ANNEX A
DEPARTMENT FOR ENVIRONMENT, FOOD & RURAL
AFFAIRS
PARLIAMENTARY QUESTION
| Question No: |
Written | Date: 17 October 2002
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| (On Order Paper) |
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[Rob Marris (Wolverhampton, South-West)] To ask the Secretary
of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, to make a statement
about the outcome of the World Summit on Sustainable Development
and its follow up [76116].
MARGARET BECKETT
The World Summit on Sustainable Development addressed some
of the greatest challenges of our times. For over a year I had
said the Summit should be about more than just fine words. It
should be about a step-change—a move from words to concerted
action and implementation. And it was. I also made clear from
the beginning that separate fora would take forward discussion
on climate change and on trade, including trade in agricultural
produce.
So Johannesburg built on the success of last year's Doha
talks on the new trade round, the Marrakech accords on climate
change and this year's Monterrey conference on financing for development.
It reaffirmed and strengthened the international community's commitment
to sustainable development, and reinvigorated the Rio Earth Summit
agreements as well as the UN Millennium Development Goals on poverty
eradication. There are no silver-bullet solutions, no miracle
cures. But what we do have is a new political commitment, momentum
and energy for the attainment of a sustainable world.
As in all negotiations, we were rightly ambitious, given
the agenda we had. I judge the final deal reached between the
180 participating countries—for which the UK, led by the
Prime Minister, negotiated hard—to be a successful outcome.
We went to Johannesburg to make a concrete difference to people's
lives. I believe that we succeeded. And, whilst I understand the
disappointment of those who pushed us for more, I believe that
what was achieved, taken in conjunction with the UN Millennium
Development Goals will, if implemented, represent a revolution
in the lives of the poorest people on the planet, and the beginnings
of a revolution in how we treat the planet itself.
The Summit agreed an impressive plan of implementation. We
agreed a new target to halve by 2015 the proportion of people
living without basic sanitation. This will save millions of lives
in developing countries, and support existing goals on safe drinking
water and health. There are also new targets and timetables on
chemicals, biodiversity, marine protection and fish stocks. These
and other commitments will galvanise action and set standards
for the next 10 years or more.
The Summit also agreed joint actions on reliable and affordable
energy provision for the poor and to urgently and substantially
increase the global share of renewable energy sources. The provision
of energy is a prerequisite for the achievement of the Millennium
Development Goals. The Summit did not set a global target for
renewables, but even those countries which resisted a global target
have nevertheless committed themselves to domestic action. At
the Summit the Prime Minister announced that the UK's Export Credit
Guarantee Department will make available £50 million per
year to renewable energy exports to developing countries.
And on climate change, Johannesburg issued a ringing call
for countries to ratify the Kyoto protocol. Three key developing
countries—China, India and Brazil—recently ratified.
And crucially, in his positive statement at the Summit, the Russian
Prime Minister Kasyanov again signalled that Russia is preparing
to ratify the Protocol. The Canadian Prime Minister, Chretien,
said that Canada will make a decision on ratification later this
year. We are hopeful that the Kyoto Protocol might enter into
force in early 2003.
Over 300 new partnerships were also launched at the Summit
representing in excess of $235million in resources. We are familiar
with the idea of partnerships at home. But this is a bold new
idea for the UN. These partnerships will be the unique inheritance
of Johannesburg—they are not a substitute for multilateral
commitments, but they will provide additional and complementary
resources. For example, the EU "Water for Life Initiative"
and the UK-led multistakeholder partnership for water and sanitation
will support the delivery of the new sanitation target and the
existing goals on safe drinking water and health.
Johannesburg has given the global community a strong mandate
for intensified action at global, regional and national levels.
More fundamentally, it has forged close links between development
and environment policy, in the service of sustainable development.
There is now a widespread agreement that development assistance
should be directed at helping the poor and that it needs to be
sustainable if it is to be of lasting benefit. Sustainable management
of natural resources and of the environment are essential for
poverty eradication. This now needs to be reflected in the poverty
reduction and sustainable development strategies of developing
countries.
We shall work with our partners in the international institutions—the
UN, the G8 and the OECD—to ensure that development and environment
policy are mutually supportive. We need to ensure that the follow-up
to Johannesburg, Monterrey and the Millennium Development Goals
is coherent.
International trade, and climate change issues already have
dedicated international processes of their own. On both, the UK
Government is taking a lead role.
The Prime Minister has hammered home the case for trade reform,
especially of agricultural subsidies. Developing countries need
improved market access, so they can sell their produce fairly,
without being hampered by trade-distorting and environmentally-damaging
subsidies in the developed countries. This is the single most
important issue we need to follow up after Johannesburg. Improved
market access and subsidy reform are a joint concern for development
and environment policy. Currently OECD countries give around $55
billion in overseas aid, but subsidise their agricultural industries
by around seven times that amount. CAFOD have suggested that through
the CAP the average European dairy cow gets a $2 subsidy a day—the
same as the daily income of half the world's population. We will
continue to push for reform of agricultural subsidies both within
the WTO and, within the EU, on the Common Agricultural Policy.
And on climate change, later this month I shall be in Delhi
for the next stage of the UN negotiations on implementation of
the Kyoto Protocol.
The implementation of the EU's Sustainable Development Strategy
will be a driver for change in Europe. In particular, it will
need to reflect the Summit agreement to develop a global ten-year
framework of action programmes to accelerate the shift towards
sustainable production and consumption. We need to decouple economic
growth from environmental degradation—to get more from less.
The industrialised North has agreed to take the lead on this and
it must be central to the EU's Strategy. This means action on
a whole range of issues such as energy efficiency, waste minimisation—a
real challenge for us in the UK—and integrated product policy.
But equally important is action we will take at home. We
will integrate the Johannesburg agreements and relevant follow-up
into UK policy and action, with a sharp focus on the use of technological
innovation to deliver sustainable development. If, as a nation,
we achieve greater resource efficiency, this will not only help
our environment but also improve our competitiveness.
On energy, we are working towards our 10% renewable electricity
target by 2010. We are making great strides in both energy efficiency
and tackling fuel poverty. On climate change we have been leading
globally in the Kyoto process. We are on track to meet our Kyoto
target of a 12.5% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions and have
put in place a comprehensive programme of measures to meet our
more ambitious domestic goal to reduce our emissions of carbon
dioxide by 20%.
The Government will shortly publish an Energy White Paper
that addresses how to set the UK on the longer term path to a
low carbon economy, as the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution
and others have recommended. In particular, the Commission has
recommended we put ourselves on the path to 60% reductions in
carbon dioxide emissions by 2050. We will respond formally to
that recommendation at the time of the White Paper, but already
it is clear that action on that scale—in the UK and internationally—is
what is necessary.
And, this Autumn we shall be taking receipt of, and later
responding to, the Prime Minister's Strategy Unit's report on
how we manage waste, stemming growth, and promoting recycling
and re-use.
Last week I hosted a meeting with leading UK stakeholders,
to discuss the follow-up action by government and stakeholders
at UK level. This provided a useful forum for us to discuss the
proposals developed by stakeholders and within government, and
to establish some shared conclusions on the implications of the
Summit.
Our next review of progress toward sustainable development,
which will be out early in the new year, will include further
details on how we intend to take the Johannesburg outcomes forward.
Over the course of the next year, we will also be reviewing the
UK Sustainable Development Strategy and meeting our Summit commitments
will form a significant part of this.
Perhaps the most innovative feature of the Summit was the
emphasis on partnerships between governments and civil society,
particularly NGOs and business. The UK delegation therefore included
Members of this House, representatives from the devolved administrations,
local government, the UK Sustainable Development Commission, from
business and NGOs. And since this was a Summit on the future,
four youth representatives. Besides the formal government negotiations
there was a wealth of other events and initiatives. UK participants
were active everywhere and made a huge contribution to the overall
outcome. Governments must take the lead in setting the framework
for sustainable development, they cannot deliver it alone.
Johannesburg demonstrated that it is possible to reach agreement
on practical steps towards a more sustainable world. We must,
and will, keep moving forward. In the words of the UN Secretary
General, Kofi Annan; "This Summit will put us on a path that
reduces poverty while protecting the environment, a path that
works for all peoples, rich and poor, today and tomorrow. We have
to go out and take action. This is not the end. It's the beginning."
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