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(Plenary Session - Regional Implementation)
29 August 2002

Opening Statement
by Mr Kim Hak-Su
Executive Secretary of ESCAP

"Regional Implementation of Sustainable Development and WSSD Outcomes: 
Natural Resources and Sustainable Development"

Distinguished delegates, ladies and gentlemen,

I am pleased to address this plenary session on the regional implementation of sustainable development and WSSD outcomes.  I would focus in particular on natural resources and sustainable development.  At the outset, I must emphasize that regional institutions, such as the regional commissions, provide the crucial link in the dynamic development processes at the global and national levels.  It is therefore befitting that this special session is being organized to discuss the role of the regional institutions including the regional commissions in implementing the outcomes of WSSD.

The management of natural resources and ecosystems is a critical issue in any regional implementation agenda.  It requires capacity building through catalytic regional initiatives as well as support for transboundary natural resource management.  During the regional preparatory processes for WSSD, most of the critical issues and initiatives identified pertained to natural resources management.  For example in Asia and the Pacific, the seven initiatives identified in the Phnom Penh Platform, in one way or another, have a strong link with natural resource management.

In the implementation process, regional institutions will have an important role to play.  The regional commissions, in particular, with their multisectoral expertise and inter-disciplinary work, are strategically placed to promote regional and subregional cooperation, enhance capacity-building and awareness and render technical assistance and advisory services, in natural resource management and governance.

The root causes of erosion of natural resource base and degradation emanate from a number of complex but interrelated factors.  At the Stockholm Conference some thirty years ago, Indira Gandhi, the Indian Prime Minister had said, "Poverty is the greatest polluter".  The poor scrounge for what they can get from nature to sustain their livelihoods.  Essentially, ecological poverty begets economic and social poverty.  The poor alone cannot be blamed.  Natural resource degradation also results from resource intensive production systems and consumption patterns.  The greed of the rich and the need of the poor equally contribute to natural resource degradation.  The perceived inequitable and unfair international economic order also accentuates the problem.  Integrated strategies that reduce poverty, curb the existing production and consumption patterns and reform the global economic system can stem the root causes of natural resource degradation.  It is significant that all these elements have been highlighted in the Plan of Implementation of WSSD particularly for regional implementation.

Another important issue in natural resources management is its transboundary character.  The equitable use of such shared natural resources poses a unique set of challenges.  They highlight the need for decision-making processes that go beyond national borders and illustrate the necessity for creating mechanisms at the subregional or regional levels in order to promote ecologically sustainable as well as socially acceptable development.  This could include the joint management of regional natural ecosystems (e.g. international river basins, shared water bodies, regional seas, transboundary movement of hazardous wastes).  Regional and subregional collaboration is also necessary to promote cost-effective solutions and avoid unnecessary duplication of effort through sharing of experience and expertise.

It is perhaps for these reasons that the Report of the Secretary General to PrepCom 2 emphasized "the fuller utilization of the Regional Commissions to promote regional outcomes of the World Summit on Sustainable Development."   Elsewhere, the Secretary General has also emphasized the need to establish concrete mechanisms to bring together the main stakeholders working for sustainable development at the regional level.

The regional commissions are already actively involved in forging partnerships with subregional, regional or interregional dimensions.  We could impart greater momentum to this process after the Summit, by promoting new partnerships and alliances.  We are prepared to take the regional initiatives for the development of robust and lasting partnerships with various stakeholders and major groups such as international and regional organizations, national councils for sustainable development, non-governmental and civil society organizations, private sector and professional associations and trade unions.

Distinguished delegates, ladies and gentlemen,

The consequences of continued degradation of our natural resource base are self-evident and well understood.  We cannot expect our communities to flourish if we continue to pollute, pillage and drain the very source from which they draw their existence.  Ecological prosperity is a prerequisite for social and economic prosperity.  We can ignore it only at our own peril.  We, the regional commissions along with our regional partners, stand ready to ensure sustainable prosperity within and across the regions.

Thank you.