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State Secretary Leiv Lunde, Ministry of Foreign Affairs

United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)

“Strategies and Mechanisms for Promoting Cleaner Production Investments in Developing Countries”

Oslo, SFT’s Conference Centre, 3 - 4 September 1998

3 September 1998

Ladies and Gentlemen,

No-one has more to lose by the deterioration of the quality of water, air and soil than the developing countries. The project that we are launching today is an important step towards translating the global objectives set out in Agenda 21 and the environmental conventions into operational programmes in developing countries.

It is, therefore, a pleasure for me to welcome you to Oslo on behalf of the Norwegian Government. With this "kick-off" meeting, the United Nations Environment Programme is launching a pilot project on the promotion of cleaner production investments in developing countries.

Norway attaches great importance to this project for several reasons. Primarily because we believe that it will contribute significantly to a fully-fledged inter-agency programme on environmentally sound technology. This will benefit the developing countries and - as a natural consequence - the global environment. We are happy to have been closely associated with this pilot project from its conception, through the stages of refinement and careful planning, to the present. We now feel confident that we are funding both a challenging project and a very dynamic team. It is my hope that this meeting will facilitate the implementation and further progress of the cleaner production investments project.

UNEP has invested a great deal of time and effort in drawing up the project proposal. This process has increased our confidence in the abilities of UNEP, and particularly the Industry and Environment Centre in Paris. We have no doubt that the Centre will carry out the project in a manner which paves the way for a fully developed programme. We look forward to seeing synergistic effects, both in the form of other, complementary initiatives, and in the form of institutional development in developing countries.

My clear impression is that the Paris Centre is a particularly dynamic outfit with a very small, but highly dedicated staff. It has even won acclaim from the UN Office of Internal Oversight, which does not usually bestow praise lightly. This is due in no small part to the Centre's enthusiastic director, Ms. Jacqueline Aloisi de Larderel. I am confident that under her guidance this important work and the final report of the pilot project will bear the stamp of quality.

Norway gives high priority to environmental issues in its development assistance efforts. A recent White Paper states that an overriding aim of our development assistance is to "contribute to the responsible management of the earth's environment and its biological diversity". All measures that may involve an environmental risk are subject to environmental impact assessment. This forms part of the planning process and shall take place prior to any decision to finance the measure. Such assessments must be included as a natural part of quality assurance in development cooperation. Projects directly designed to improve the environment account for an important share of Norway’s total allocations to development assistance. The new Norwegian strategy for environment in development cooperation strongly emphasizes these points. It also underlines the importance of linking environment programmes in development cooperation to institutional development and capacity-building in the individual country.

The Norwegian development cooperation policy maintains the traditional emphasis on efforts to improve the lot of the most disadvantaged groups in the least developed countries. However, cleaner production is emerging as one of the priorities in the environmental field. This is in recognition of the fact that cleaning up production processes significantly improves the environment, not least for the urban poor.

In some instances, priority has to be given to immediate action to clean up pollution downstream of production. However, tackling pollution at its source is more effective than concentrating on what are known as "end-of-pipe" clean-up operations. Developing countries should not need to repeat the mistakes of the industrial countries in this regard.

Last year's Special Session of the UN General Assembly decided to make "sustainable production and consumption patterns” one of the main priorities for the Commission for Sustainable Development for the current five-year period. We know that there are fears, particularly among developing countries, that the real objective of the industrialized countries is to introduce new trade barriers, that new obstacles will be created that discriminate against exports from developing countries and impede their industrialization. Every effort should be made to prove that these fears are unfounded.

Cleaner production investments is the key to more sustainable development for all of us.

Cleaner production does not only involve the use of better and more expensive equipment. Even more important is the competence-building and awareness-raising involved. Together with better organization of production processes, cleaner production leads to more efficient production and generates less waste. Investments in cleaner production may actually reduce overall production costs. There are numerous examples to prove the truth of this claim, as pointed out by UNEP and indeed by the Paris Centre.

The Norwegian Government’s support for this project should be seen as an integral part of its overall support for institutional development and technology transfer. It should also be regarded as an element of closer international cooperation and coordination in development efforts.

In conclusion, the UNEP pilot project is an important venture in at least three respects. Firstly, it represents a bold attempt to overcome institutional hurdles and the well-known rivalries among international organizations involved in sustainable development. Secondly, it demonstrates the importance of UNEP as a catalytist in efforts to address global environmental problems, despite the difficulties that the organisation is currently experiencing. Thirdly, the project represents a sincere attempt to go beyond the slogan of "transfer of environmentally sound technology to developing countries" and to put this into practice.

Finally, we believe that in trying to improve the environmental orientation of development cooperation we should be more aware of ‘win-win’ opportunities. If an environmental measure is to receive support, it should be linked with benefits in terms of development as well as other goals. In my view cleaner production investments in developing countries are an example of this kind of double gain.

I therefore have a number of reasons to wish the project and the UNEP team every success with this important venture. I wish you all the best in your discussions today. You have indeed an important task ahead of you.

Thank you.