JOHANNESBURG SUMMIT

 

 

Issues and priorities for reporting to the World Summit on Sustainable Development, 2002 and proposals for initiatives to address the priority environmental and sustainable development problems of the North-East Asian subregion

 

Stakeholders’ Meeting for North-East Asia in Preparation for the World Summit on Sustainable Development, 2002, 26 July 2001, Beijing

1.      The Stakeholders’ Meeting for North-East Asia in Preparation for the World Summit on Sustainable Development, 2002, was held in Beijing, China on 26 July 2001. The Meeting was attended by 40 representatives of major groups from five of the six North-East Asian countries.

2.      The Meeting identified several priority issues and problems, and proposed actions on how to address and solve these issues. The issues were:

    1. Participation by major groups 

    2. Education and awareness

    3. Freshwater

    4. Nuclear energy

    5. Air pollution and climate change

    6. Consumption patterns

    7. Poverty eradication

3.      The Meeting urged governments at all levels, intergovernmental bodies, international organizations, and all major groups of civil society, to adopt the following proposals, establishing appropriate targets and time frames for implementation along with review mechanisms.

Participation by major groups  

4.      To deal with the problem of adequate participation by major groups in planning, policy-making, decision-making, and in monitoring and assessment processes, the Stakeholders’ Meeting for North-East Asia made the following proposals:

a.       Develop, adopt and implement guidelines for stakeholders’ participation at all levels, based on the assessment of past stakeholders’ participation

b.      Develop and adopt a Convention on access to information and public participation on sustainable development issues

c.       Establish multi-stakeholder mechanisms, such as National Councils for Sustainable Development (NCSDs)

d.      Establish regional frameworks to promote networking among multi-stakeholder mechanisms

e.       Support the establishment of a network of NGOs and civil society organizations (CSOs) in North-East Asia with possibilities for cooperation and exchange of information, including an interactive website and regular meetings

f.        Governments and industry should support wide disclosure of and public access to information

Education and awareness

5.      To address the problem of limited knowledge and awareness on the issues of sustainable development, the Stakeholders’ Meeting for North-East Asia made the following proposals:

a.       Give education for sustainable development very high priority in all sectors

b.      Develop and implement government plans at national level for education for sustainable development by 2005

c.       Develop and establish regional educational programmes to promote education for sustainable development

d.      Integrate education for sustainable development into all levels of formal education curricula, with priority on primary schools

e.       Involve NGOs in education for sustainable development, drawing upon local wisdom and experiences

f.        Establish training centres for educators for sustainable development

g.       Disseminate information on best practices of education for sustainable development; and support the exchange of information and replication of such best practices

h.       Expand the TEMM (Tripartite Environment Ministers Meeting) education programmes to all North-East Asian countries

 Freshwater

6.      To address the problem of unsustainable management of freshwater resources, shortage of water, and water pollution, the Stakeholders’ Meeting for North-East Asia made the following proposals:

a.       Promote sustainable agriculture, especially organic farming

b.      Promote cleaner industrial and commercial production processes

c.       Develop and implement trans-boundary watershed management programmes

d.      Remove environmentally harmful subsidies for water resources 

e.       Assist the poor in securing access to clean water and sanitation

f.        Encourage technical innovations and alternative methods of sustainable management to improve water resources, such as rainwater and greywater use and ecological means of wastewater treatment

Nuclear energy

7.      To address the problems of expansion of unsustainable nuclear energy in the North-East Asian countries and insufficient public awareness of its risks, the Stakeholders’ Meeting for North-East Asia made the following proposals:

a.       Governments should make commitments not to develop new nuclear power plants and phase out existing nuclear power plants no later than 2005

b.      Together with NGOs and local communities, governments should monitor existing nuclear power plants, including adequate disclosure of information

c.       Promote energy conservation and efficiency measures, especially sustainable transport as well as sustainable design and construction in all sectors, in order to dramatically reduce energy consumption

d.      Invest in promoting sustainable renewable forms of energy, such as wind power and solar energy, in order to increase the share of renewable energy in the total primary energy supply

e.       Stop the trade of nuclear energy technology and nuclear waste among North-East Asian countries, as well as other regions 

Air pollution and climate change

8.      To address the problem that unsustainable economic development causes air pollution and climate change, the Stakeholders’ Meeting for North-East Asia made the following proposals

a.       Promote and enhance the use of public transport and human-powered vehicles, such as bicycles

b.      Promote integrated, environmentally sound land-use planning and management

c.       Transfer environmentally sound technology, such as clean energy technology

d.      Monitor trans-boundary air pollution through mechanisms such as the Acid Deposition Monitoring Network in East Asia (EANET)

e.       Introduce greenbelt and green areas and promote environmentally sound reforestation

Consumption patterns

9.      To address the problem of unsustainable consumption patterns, the Stakeholders’ Meeting for North-East Asia made the following proposals:

a.      Establish education and awareness campaigns on the effects of unsustainable consumption and on ways to lead sustainable lifestyles

b.      Identify and regulate advertisements for unsustainable and environmentally damaging goods and services

c.       Introduce economic instruments, including incentives for sustainable consumption, and set up processes to review the implementation of these instruments

d.      Establish mechanisms to implement the 3R principle (reduce, reuse and recycle), applying this principle to all resources, especially water and energy

e.       Make better use of traditional and indigenous knowledge to achieve a sustainable lifestyle

Poverty eradication 

10.  To address the problem of absolute poverty, which especially affects women, and the fact that globalization has the potential of widening the gap between rich and poor, the Stakeholders’ Meeting for North-East Asia made the following proposals:

a.       Secure the full and early participation of poor people in the decision-making process

b.      Governments and international organizations should initiate or strengthen poverty eradication programmes, such as micro finance systems

c.       Strengthen the capacity of the poor through various ways of formal and informal education and training

d.      Train the poor in good practices for sustainable agriculture and natural resource management

e.       Disseminate information and replicate good practices for poverty eradication

11.  The Stakeholders’ Meeting for North-East Asia in preparation for the World Summit on Sustainable Development, 2002, would like to thank the Government of the People’s Republic of China for hosting the Meeting, and also the Task Force of UNEP, UNDP, ADB, and ESCAP, for convening and organizing the Meeting.

 

ADDENDUM TO NORTHEAST ASIA STAKEHOLDERS’ MEETING REPORT, BY STAKEHOLDER PARTICIPANTS AT INTERGOVERNMENTAL MEETING,

28 JULY 2001, BEIJING, CHINA

Desertification and land degradation

1.  To address the problem of desertification and land degradation, which results from overgrazing, large livestock numbers, use of bushes and trees for firewood, and poor forest management, stakeholder participants at the Intergovernmental Meeting made the following proposals:

a.       Educate local people on ecology and selective use of pasture

b.      Promote alternative fuel sources for local people, especially renewable technologies such as solar cookers

c.       Conduct awareness programs on forestry, including environmentally sound reforestation

d.   Develop appropriate forest management plans

Biodiversity Loss

2.  To address the problem of biodiversity loss in North-East Asia caused by large-scale projects such as land reclamation projects that affect wetlands and tidal flats, and dam construction projects, stakeholder participants at the Intergovernmental Meeting made the following proposals:

a.  Eliminate all subsidies for large-scale construction projects.

b.  Immediately stop the projects under construction and phase out plans for large-

     scale construction projections

c.   Establish and implement plans to protect biodiversity at all governmental

      levels, guided by institutionalized participation by major groups               

d.  Conduct public awareness programs on the importance of bio-diversity.

Stakeholders’ Meeting Report and Addendum as Annex to Intergovernmental Me eting Rep ort

3.  We kindly request the inclusion of the Stakeholders’ Meeting Report and Addendum as an Annex to the Report of the Intergovernmental Meeting.