products.... WTO rules need
changing to implement.... Add communications plan to make sure the public
understands the labels.... It would be too expensive and bureaucratic to
label all consumer products, instead encourage voluntary labeling…. Companies
should create their own labels, like printing “recycled paper” to promote
themselves rather than wait for government to impose labels... Swiss Air
promotes its food as being produced by environmentally sound agricultural
practices.
1.7 Include sanctions and enforcement mechanisms
and procedures with any environmental policy recommendation; e.g. the Framework
Convention on Climate Change should include ways to punish offenders.
ECOSOC should lead the policy for socially binding
sanctions.... The sanctions should be commensurable with compensation for
harm. These sanctions should be based on the information of international
ecosystem scanning not regulated by countries... The funds raised from
sanctions should be transferred to the international foundations to finance
environmental programs…. International law is a mix of politics and rules
- even the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty is only enforced through
appeals to the UN Security Council. It is better to have agreed terms without
enforcement powers than to have no agreement.
Fines are the only way to punish offenders. Sanctions
against a whole country could be [counterproductive – one word] and punish
peoples’ development. The Ozone treaty worked pretty well, but there is
a black market in CFC’s…. Enforcement mechanisms in the WTO and other UN
organizations are necessary…. Governments could deny political insurance
(OPIC in the US) for businesses in their country working in another country
on environmentally unsound projects…. Create positive collaboration and
incentives to create a new way of doing business…. Third world engagement
is missing…. It is not workable in developing countries that are struggling
to generate enough food and jobs.
1.8 Spread ISO 14000 and 14001 to more countries
and companies.
ISO 14000 is a quality control and performance-tracking
mechanism. ISO 14001 is the Environmental Management System (EMS)
standard published in 1996 used to help companies create their own EMS
to prove environmental sensitivity throughout an organization. Continual
improvement of the EMS is inherent in the ISO 14001 concept. Its success
will depend greatly on how good the underlying EMS goals - established
independently by each participating corporation - are. It has great potential
if companies can be motivated to orient their EMS goals by scientifically
established international, national, regional, and local priorities. It
can also provide a consistent environmental posture for a corporation.
ISO 14001 could become an alternative to some government regulations.
Procedures and methods should be developed to: a) establish such sustainability priorities through scientifically advised, participatory decision-making; b) translate priorities into EMS goals; and c) report and aggregate EMS achievements as a component of community sustainability indicators. Add to ISO 14000 the initiative of the implementation of ecologically sound production or sustainable business frameworks (such as The Natural Step and the Business Charter for Sustainable Development of the International Chamber of Commerce
Such frameworks may be seen as complementary to ISO 14000 and also can be implemented instead of ISO 14000. They are non-exclusive, and since all of these are voluntary and quite flexible, their degree of success in each case depends much more on the sincerity and commitment of the adopting enterprise than on specific content and formulation of the framework.... ISO 14000 is fully voluntary now. But for those companies that adopt it, it can save money.
A coalition of corporations and NGOs from around the world has reached agreement on a set of international guidelines for corporate environmental reports. The Corporate Sustainability Reporting Guidelines were developed over the past year by the Boston-based Coalition for Environmentally Responsible Economies (CERES), the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, the Washington-based World Resources Institute, the UNEP and other groups and companies. According to Judy Kuszewski of CERES, General Motors, ITT Industries and the Interface Flooring Company have already made a commitment to the guidelines. Under the guidelines, corporations will publish annual reports with information on such topics as their use of energy and materials and their pollutant emissions.
The guidelines are compatible with existing international environmental management systems such as the ISO 14000 program and the EU’s eco-management and audit scheme (EMAS). But the new guidelines go further than those systems by emphasizing annual reports and a continuous dialogue process with stakeholders.
Ecological standards should not be common for all, but adapted to countries’ conditions.... Link to international assistance and relations. Regional banks (ADB in Africa, etc. could do the training but would need political leadership of the OAU.).... This is a good way to track your progress and current situation, but not a good way into the future.... Motorola in Scotland realized a cost saving of 2 million per year when they adopted the standard…. Good, but can also become a instrument of trade discrimination.
The EU encourages companies to register to ISO 14001 or the European Management Audit Scheme (a standard very similar to ISO 14001). Japan has over 25% of the ISO 14001 registrations worldwide.
In recent years, some 10,000 companies worldwide,
many from the developing world, have become certified under the voluntary
environmental management guidelines forged by the Geneva-based International
Organization for Standardization, a worldwide federation of national standards-setting
bodies.
1.9 UN organizations, with some leadership by
governments, should establish an international technology bank, funded
by country pledges, that could acquire the rights to innovate “green” technologies
so as to make them more easily available to environmentally less -advantaged
countries.
The bank should focus first on the most ecologically
dangerous regions.... Such a bank should have direct links to corporations....
The first step has been taken with the Global Ecology Fund and with the
Global Environmental Facility.
The African Development Bank could open a section
to address this issue.... This will work when the problems are considered
urgent enough.... Most Chinese people instinctively think that the developed
countries’ objective in these kinds of issues is to suppress the economic
success of poorer countries. For this reason, UN organizations are the
best mechanisms to implement this.... Such a bank makes sense, but not
under the UN.... Governments should stay away from control to avoid corruption....
The World Bank, UNDP, etc. have taken some actions in this direction, although
it is not very realistic to prevent pollution. Instead, perfect relevant
regulations and laws for family planning, also for natural resources utilization,
waste recycling, and environ-mental protection.
1.10 Further develop models and simulations to
forecast potential environmental “hot spots”.
This should be developed by the UN Office for
Sustainable Development in cooperation with UNEP and results should be
reported to the UN General Assembly.... The Inter-governmental Panel on
Climate Change (IPCC) is doing this. [NASA’s Mission to Planet Earth, now
called Earth Science, is integrating satellite data with earth-based data
to create global models for monitoring changes.].... Yes, but once we get
the top 8 or 10 hot spots, we have to get together on the actions and set
priorities.... We should develop complex forecasts that take in consideration
the nature and the cycle of “hot spots” and have a picture of the future
as a whole and point out the “hot spots” as these are manifestations of
eco-crises.… Use different term than “hot spots.” “What if” statements
leading to scenarios have more powerful influences on decisions than models.
Developing processes to solve problems is more important than creating models…. Shortage of good science, and accessibility to data prevents its achievement. Environment is also too complex for this.
This action should be linked with forecasts and
programs for development. We need goals that are international and national,
long and medium- range with special mechanisms for their development and
implementation... The countries that might be defined as “hot spots” do
not have financial resources for harmonious development. We need international
foundations. Not only temporary international foundations to solve temporary/partial
problems, but a system of international foundations for early warning and
implementation of global, trans-national eco-policies.
1.11 Increase R&D budgets for projects related
to sustainable development, possibly with mandated fund contributions by
all countries.
Why just governments? Make it a world philanthropic
organization that also includes corporate contributions.... A Global Ecological
Foundation should also support the theoretical basis of sustainable development
as well as actions to address hot spots…. This foundation might be funded
by government contributions calculated proportionally to the GDP and taxes
and tariffs as mentioned at action 1.5…. Some countries can’t pay, so don’t
make it mandatory. Use environmental offsets or incentives for corporations
to provide technology to help developing countries leapfrog polluting practices….
Better to lobby governments to promote R&D via tax incentives, than
imposing a budget…. The R&D for sustainable development is complex
and new, hence, it needs substantial financial resources. Led by international
agency, possibly UNEP…. Skeptical.
1.12 Governments, in cooperation with UN organizations,
should create tradable pollution permits that regulate global emission
limits for countries or industrial sectors.
This is very reasonable and will work once target
emissions are established.... The Kyoto Protocol agreed to this in principle....
The US has successful experience in this with tradable sulfur dioxide credits,
which are working very well. Extending this approach internationally is
difficult since there are so many different political systems and there
are serious equity issues between industrial and developing countries on
apportioning permits.... The modalities of the permit mechanism must be
carefully tailored to the type of emission and industry, and there are
substantial risks in setting quotas and in the possibility of unrecognized
loopholes…. A new mechanism - the International Bank for Environmental
Settlements - was discussed to provide a framework…. Training for industrialists
is essential.... The automobile industry established Partners for a New
Generation of Vehicles as a private industry research consortium. Could
this action divert funds from consortia like this?…. This won’t work until
we know what criteria and standards are to be used for these permits and
who determines what is polluting and what are the acceptable or tolerable
limits.... Make sure this does not favor obsolete plants and technologies
that retard innovation.
1.13 Further develop ecologically based agriculture
to reduce large consumption of water, energy, and other material inputs
in agriculture.
This should be the top priority…. Put emphasis
on efficiency not reduction.... This will require radical shifts in approaches.
The US and EC agricultural policies are anti-environment and anti-market
using heavy subsidies and fertilizers. NGOs should lobby to get new funds
for CGIAR to conduct the research necessary for the change as they did
with the Green Revolution.... FAO should lead.... If there is full-cost
accounting, then the market will work well. Public/private consortiums
might also create new communities that show new practices like China has
done.
1.14 Encourage new definitions of wealth that
could change consumption patterns.
This is the key action. The economic myth of
growth at any cost has to be destroyed and a new image of wealth created
and sold by the Ad Council, advertising and media stars is essential to
achieve this opportunity.... Yes, but not just wealth, we need new vision
of world harmony.... Even if we change the definition of wealth, there
is no guarantee people will change their beliefs and behaviors. How to
move from concept to behavior change?.... The current market economy system
is very imperfect, but we do not have a better system. We need a new philosophy
or development, which would help to find an alternative economic system.
NGOs, with some leadership and support from government, should encourage decreases in consumption by industrialized countries. It is best to use incentives, eliminate subsidies, and charge the real cost of resources.... Build a consensus by consciousness-raising activities, as was done with recycling, using a bottom-up approach with individuals, groups, and NGOs.
Consumption patterns are extensively covered in Agenda 21, though not directly in relation to definitions of wealth. This requires a fundamental reform of the world’s present monetary system. The goals of sustainability are at odds with a global economy that relies on interchangeable currencies, used not only to facilitate the exchange of goods and services but also as stores of wealth. The “monetary imperative” dictates that the best strategy to achieve financial security is the liquidation of assets when their net present value exceeds their discounted future value. We need a transition to currencies whose issuance is based on the actual provision of goods and services and a strict separation of exchange (trade) functions from capital (savings) functions.
Locally controlled currencies will isolate local
economies from the socially and environmentally destructive vagaries of
global economic swings.… See Thomas H. Greco, Jr., and New Money for Healthy
Communities, LETS (local exchange trading systems) in 20 countries, the
Schumacher Society and H. Henderson, Information, the World’s New Currency,
Isn’t Scarce, World Business Academy Perspectives, wba@well.com.... New
definitions will not help too much to change consumption patterns…. Changing
the definition of wealth is a complex process including religion and opinion
makers, not only the “voice of greens”, to touch the moral dimension, not
only the ecological aspect.
1.15 Encourage ethical discourse to make reasonably
clean air, water, and healthy soil a higher value than economic value.
Very interesting new model of valuing the environment...
World society is in transition to a new system of values and new ethical
norms, but clean air, water and soil for the human health should be the
first priority. All other priorities should serve the realization of this
one.... I love idea of declaring it a human right…. The UN would have to
initiate it, but how to get the world to accept it?.... Governments have
to educate people to understand the environmental facts and impacts. Let
the NGOs address the ethics.
Consider corruption in environmental matters as
a “special crime” against human dignity…. We are now a global people and
we need global values. But people don’t change because of ethics; they
change in order to survive. The religious imperative of life should drive
religious leaders to provide more leadership in this. The Vatican should
host a world congress on religion and environment to be broadcast on live
television during Earth Day…. Maybe 5-7% of the world understands these
issues and actions. Such a global religious event would broaden the
world understanding beyond this small percent.
1.16 Incorporate the concept of sustainability
into educational curricula at all levels; include ecology, biodiversity,
preservation of resources, and use informal education materials by NGOs
that are increasingly available on Internet.
UN organizations and corporations should collaborate
to show a world with sustainability and one without it [the World Commission
on Water for the 21st Century with the World Water Vision project of UNESCO
are writing these scenarios]…. Demonstrate the net benefit of viable alternatives....
Create entertainment and games to teach the public the issues and responsible
behavior.... Community education programs have shown that societal attitudes
can change quickly (e.g. seat belts, litter).... Disseminate information
on consequences. The onus is on those in positions of power to create the
opportunities in which people can make appropriate choices…. Create a tight
focus on the message and include public social marketing as well.... UNESCO
and UNU should provide some leadership.
Old ideas should be changed and the new ones communicated
in the primary schools including sustainable development technology and
technological innovation…. It is not possible to incorporate the concept
of sustainability in the actual educational system. It is necessary to
create basically new educational system structure.
1.17 Encourage consumers to purchase from service
industries that draw from more environmentally friendly industrial processes.
Agree, connected with ecolabelling…. Consumer
unions could share best practices, but who gets to create the seal of approval
system?.... Leadership should come from Consumer groups and government
environmental agencies.... Theoretically it is a good action, but it depends
on resources and production tradition, as well as domestic market demand.
If very expensive ecologically clean goods are suggested, than only a very
restricted part of population will be able to buy it and the corporation
will collapse immediately. Will corporations take this risk?…. Privileges
of consumers must be institutionalized.
1.18 Encourage synergy between environmental movements
and human rights groups to make clean air, water, and land a human right
and increase free flow of information about environmental impacts.
This is related to the previous suggestion of
making a healthy environment a human right. Who brings the movements together?....
NGOs should lead.... Religious groups can use the year 2000 as the focal
point for the synergy…. Not only human rights, but all types of organizations
oriented on communication with people, such as religious and educational
organizations…. It is very important, but it is also very difficult, at
least for China. Presently, the only solution is the government action
in such countries.
1.19 Governments and international organizations
should continue to support and promote all modes of family planning by
subsidizing and distributing contraceptives and by promoting programs to
improve health care, diminish infant mortality, improve literacy, and involve
women in the monetary economy.
In Asia the governments lead this action, but
in Africa UN agencies, USAID, and other outside agencies lead because the
governments resist birth control.... The development of education and the
improvement of quality of life are the most effective policies that leads
to other solutions. Focusing on these issues, rather than the speed of
population reduction, is more essential.... There is no substitute for
economic growth.... The family is the first institution to protect the
environment…. There is conflict over giving condoms to children; we don’t
want to encourage the sexual activity of youth, yet TV programming promotes
sexual activity.. Religious opposition and political rivalry prevent this
from being more effective.... UNFPA should provide leadership.... Since
much is going on now, it is a lower priority than the others listed here.
1.20 Develop national laws to compensate victims
of pollution and other environmental damage
Very important and should be initiated by government
environmental agencies.... If full-cost accounting were instituted, than
inventors and corporate behaviors will change…. Define the concept of an
environmental criminal.... Punitive systems produce behavior changes, but
balance with incentives.... Nations acting irresponsibly should be penalized,
regulatory and legislative measures are part of the answer, but we should
not isolate ‘offenders’ totally - this only drives them to unsustainable
activity.... Is there a leader in the international systems that can create
a world fund to communicate to the customers and provide incentives?....
If sustainability were a brand, what would it look like?.... It is difficult
or even not possible to evaluate and count specific environmental damages
(for example health of people is complex of many factors where quality
of environment is just one of them).
1.21 Conduct UN Summit on sustainable development
to update progress and establish international laws for sustainable development.
Such a summit takes place every five years since
1992 (one took place in 1997 and the next will be in 2002). The Commission
on Sustainable Development is the central UNCED follow up organization.
This is necessary to get attention…. We have universal declarations and local ignorance. Instead we should have a UN Summit to establish “global laws for sustainable development” that should be implemented by local institutions that are globally oriented and supported by global institutions responsible for environmental protection…. It can not be fully mandated and covered by laws. What gets us eventually to sustainability is trade. We can get there in 25 years everywhere except Sub Sahara Africa, and even there, another 10 years is all that will be required. For Africa, the time is needed to skip a generation of government officials.
It is necessary to develop further Rio Declaration.
International Law will gradually absorb principles of sustainability….
It is very difficult to conduct because of the great differences in the
development level of different regions…. Wishful thinking…. Some international
summits are necessary and may be useful, but the problem is of equivalency
and access to information - Internet is very important.
1.22 Create institutions for increased global
environment protection; example: The International Court of Environmental
Arbitration and Conciliation.
Evolve to a Global Court of Environment with
real but limited powers…. Environment should not be “isolated” but should
be seen in broader context. The UN Trusteeship Council could be transformed
to the Sustainable Development Council…. No need to create new institutions
if UNEP would do its work and push the World Court in the Hague to address
such cases…. Probably yes, the problem is that the international institutions,
when established, live their own life…. Would be nice but national states
are not willing to take responsibility and to be controlled by international
organizations.
1.23 NGOs and governments should increase national
and international efforts to build communities that provide models of sustainable
economic development.
China has 60 such experimental models in operation
today.... Include governance in these models as a key element..... Develop
these communities in different settings around the world designed around
reduced consumerism, sustainability, community values, traffic-free sylvan
spaces, with fewer than 2,000 people initiated by private land developers
with support from, and in consultation with, local government, state government,
community development NGOs, other relevant environmental, urban farming,
appropriate energy NGOs.... The environmentalist must meet the economist
half-way to create these.... Get all the stakeholders involved to build
consensus. Invite broad participation in their design - especially by those
who will live there.... Use these communities to create lists of information
about what works.
Provide natural habitat corridors and integration
of habitat in agriculture to protect biodiversity initiated by local government
regulations, and support programs, farmers and agribusiness, in consultation
with environmental NGOs.... Make the connection between sustainability
and new holistic models of the society.... This is OK, but building such
communities is a lower priority compared to other actions listed here.
There is a great need to have private property, private ownership in our
mind.
1.24 Set goals or limits for percent of land-use
for natural pristine reserves, low intensity agriculture, and high intensity
agriculture.
Good idea, should be led by government ministries
of agriculture and natural resources...We don’t know enough to do this
yet. Instead, give incentives for good behavior...Create the universal
principles but customize locally, since the population to land area varies.
1.25 Pursue policies to minimize the need for
travel, such as local production and telecommuting, initiated by local
governments, planning authorities, industry associations, telecommunications
companies, and community development NGOs.
It is an important point, but no agreement about
leadership for this suggestion.
1.26 Consider sustainable development goals in
all other national and international public policies and relations.
Very important and UNEP should coordinate with
government environmental agencies…. It is necessary to try and try again….
Very important, but too general
1.27 With broad public support, encourage governments
to enter into voluntary agreements with industry, under which industry
is willing to commit itself to go “beyond regulation” in exchange for a
relaxation of administrative and compliance costs of regulations (data
collecting, reporting, verification).
This is related the strategy of ISO 14001 discussed
previously…. It is more accepted in developed countries; the developing
ones are preparing for it…. Today unrealistic, maybe counterproductive....
UNEP should encourage this.
1.28 NGOs, with some leadership from individuals
and groups, should increase awareness of the dangers associated with monopolies
created by political and economic groups among the media and public.
Policies that foster equal opportunity should
prevent this.... Implement policies that create synergies among growth,
equity, and the environment.... Growth does not have to cut equity....
NGOs should work through political parties to influence government policy.
Those policies should balance the macro with the micro.
ADDITIONAL ACTIONS:
[Policy-makers suggested these “additional actions”
and those listed for the other 14 challenges, which follow, during the
interviews and staff research to update these suggestions.]
Establish an Environmental Security Council as a parallel organization to the UN Security Council.... Establish a unified organization for coordinating the relations among UN organizations and countries that is multi-disciplinary and multi-sectoral. Such coordination has worked locally very well in Shan-jing-hu region, Jiangxi Province…. The UN or World Bank should establish a foundation to support the implementation of the strategies for sustainable development in developing countries.... We need an international assessment, raising, and distribution of financial resources.… Add or set up new World Environment Organization and make WTO use full cost pricing and HDI indicators instead of GDP.
The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) is working to develop globally applicable guidelines for reporting on the economic, environmental, and social performance, initially for corporations and eventually for any business, governmental, or non-governmental organization (NGO). Convened by the Coalition for Environmentally Responsible Economies (CERES) in partnership with the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), the GRI incorporates the active participation of corporations, NGOs, accountancy organizations, business associations, and other stakeholders from around the world.
Developed countries should provide financial aid for nature conservation in poorer regions.... The IMF should use the Asian financial crisis and natural disasters such as last year’s forest fires to: 1) give greater weight to sustainable development in their loan criteria; 2) insist on international accounting standards for foreign direct investment; and 3) explore the feasibility of leveraging fees on currency speculation.
Always consider the many trade-offs in the use of “environmental space” and development…. It may require guerilla tactics from environmental NGOs to get effective action to achieve this opportunity…. Instead of showing only media images of “structured permanent employment” show “unstructured part-time employment” as an alternative to unemployment…. Define some alternative macroeconomic indicators to GNP…. Establish face-to-face networking and Internet banks to lend to ethical/sustainable projects as competition with existing banks…. For better understanding, it should be created a one word international term for sustainable development. In some languages it is difficult to express it…. Sustainable development will be enhanced if relief and development were more integrated. Usually, UNHCR is the first organization to enter a post-conflict situation. There is little connection between relief programs and the development programs that follow. This could be changed if the World Bank, UNDP and others created a joint approach with UNHCR during assessments and missions.
We need environmental law to be transnational law, not international law, to accommodate so many different legal systems.... Although naive visions of the end of the nation-state in the era of globalization are misleading, yet due to the changing role of the state, the actions should be more oriented towards creating consciousness of that kind at inter (supra)national level.
Water
How
can everyone have sufficient clean water without conflict? [Challenge
2]
-- Suggested Actions --
2.1. More Governments should use water prices
as a policy tool to improve the efficiency of water usage.
This requires reliable water metering systems.... Include legislative
and statutory prices, incentives, and public awareness campaigns.... This
will help get the public to support water conservation and fixing leaking
water pipes (in Cairo 50% of the water is lost between source and customer
- some may be stolen, but much is lost due to leakage).... Gradually end
subsidized water, especially for agriculture..... Both governments and
business should implement strict water recycling policies for industry....
Increasing price could increase supply by the private sector.... Privatization
does not necessarily imply ownership; water sources can be leased by the
private sector.... But how are you going to persuade countries who have
been using water for free since antiquity.... To speed up water improvements,
people share costs with the government and provide labor in self-help programs
like Shrouk in Egypt.
The water commission's push for privatization and full-cost pricing "is causing great distress in many Third World countries." A program based on the idea has already spurred "water wars" in Bolivia, where a private enterprise last year doubled the cost of water, making water more expensive for average Bolivians than food. "This is a story unfolding in many parts of the world," says Maude Barlow, national chair of the Council of Canadians, criticizing the World Bank for backing the private ventures. "Water belongs to the Earth and all species," she concludes. "No one must be allowed to expropriate it for profit."
The UNDP, World Bank, UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), and other international
organizations are implementing water and sanitation programs, which deserve
more financial support.... Promote efforts, such as the World Water Commission's
work in organizing international meetings on water, establishing an information
network of experts, and advancing visions and programs by region, and the
UN University's International Network on Water, Environment, and Health
(UNU/INWEH).
2.2. Improve efficiency of agricultural
usage of water.
Nearly 70% of water used worldwide goes to agriculture. Governments
should provide incentives to scientists and work cooperatively to improve
drip and sub-surface irrigation rather than surface and open channel irrigation....
Instead of transporting water through an entire field, it should go through
lined irrigation canals that are properly flushed. Encourage and
mandate, where possible, the use of these technologies to reduce evaporation
and increase water efficiency, which also reduces the flow of fertilizers,
pesticides, combined with plastic film coverings (closed environment agriculture)
and b) the use of vertical PVC pipes filled with soil with holes in the
cylinders for high priced items like strawberries with drip irrigation
within closed plastic environments.
Increasing irrigation efficiencies will be necessary to make up for
the losses in river flows (e.g., Sudan will take more water from the Nile
as it develops, requiring Egypt to use the Nile more efficiently for agriculture)
and to prevent transboundary water disputes.
2.3. Corporations with support from government
should accelerate -research and development to reduce the cost of desalination
and other technologies that can increase supply and improve efficiency
of water use.
This is necessary and unavoidable in some countries.... Start with
brackish water, which has less salt than sea water. It can be used especially
for irrigation. Unfortunately, the cost/benefit ratio of salt water conversion
to drinking water is not attractive yet.... Also consider the economics
of water transportation.... Add "artificial precipitation" or "rain making."
The meteorological departments in China have successfully performed this,
resulting in significant social and economic benefits. More attention should
be paid to meteorological engineering.... Users' associations and water
distribution companies should also provide leadership.... Invest into new
bio-tech membrane filters to purify large amounts of urban water.... India
has demonstrated that evaporation from open air reservoirs can be reduced
by 30% using chemicals on the surface of the water.
Researchers have developed a battery-operated pen-shaped device for
travelers and campers, as well as soldiers and victims of natural disasters,
that can quickly and safely disinfect contaminated drinking water. The
method would replace chemical disinfectants such as chlorine or having
to boil the water. ``In developing countries, the level of microbes is
obviously unknown, but even if the load is high we are able to reduce the
infectious loads to a rate that is not detectable,'' said Mark Sobsey,
professor of environmental microbiology at the University of North Carolina
at Chapel Hill. The pen even reduces levels of cryptosporidium, an intestinal
parasite that is resistant to chlorine. Similar systems, on a much larger
scale, are used to purify public water supplies, including that of the
city of Santa Fe, New Mexico, Sobsey said. The pen is currently being field-tested
on a military base.
2.4. The private sector, with some support from
governments, should encourage further development of plant strains and
agricultural practices that use salt or brackish water for irrigation and/or
that are drought-hearty.
Brackish water represents 50% of some countries' water resources....
Acreage dedicated to transgenic crops jumped from 7 million in 1996 to
75 million in 1998.... UNDP, UNEP, IFAD, and others are currently negotiating
responsibilities
for implementing development plans arising from UNCED, especially the dry
lands and desertification sections.
Research in salt-tolerant crops has been underway for a number of years. It is known that certain crops, such as cotton, tomato and melon, readily tolerate saline water, and that saline water can be used for irrigation in certain cases. In order to reduce accumulation of salts around plant roots and facilitate flushing of salts that do accumulate, drip delivery systems and cultivation in soil-less media or in highly permeable soils are necessary accompanying technologies. Close cooperation between farmers, industry, extension agencies and research will be required to continue to improve and disseminate these technologies.
In addition, there is research underway in the US, India, Australia,
Israel and other countries and cooperative programs that have shown excellent
results. For example in rice breeding, where a highly salt-tolerant
dwarf, early maturing rice variety, CSiR0, has been bred and released which
combines salt-tolerance (from land races) with high yields. Continuous
growing of this variety without any soil/chemical amendments reclaims alkali
soils in three years to the extent that other crops like wheat, barley
and mustard can also be grown. It has now become very popular among resource-poor
farmers in India. More than two and half dozen rice varieties have been
bred for various types of salt tolerance.
2.5. Governments, in cooperation with the private
sector, should develop water trading and marketing practices that allow
users and managers to better allocate scarce supplies and fund conservation.
This will require reliable measurements and advanced monitoring techniques....
Consider the construction of water pipelines that would benefit both supplier
and consumer regions.... South African Development and Cooperation (SADAC)
countries will be the first to work with UNDP and others on the legal transborder
solutions to these issues.... It is a complex issue with political, social,
and human implications. Like air and ozone, it poses problems of sovereignty,
in addition to economic, legal, political, ethical, and even philosophical
problems.... Even though it is argued that water is not the property of
anybody, most agree that access to water can be leased.... Such trading
offers an important method to manage gaps and surpluses of water demand
and supply.... China instituted provincial water management agencies since
the 1980s to treat water as a commodity rather than as a gift of nature.
Irrigation service fees are charged to cover operation, maintenance, and
amortization of capital costs. Farmers reported a more reliable water supply
and were willing to pay more for guaranteed supply.
Chile has both a system of tradable water rights and a full cost pricing policy towards water. The system is still imperfect, but Chile is quite advanced in applying the principles of marginal cost pricing a full-cost recovery in the provision of water, both for agricultural and urban uses. Australia and New Zealand have also instituted tradable water rights and lessons for applicability in other regions may be drawn from their experience.
A report of the International Forum on Globalization notes that several
companies are developing technology whereby large quantities of fresh water
would be loaded into huge sealed bags and towed across the ocean for sale.
The U.S. Global Water Corporation, a Canadian company, is one of those
seeking to be a major player in the water trade. It has signed an
agreement with Sitka, Alaska, to export 18 billion gallons per year of
glacier water to China where it will be bottled in one of that country's
"free trade" zones to take advantage of cheap labor.
2.6. Governments, with some leadership from international
organi-zations, should secure treaties and cooperative agreements on water
rights among nations that share water resources before shortages occur.
This should be implemented among countries, not as a world order....
SADAC will be the region to participate in the new UNDP "Water Sharing"
program to assess transborder water issues and potentials for agreements.
If successful, this will be replicated to other areas with transborder
water problems. UNEP is assessing transboundary freshwater systems and
associated ocean systems t highlight areas for global priority for intervention....
Regional regimes should be established like the one in the Mekong River.
Most importantly, countries should share all data. It is extremely difficult
to get valid, scientific objective data. Especially if the regimes are
authoritarian.... Special attention has to be given to the use of fossil
water that exists under two or more countries when one country uses it
to the degree that it denies neighboring countries' future use. For example,
Israel's depletion of fossil water, at the expense of its Arab neighbors,
is a particularly difficult case.... The Turkish Prime Minister Demirel
suggested exchanging water from Turkey, oil from Iraq, and natural gas
from Syria. Owing to political realities, agreements also need to be made
among different areas or regions within the same country.... There may
be considerable opportunities for internationally tradable rights in countries
where demand is different (industrial vs. agricultural, different level
of development, technology or preferences). Lessons for such agreements
might be drawn from joint implementation schemes for CO2 emission control.
2.7. UN organizations should establish a world
water agency to develop and expedite new water technology and water extraction
and collection projects.
There is no need for another agency.... The World Water Council and
the Global Water Partners already exist. The World Water Center is being
formed. Sometimes they have problems coordinating initiatives, but
they are able to conduct this mission.... The World Water Commission and
the Water Vision Project of UNESCO could add this to their global dialog
on water.... Maybe after the current UN reform and re-organization is complete,
this action could be placed in a prominent position on the international
agenda.... The Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) of the UN can help,
but its structure needs to be changed.... This is the most important action
and would make other actions more successful.... The establishment of this
agency should be put forward at the General Assembly of UN conferences
related to this issue. It should include coordination with national legislative
bases, research and development, expedit-ing use of new technologies, and
popularizing this problem in the media.
ADDITIONAL ACTIONS
Just as Earth Day has provided a focus for environmental education
worldwide, so World Water Day (22 March) can do the same for water issues.
This year World Water Day focused on water and health issues. <www.worldwaterday.org>.
WHO has endorsed a simple was to disinfect water developed by the Swiss Institute for Environmental Science and Technology. Transparent bottles are filled with water and placed horizontally on a flat surface for about five hours. The heat and ultraviolet rays of the sun kill illness-causing microorganisms in polluted water.
Promote vegetarianism because it takes 2,640 gallons of water to produce 1 pound of beef in the United States.... Promote better and more conservative methods for animal production. Grazing ruminants are able to utilize salt-resistant forages and to convert these efficiently into human food.
Many locations would benefit from parallel water systems (drinkable and non-drinkable). Gray water that makes up roughly 60% of household wastewater recovery is already successful in some areas. Tax incentives and cooperative schemes with utilities and delivery systems can make these options more attractive to citizens and industry. Why waste clean water to flush toilets? Why not use gray water to run hydroelectric plants, and water lawns, golf courses, and houseplants?
Restore or rehabilitate wetlands already began in some places (the Florida Everglades, the Netherlands).
We have to change our minds about using water to transport wastes out of houses and buildings. Dry composting toilets have been proven as an alternative to water sanitation systems, will improve soil fertility, and can become a new income source rather than an additional factor in the cost of water.
Improve management of water basins.... Invest in reforestation.... Learn from the success of the Tennessee Valley Authority on water supply.... Use sea ice in temperate zones, such as was done successfully in The Netherlands'. We need to begin implementation of the recommendations of the water meeting in Dublin.... Improve security against terrorist attacks on water systems.... Support UNEP's Global International Water Assessment Project for early warning, monitoring, and assessment systems.
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