|
Commission on Sustainable Development
Ninth session, 16-27 April 2001
Agenda item 6
Decision 9/4
Information for Decision-making and Participation
Introduction
1. The availability and
uses of information are issues that cut across all chapters of Agenda
21 and its implementation. Countries in all regions of the world have
made substantial efforts to improve the quality, coherence and cost-effectiveness
of data and information gathering in the years since UNCED. In this
context, it is essential to increase investment in human beings, recognize
the value of diverse views and appreciate the power of stakeholder participation
if countries wish to take advantage of the opportunities that the new
knowledge economy presents. A more effective role for an independent,
objective media in support of sustainable development is to be promoted.
However, there remain significant gaps in the availability and uses
of information in many countries. Those developing countries suffering
from inadequate infrastructure and information systems and those parts
of the population too poor to tap into to new information sources are
being left behind. Developing countries, in particular, need technology
transfer, capacity building and will require adequate, predictable,
new and additional financial resources, in accordance with chapter 33
of Agenda 21, and paragraphs 76 to 87 of the Programme for the Further
Implementation of Agenda 21, to modernize or establish their information
systems.
Guidance to the multilateral system
The Commission:
2. Recognizing that enhancing
information for decision-making in order to achieve sustainable
development will require international cooperation and actions compatible
with national priorities and circumstances, and seeking to provide assistance
to developing countries as well as countries with economies in
transition to achieve sustainable development:
Improvements in functioning, coherence and coordination
(a)Encourages international organizations, including
international convention secretariats, to rationalize their requests
for information with respect to voluntary national reports so as to
avoid duplication and unnecessary burden on countries, particularly
developing countries. The international organizations should build
on existing efforts to improve the compatibility of data collection
methodologies. The purpose of the data requests should be clearly
specified and there should be a demand driven shift from available
information to needed information.
(b)Calls for strengthening access by developing countries
to information on sustainable development and measures to ensure that
the commercialization of information does not become a barrier to
developing countries in this regard.
(c)Encourages greater access to Internet information
for persons with disabilities.
(d)Urges strengthened cooperation and coordination
among global observing systems and research programmes for integrated
global observations, taking into account, the need for sharing,
among all countries, of valuable data such as ground based observation
data and satellite remote sensing data.
(e)Encourages countries and relevant international
organisations to develop information systems, which make the
sharing of valuable data possible, including the active exchange of
earth observation data.
(f)Calls for promoting the development and wider
use by developing countries of innovative technologies such
as global mapping, geographical information systems, video transmission
technology and Internet technology for dissemination and use of
satellite data.
Training and capacity building
(g)Encourages countries, particularly developed countries,
with the cooperation of relevant international organizations, as appropriate
to:
(i)Assist in training and capacity-building, particularly
in developing countries, which will help promote wider use of information
and communication technologies, including satellite data, and its application;
(ii)Assist governments of developing countries to develop
the needed technological infrastructure for sustainable development
through, inter alia, transfer of technology, including transfer of necessary
hardware and software, and implementation of capacity building programs
to this effect.
(iii)Assist in strengthening national information systems
and statistical agencies to ensure that efforts in data collection and
analysis are efficient and effective and able to meet a range of decision-making
requirements.
(h)Calls for assisting countries, particularly developing
countries, in their national efforts to achieve accurate, long-term,
consistent and reliable data and use of satellite and remote sensing
technologies for data collection and further improvement of ground-based
observations.
Approaches to Indicators of Sustainable Development
The Commission:
3. Recognizing that any indicators
developed under the CSD Work Programme on indicators of sustainable
development are intended only for use by countries at national level
on a voluntary basis, suited to country-specific conditions, and shall
not lead to any type of conditionalities, including financial, technical
and commercial:
(a)Reiterates the need for CSD to keep under review
the full range of indicators with full participation and ownership
of Member States of the UN, with a view to avoiding duplication, as
well as ensuring the transparency, consistency and reliability of
these indicators.
(b)Emphasizes, in accordance with ECOSOC Resolution
2000/27, that the indicators used by the United Nations Secretariat
in the context of the coordinated and integrated follow-up to major
United Nations conferences and summits should be developed with the
full participation of all countries and approved by the relevant intergovernmental
bodies.
(c)Notes the important role that national governments
of the 22 testing countries played in developing the CSD Work Programme
on experimental indicators of sustainable development and in this
context notes the usefulness of the above mentioned exercise and requests
that further work on these and other indicators be undertaken in accordance
with ECOSOC Resolution 2000/27.
(d)Encourages the further work on these and other
indicators for the purpose of sustainable development in line with
national conditions and priorities in defining and implementing national
goals and priorities for sustainable development, including integration
of gender aspects, and encourages the involvement of all national
stakeholders, as appropriate.
(e)Stresses the need to further develop indicators
on means of implementation to evaluate progress towards conference
goals in creating an enabling environment for development.
(f)Urges developed countries and international organizations
to assist developing countries, as appropriate, in establishing the
basic capacities for the development of national indicators of sustainable
development through, inter-alia, financial support, capacity
building, technical assistance and twinning arrangements.
(g)Recalls ECOSOC's invitation to the Statistical
Commission to serve as the intergovernmental focal point for the review
of the indicators used by the United Nations system for the integrated
and coordinated implementation of and follow-up to major United Nations
conferences and summits at all levels, and the methodologies employed
in formulating them, including in the context of the elaboration of
the common country assessment, and to make recommendations with a
view to facilitating future consideration by the Council.
Recommendations for activities at the National Level
4. At the national level, Governments,
taking into account their priorities and respective national circumstances,
with the support of the international community, as appropriate,
are encouraged to consider to:
(a)Take measures to ensure access to environmental
information, public participation in decision-making and access to
judicial and administrative proceedings in environmental matters in
order to further Rio Principle 10, taking into full account, Principles
5, 7, and 11 of the Rio Declaration.
(b)Collect and provide access to relevant information
for decision-making for sustainable development, including gender
disaggregated data, incorporating indigenous and traditional knowledge
into information bases for decision-making, as appropriate.
(c)Establish guidelines to help distinguish between
specialized information that can be effectively commercialized from
information that should be freely available to the public.
(d)Develop strategies to improve access by all segments
of society to information and communication technologies, including
the Internet to increase public awareness about sustainable development.
(e)Incorporate data and findings from research and
monitoring activities into the decision-making process.
(f)Incorporate sustainable development performance
information produced by major groups, including the private sector,
in relevant decision-making processes.
(g)Promote, with private sector participation, measures
to give developing countries access to information essential for sustainable
development
(h)Foster sustainable development in cooperation
with international organizations, by encouraging and providing
needed technological infrastructure, in particular to developing countries,
and implementing capacity-building programmes that reach out to all
sectors of society.
(i)Develop strategic partnerships with non-governmental
organizations and the private sector to stimulate innovative data
generation, collection and analysis methods.
(j)Encourage the application of traditional and community
knowledge to sustainable resource and community management.
|