Statement by Mr. Børge Brende - AMCEN-meeting in Kampala, Uganda 4 July 2002

Statement by Mr. Børge Brende, Norwegian Minister of Environment and the Chairman of the Nordic Environment Cooperation

Your Excellency, Mr President
Honourable Ministers

I am very glad for this opportunity to address this important meeting in the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment.

I also bring regards from my colleagues in another regional forum of environment cooperation – the Nordic Council of Ministers. I do hope that the close and fruitful co-operation between the African and Nordic countries will be further developed in the years to come.

This meeting takes place at a crucial time for the international environmental co-operation.

Behind us we have a decade of major UN conferences and signing of important environmental treaties. During this decade the global community has agreed on several issues:

• We have to give poverty eradication top priority
• We must ensure that globalisation becomes a positive force for all
• We have to reverse rapidly the negative environmental trends like climate change, deforestation and desertification.

In large we agree on the goals. And we know that fighting poverty is impossible if we fail to fulfil our environmental commitments. Well-managed natural resources and well-functioning ecosystems form the very basis of the society – for production, consumption, health and welfare.

At the same time poor countries are the most vulnerable to climate change, loss of biodiversity and the pollution of air, soil and water.

Every year contaminated water and poor sanitation take the lives of more than 12 million people, 90 per cent of them in developing countries. And every year bad air quality takes the lives of nearly 3 million individuals.

Time has come to transform words into action. The next decade must be the decade of implementation.

Our first challenge now is to ensure that the Johannesburg-summit becomes Rio +10 and not Rio –10. In Johannesburg we should not re-negotiate what we have already agreed. Instead we should stick to the goals and pledges from Rio, the Millennium Declaration, Monterrey and other documents – and define concrete actions, measures and time frames.

We must find effective ways to follow up the Millennium Declaration goals on freshwater and sustainable energy, and launch ambitious action programmes in these areas, which have such fundamental importance for the African continent.

Now is also the time to take concrete initiatives and develop active partnerships to halve biodiversity loss by 2010. Sustaining ecosystems and biodiversity give us a series of benefits. The Ecosystem Approach creates a "win-win" situation, by both fulfilling the Conventions on biodiversity – and by being important in combating desertification and climate change.

A particular concern is the development of partnership initiatives (type II) as a part of the results from WSSD. Such new partnership initiatives should not substitute global initiatives as negotiated outcomes of WSSD. We do not want a big "project circus" with stand-alone donor driven projects and new financial mechanisms. The new partnership initiatives must be anchored in the implementation plan and contribute to and reinforce this.

In Rio we talked about environment and development. In Johannesburg – and beyond – the issue is environment for development.

In this process we have common, but differentiated responsibilities. Common, in the sense that all countries are responsible for their sustainable development. Differentiated in the sense that national efforts, good governance and public participation must be paralleled by international support to developing countries.

I think we agree on the importance of capacity building and a good scientific basis for political priorities and decisions.

In order to achieve sustainable development, we need a strong global environment authority, and we must ensure that UNEP can play this role. UNEP can play a central role in building the environment management capacity and also in the integration of environmental issues into central social and economic processes.

The International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has played a vital role in the international negotiations leading up to the Kyoto protocol and the Marrakesh agreement on greehouse gases. We should follow this example by also setting up a scientific panel on environmental changes. This panel should contribute to strengthen the policy framework for environmental issues like biodiversity conservation and pollution control.

Unfortunately, the prospects for the World Summit on Sustainable Development do not look very promising at the moment. During the next two months the international community have to work together to reach the best possible results. And after Johannesburg we have to work together to make sure that what we agree on is in fact implemented.

AMCEN is a crucial contributor in making the WSSD a success. Not least because the African countries are among those with most to gain by a success – and most to loose if the summit fails to make decisive actions. In AMCEN you have identified that building African capacity in the field of environmental management is also necessary to achieve economic development.

I would like to congratulate African countries for the political leadership in developing the environmental component of the New Partnership for African Development. As the summit in Durban will develop the African Union, NEPAD and AMCEN will be key instruments in ensuring a common African policy for sustainable development.

A strong responsibility rests with the African countries in the implementation of NEPAD, but I want to assure you that the Nordic countries will do our best in supporting your efforts.

Your Excellency, Mr President

Honourable Ministers

Politics is not just about responding to circumstances. It is also to create the circumstances. We can no longer accept ad-hoc responses to environmental degradation and human suffering. Time has come to make real and lasting environmental commitments and act on them.

Two days ago I experienced a strong manifestation of hope and action. I had the pleasure of visting Mathare Youth Sporting Assosiation (MYSA). Being in a troubled part of Nairobi, this organisation today engages 14.000 youngsters in sports activities and other voluntary work.

The very beginning was football, and MYSA has a wide range of successes in this field over the last years. More important is the idea that the youngsters themselves take responsibility and are leaders for others. The work is extended to other areas of community service - fighting AIDS and a programme for imprisoned children, just to mention some. But after football, local cleanup projects were the first activities started by MYSA.

This visit made me very optimistic. It is an inspiration to see the spirit and talent of young people working for a better life for themselves and others.

Our duty as political leaders is to build on the hope of the MYSA-youngsters and the young generation all over the world. Therefore, when the world leaders meet in Johannesburg in 7 weeks time, there is one obligation to meet - and that is bringing environment for development to the top of the political agenda.