A matter of political courage

Speech by H. E. Mr. Børge Brende, Minister of the Environment, Norway, Chairman of the 12th Session of the UN Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD), Geneva 15 January 2004. Idunn Eidheim Check against delivery

Key Note Address at ECE's Regional Implementation Forum

Executive Secretary, Excellencies, Distinguished Delegates,

First of all, let me thank ECE's Executive Secretary for her introduction. We all appreciate the work that she and her secretariat have put in to make this meeting a success.

As Chairman of the CSD, it is a great pleasure for me to greet you on the opening day of this important meeting.

We have been challenged with a daunting task.

Through the Millennium Assembly, the Monterrey Conference on Financing for Development and the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, world leaders have agreed upon objectives and action plans to benefit the lives of the world's poor.

Specific goals and targets have been set. The responsibility now rests with the international community and governments alike.

As we witnessed in Johannesburg, the role of the CSD has become more vital than ever in ensuring the effective follow up of these ambitious targets:

• "to halve the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water by 2015
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• to halve the number of people without access to basic sanitation by 2015
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• to stop the non-sustainable use and exploitation of water resources and develop national integrated water resource and management plans, with support to developing countries by 2005[AC1] and

• to have achieved a significant improvement in the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers by 2020.”

Now it is time to translate these goals and targets into concrete action. You are all aware of the challenges:

• More than 1.2 billion people around the world lack basic water supplies.
• ·
• More than 2.6 billion people do not have access to adequate sanitation.
• ·
• More than 1 billion slum dwellers are living undignified lives deprived of opportunities we take for granted.

Some would say that our goals are too ambitious. I would say that it is a matter of political courage.

Some would say that our targets are unrealistic. I would say that business as usual is no longer an option.

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The new format of CSD is an opportunity to vitalise its role as the specific UN body for sustainable development.

It will be the first CSD to be preceded by regional implementation forums. This revised model will empower the regional UN commissions and give a thrust to the CSD in its efforts to transform words into action.

Our job is now to assess the situation within our region and contribute to CSD12 by identifying and highlighting the themes, success stories and the lessons learnt.

We must seize this opportunity to show the world that we live up to our responsibilities, making our performance a benchmark for future sessions. In this, I trust you all to take pride in reaching tangible and viable results.

CSD12 will seek an integrated and practical approach in dealing with water management, sanitation and human settlements. It will derive from experiences at the local level, where people live and water and shelters are provided.

In order for the CSD to make use of our contributions, we must ask:

What efforts have been made? Where have we failed? Where have we succeeded?

I see five main areas crystallize:

• integrated planning
• maintenance of existing infrastructure
• affordable housing
• securing financing
• local management

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Integrated planning

Distinguished Delegates,

Until a few years ago, the Danube River, one of Europe's greatest rivers, was severely polluted. As a consequence, the number of fish had been drastically reduced. In some areas of the Danube delta, only one fish species could be found. Today, it is restored to its former wetland state, and the fish have returned; where there was one, there are now more than twenty species! The local fishing industry, at one time nearly extinct, plays once again a vibrant and important role in the surrounding local communities.

This story underlines the importance of the message from Johannesburg; there is a strong need for an integrated approach to water management, identified as Integrated Water Resource Management plans. Without them, it would be more difficult and more costly to deal effectively with reducing environmental degradation and improving development.

We know that in the Eastern European, Caucasus and Central Asian countries, also known as the EECCA countries, many rivers, lakes, groundwater and coastal waters are heavily polluted. We must, therefore, through integrated approaches, increase our efforts to restore both rivers and wetlands.

We also have to address the issue on how and for which purpose water is used. WE know that 75 percent of all freshwater is used for agricultural purposes (irrigation). Of course, we need irrigation, but not just any kind of irrigation. It has to be effective. It is a paradox that in countries that have serious shortage of water supply, 50 percent of the water leaks out of the infrastructure.

We also need to address what kind of crops we use. The Aral Sea, once the world's fourth largest inland sea, began to be catastrophically depleted by schemes in the 1960s and 70s to dam the main rivers that feed it, in order to grow cotton in arid Soviet Central Asia.

It is now a quarter of its size 50 years ago, broken into two fragments, the North Aral Sea, for which a rescue attempt has been launched, and the South Aral Sea, which 15 years from now will become just a puddle. The IWRM plans will introduce a more ecosystem-based approach that will uphold a more sustainable pattern of water use.

An integrated approach to water management will not only improve the health of a larger environment, and benefit development; it will also serve as a valuable tool in managing cross-border water resources.

50 percent of the water, which is used every day, is water shared by two countries or more. In Central Asia, one great challenge is to promote regional cooperation on how to manage common water resources in cross-border rivers. Today, the countries have different interests in how much water should be used for households, agriculture, food production, industry, energy and so on. As a result, we can see both shortages and disputes over water.

The importance of integrated water management was well illustrated this summer, during my visit to Kyrgyzstan. I was highly encouraged to learn that Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan, with the ECE as an important contributor, have started to work together, in order to administer the Chu and the Talas rivers. In my opinion, such a practical cooperation on the sharing of water resources sets an example in implementing effective transboundary water management.

It also adds further value to other success stories, which we have established in the region. It is well known that the countries within the watershed of the Rhine have gained long-term success with integrated water management across the borders.

I am convinced that similar agreements will be useful in other regions as well.

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Good maintenance

Infrastructure services – particularly in providing safe water and sanitation, as well as electricity and roads – are crucial to people's health, education and development.

The provision of reliable, affordable and cost-effective provision of infrastructure services can reduce levels of child mortality from water borne diseases, respiratory illnesses, and allow easier access to schools and clinics. Investments in well-functioning infrastructure services will also indirectly reduce the fiscal burden of governments, thereby creating space for other expenditures.

It is therefore disturbing to note that in many of the EECCA countries, the water supply networks are in a poor condition. Leakages are generally high and in many cases 30-50% of the water is lost, leaving some cities with water only for part of the day.

The faulty design and construction of the systems must bear the main responsibility for this, as well as the decline of the economic situation in the past decade, resulting in lack of maintenance and ineffective operation.

I therefore welcome the European Union's Water Initiative – "Water for Life", particularly with its focus on Central Asia. I would also highlight the importance of the US presence, with their very large programme of cooperation within our region.

I hope that we all can commit more funds to meeting the needs in the region.

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Affordable housing

We have huge challenges in providing affordable housing for an increasing number of people who migrate into our cities. More than 75% of the population in the region is now concentrated in urban areas. This has resulted in a rise in urban poverty and environmental deprivation, which makes urban issues critical for sustainability.

Affordable housing is crucial for poverty reduction and environmental improvement. Today, there is still restricted supply of affordable rented housing for poor or vulnerable groups in many countries. The reports before us tell of one city where 45% of the inhabitants live in informal settlements without proper utility services.

They also tell a story of failures to carry out repairs on the existing buildings which will soon result in massive structural problems in more than 40% of the urban houses.

However, they also tell a story of initiatives and real action on the ground. Across the ECE region, many governments have promoted good land administration in terms of creating efficient markets for housing, land, real estate and public transport. Some 6,400 municipalities in the region have Local Agenda 21 initiatives, advancing a culture of good practice and excellence.

In this work, the UNECE Committee on Human Settlements is doing a valuable job in approaching the main challenges to a more sustainable human settlements development. I strongly encourage the initiatives in the ECE region in developing more efficient systems of urban management and governance.

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Securing financing

As I mentioned, we can see the fruits of the work that the largest and richest economies are doing. It is clear that external financing has a key role, but it will still only be a supplement.

In the EU accession countries, 95% of the funding for handling their environmental problems over the past decade came from national and local sources. It seems that a sensible way forward is to focus on how to develop domestic capital markets to facilitate the establishment of well-functioning markets that can be used to raise a much needed investment capital.

I therefore welcome international projects such as the OECD Task Force's urban water sector reform programme for the EECCA countries. It will seek to promote a sound basis of local responsibility, water pricing and how to use the income to secure long-term maintenance. Equally important, it will also examine how to secure the interests of the poor within a fee-based system.

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Local management

Promoting local capacity building and local management means stakeholder participation.

Industry in our region is moving in the right direction in producing more with less adverse environmental impacts. I have noted that the UK government has used 5 million pounds on eco-efficiency to enable UK industry to save 200 million by using less water and energy and creating less waste.

Increased attention to the procurement chain and to making products with less impact throughout their life is resulting from the integrated product policy work going on within the European Union. With such practices, I look forward to hear the contributions to the CSD from the business sector.

The public in our region has the right to know, the right to participate, and the right to access to law enshrined in the Aarhus Convention.

The region's NGOs have been full partners in the Environment for Europe process. Again, we have broad experience of non-governmental mechanisms that work and that should be useful elsewhere. We also know that local communities need to be even more involved in housing, water supply and sanitation. Success at the local level means success elsewhere.

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The Johannesburg Plan of Implementation and the Millennium Development Goals set out the global commitments. Responsibility in translating these commitments is now being passed on to regional initiatives.

In our region, these commitments have been firmly anchored and reflected in the decisions made in our region.

We have the Ministerial Declaration from the Kiev Conference, and in particular, we have the environmental strategy for the EECCA countries.

In the EU-countries, the EU water directives provide the legal framework for best practices.

These commitments now need to be implemented in each country and across borders.

The ECE region contains four of the world's five largest economies; I ask you, if our region cannot make a difference to the way the world develops, who can?

Distinguished Delegates,

The material tabled in Kiev and the follow up in our region provide a firm foundation for our contribution to the CSD12.

We must now use the answers so that each country and local community can learn and benefit from our experiences.

It is my sincere hope that our discussions in the next few days will further advance the water, sanitation and human settlements agenda.

These efforts will help in translating political statements into concrete actions and serve as a valuable support in our common objective to realise sustainable development and our overarching goal of poverty eradication.

With this, I wish you the best of luck in your deliberations.