Statement by
H.E. Dr. Makarim Wibisono
Head of Delegation of the Republic of Indonesia
to the Second of the Preparatory Committee
on the WSSD
Summit for Sustainable Development (WSSD)
28 January- 8 February 2002
New York, 31 January 2002
Mr. Chairman,
Let me begin by expressing our sincere
appreciation to the Secretary-General for his report on implementing
Agenda 21 and commend Mr. Nitin Desai, the Secretary-General for the
WSSD, and all his team in the secretariat for their efforts to ensure
effective preparations for the World Summit. I would also like to
congratulate the regional economic commissions, the UNDP, UNEP and
other relevant UN agencies as well as the regional Banks for their
collective work in providing substantive inputs. Likewise, let me
congratulate the heads of international agencies for their active
contributions in seeking to implement Agenda 21 based on their own
respective mandates as well as to the multi-stakeholders for their
contributions. Let me also commend the Chairman and the Bureau members
for their tireless efforts in facilitating the success of our deliberations.
I wish also to associate ourselves with the statement of the Chairman
of the G 77 and China.
Mr. Chairman,
Let me first say that there is a real
need to focus our work on developing practical, concrete and time-bound
measures in order to effectively overcome a number of constraints
and to strengthen the implementation of Agenda 21. There is also a
need to reinvigorate political commitment at the highest political
level to achieve our common goals. The bottom-up approach processes
that greatly enhances ownership and ensures better follow up and implementation,
have produced an abundance of findings and recommendations. These
findings are well elaborated in various reports and inputs before
us from a broad spectrum of sources including those of the major groups.
In this regard and based on the outcomes of the regional preparatory
processes, I would like to re-emphasize that the WSSD is a development
summit and it is not to renegotiate or to rewrite Agenda 21 and other
outcomes of UNCED. Therefore, my delegation reiterates our commitment
to the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development in particular
the principle of common but differentiated responsibility and the
provisions of Agenda 21, and the Programme for the Further Implementation
of Agenda 21.
Mr. Chairman
Despite the progress achieved over the
past ten years, the general economic, social and environment conditions
remain alarming. The implementation of the outcomes of UNCED has been
severely hampered by a number of constraints in particular those of
widespread poverty and the lack of financial resources. These constraints
have been worsened by a number of developments in the past few years
including the financial crisis in 1997, the debt burden of many developing
countries and the inadequate institutional and technical capacities
that still negatively impact the developing countries. They are also
aggravated by the unavailability of an appropriate mechanism for promoting
environmentally friendly technologies. In addition, a fragmented approach
towards the issues of sustainable development, the lack of progress
in ensuring sustainable patterns of consumption and production particularly
in the developed countries and the lack of mutually coherent policies
or approaches in the areas of finance, trade, investment, technology
and sustainable development are also major factors hindering the effective
implementation of sustainable development strategies.
For our part in Indonesia, we have developed
our national strategy on sustainable development by publishing National
Agenda 21 that serves as the general guideline for all stakeholders
to develop their respective activities and policies. The National
Agenda 21 focuses on the need to integrate the three pillars of sustainable
development within a single policy arrangement. In the year 2000,
Indonesia also launched its Sectoral Agenda 21 that covers mining,
energy, housing, tourism and forestry. Likewise, several local governments
have also produced their local Agenda 21 focusing on specific sectors
in accordance with their priorities. Indonesia has also ratified a
number of important MEA’s, enacted a number of national laws and strengthened
its institutional capacity both at the national and local levels.
These should enable us to cope with the rising amount of critical
challenges.
Indonesia attaches great importance to
the emerging issues of common concern that are reflected in the various
reports of the regional PrepCom meetings and the report of the Secretary-General.
Of these concerns, various issues including those of combating poverty,
making globalization work for sustainable development, designing means
of implementation particularly in the areas of financial resources,
the transfer of technology and capacity building, changing unsustainable
patterns of consumption and production, the sustainable management
of natural resources for development and strengthening the international
institutional framework for sustainable development, clearly merit
our full consideration as high priorities at the global level. In
this context, I wish to encourage delegations to avoid producing long
“shopping lists” of issues and to provide room for flexibility so
as to enable the regions to focus on their own specific issues and
priorities.
For this purpose, our work should identify
constraints and propose concrete and practical measures to overcome
them. It is critical that we seek to produce action-oriented decisions
with clear time-bound measures to strengthen the implementation of
Agenda 21 and the other relevant outcomes of UNCED as well as the
Millennium goals. In this regard, my delegation wishes to propose
that the programme of action should encompass sectoral
and cross-cutting issues including, among others, water, energy and
partnerships. Such a programme would generate increased impetus for
achieving our economic, social and environmental objectives.
Moreover, the structure of the document on the programme of action
should be practical, simple, concrete and applicable and most importantly
it should be definitely a user friendly document. This would essentially
enable all stakeholders to make the fullest use of it as a practical
guidance for the execution of their respective responsibilities and
mandates in pursuing the common goals of sustainable development.
In this context it is undeniable that concrete initiatives and partnerships
for strengthening the implementation of sustainable development goals
at the sub-regional, regional and global levels as well as between
governments and with major groups, are significant steps that should
be further developed during the ongoing process.
Mr. Chairman,
Having sought to formulate the programme
of action, it is undeniably important that we seek to strengthen the
institutional framework for effectively moving sustainable development
forward. This would go a long way in ensuring effective implementation
at the field level. Based on the experiences learned and taking into
account the revitalization process within the UN, we need to ensure
sustainable development governance at both the regional and global
levels. This would help achieve coherence in the implementation of
the three pillars of sustainable development. In this way, a strengthened
institutional framework on sustainable development would ensure effective
implementation of the programme of action which is to be developed
by the Johannesburg Summit. The institutional framework should be
able to perform the role of coordination and integration among relevant
institutions particularly of those within the UN system; function
as a monitoring mechanism and most importantly, the institution
would mobilize financial resources, facilitate the transfer of environmentally
sound technology and promote capacity building.
Finally, Mr. Chairman, a vialble programme
of action cannot be effectively implemented without firm political
commitment. For this reason we see, a strong political declaration
by the world leaders as providing a solid basis for all to support
concrete implementation in the field. It would also help to make sustainable
development an instrument of building peace and for lessening injustice
in the world. My delegation realizes that our deliberations on this
subject will not be formally started until the fourth PrepCom. However,
we see the need to solicit preliminary views and ideas as soon as
possible so as to better enable us to facilitate the process. In this
context, my delegation also wishes to take this opportunity to underline
that the WSSD must develop a strong political declaration so as to
deliver a clear message to all. It must also reflect genuine partnership
and embrace ownership by all. It is also of paramount importance that
the declaration should be concise and use clear language that is understandable
to all. And, it should be visionary and inspiring and contain a message
of hope for building a more peaceful and just world that promises
harmony between one another as well as with nature.
To conclude, my delegation would like
to propose a shift from focusing on sustainable development as a paradigm
to seeing it as an “instrument” for poverty eradication, for solving
social tensions both within and among nations and for promoting lasting
global partnership.
Thank you.
