STATEMENT

BY

H.E. AMBASSADOR Dr. ISTVAN NATHON
PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE OF THE REPUBLIC OF HUNGARY
TO THE UNITED NATIONS

AT THE HIGH LEVEL SEGMENT OF THE 5TH SESSION
OF THE COMMISSION ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

NEW YORK
APRIL 9, 1997

Mr. Chairman,

Hungary has devoted great attention to the integrated environmental initiatives and programmes of the various international organizations and in particular, to the comprehensive international programme of sustainable development that was adopted at UNCED in 1992.

We believe that the main objectives of Agenda 21 have more relevance than five years ago. Some success has been achieved in their implementation, significant further efforts are necessary, however, to respond adequately to the critical cross-sectoral and sectoral challenges identified in the programme.

Consequently, there is a need to formulate more concrete, realistic action plans for certain areas and to proceed with their implementation by taking into account the experience gained at international, national and local levels for the past five years.

The UN General Assembly Special Session on Environment and Development will be an exclusive occasion to review the progress, to evaluate the effectiveness of the legal, institutional and financial instruments, to formulate the strategy for the further actions, to set up priorities for the next multi-year work programme. We support the view that the outcome of UNGASS should deal with the most important problems and tasks including the sectoral and cross-sectoral issues at various levels of implementation and the strengthening of institutional system. The UNCSD is the appropriate body to provide political guidance and to facilitate the interagency and intergovernmental cooperation for the revised work program.

The proposed outcome of the Special Session compiled by the Co-Chairmen as part of the report of the Ad Hoc Open-ended Inter-sessional Working Group of the CSD is a good basis for our discussions. At the same time, certain important issues could not be solved by the ad-hoc group and there is a need to provide clear policy guidance for the further work during present session of the CSD.

In relation to these critical issues and the identification of the priorities for the forthcoming period Hungary strongly supports the position of the European Union presented by the head of the Dutch delegation. In addition, there are several specific points that we wish to highlight in relation to certain sectoral, cross-sectoral and institutional elements of our further work.

Energy and transport sectors

Unfortunately, the key economic sectors were not adequately treated by the Agenda 21. The proper use of the concept of integrated environmental management necessitates the special consideration of these sectors.

We strongly support the position of the EU on the need to focus on those economic sectors that are critical in terms of their economic, social and environmental aspects. Primarily, these sectors include energy, transport, land use and agriculture, water management, forestry, and tourism. Present trends of increase in global energy demand and the linkage between energy production and various types of hazardous emissions justifies a strong focus on this issue.

The harmful side-effects of energy production and use (e.g., CO2 emission, radioactive waste generation) should be minimized in every possible way. The best of these methods is especially, in our region is the promotion of energy efficiency.

Taking into account these aspects, the CSD could well coordinate and synthesize the existing initiatives and programmes within the UN especially for the energy sector. The multitude of the relevant programmes are well defined in the report of the Secretary-General document on ongoing energy-related activities within the UN system (E/CN.17/1997/7).

One special case of energy consumption is transport with various negative environmental effects. The increased demand for mobility and the spectacular growth of international trade indicates that this issue is worth of attention. Transport could be one of the sectors where reallocation of existing resources and policy changes would bring remarkable results: benefits for societies and the environment. In this context, we support the Austrian proposal to include the transport sector in the priority list for the next multi-year programme.

Freshwater resources

Increasing pressure on freshwater resources and the unsustainable exploitation of groundwater are worth of global concern. Moreover, freshwater scarcity is among the problems which can undermine international security in certain regions of the world. The situation is well illustrated by the Global Freshwater Assessment presented by the Secretariat. This topic should be among the high priorities of the international community during the coming years.

We think that there is a strong need for further efforts in ensuring the availability of safe freshwater and protection of freshwater resources by strengthening the appropriate regional co-operation, inter alia, in accordance with the UNECE convention on transboundary water courses (Helsinki, 1992), which is an important legal instrument.

We strongly support the proposed Global Water Initiative for the comprehensive management of global freshwater resources. Due to the seriousness of the issue we would like to see it on the agenda of CSD during the next year.

Climate Change

The Climate Convention (FCCC) was one of the most important achievements of the "Rio process" and essential steps have been taken to fulfill the commitments under that convention for the past years. It is now critical to continue the implementation of the commitments and at the same time to agree on strengthening of those commitments beyond 2000.

We support the basic elements of the EU proposals on the planned new protocol to this convention. Jointly with some other Associated Countries of the EU we have submitted more specific proposals on quantified emission limitation and reduction targets and the related policies and measures.

Biodiversity

The formulation of the national strategies and action plans, the provision of information based on the country studies and the biodiversity conservation efforts are important tasks along with those set in the Agenda 21 in context of the development and environmentally sound use of biotechnology. These activities should respond to the major challenges in relation to conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity. For this reason, we highlight the importance of the negotiations on the biosafety protocol.

Toxic chemicals and hazardous waste including radwaste

Despite the fact that a considerable progress has been achieved on legal and technological elements for the sustainable management of the toxic chemicals and the dangerous wastes, these substances still cause increasing problems world-wide.

In this relation, the provisions of the Basle convention indicate a good direction or the ongoing negotiations on the PIC procedure mean also a straightforward approach. The development and extensive application of clean production technologies is vital in order to reduce the generation of wastes, in particular, that of the hazardous wastes.

Special attention should be devoted to the problem of the radioactive waste and in particular, to their transboundary movement and environmentally safe and sound disposal.

Desertification

Drought management and coping with desertification were recognized by the Agenda 21 as critical sectoral issues. The convention gives now a good legal basis to enhance the international cooperation in this field and it is of utmost importance to facilitate its implementation. Drought management is an essential question for Hungary since large part of our country is classified as a semi-arid or sub-humid area.

National sustainable development programmes

There is a need for promoting more effective policy integration of social and environmental considerations in regional, national and local level development policies and programmes. Our integrated national environmental programme has been prepared recently and it includes all critical principles and elements of sustainable development. It takes into account among others the objectives of such international environmental policy programmes as the Central and Eastern European Environmental Action Plan adopted in 1993, the environmental plan of the European Union and the Agenda 21.

We believe that the national level programmes give the comprehensive basis for the actual implementation of the Agenda 21 and the priorities and elements of those programmes should be evaluated and if necessary updated in light of the progress of their implementation.

Local initiatives

We support that UNCSD and UNGASS encourages the local communities to develop and implement local programmes on sustainable development and create an institutional bridge among these activities.

For strengthening this process, there is a need to reinforce the international and national level collaboration of these local societies that elaborate and/or implement a Local Agenda 21 Programme. One of the critical issues to be discussed is the appropriate financial background or mechanism to support these activities.

Environmental health

Health related environmental problems were duly considered in the Agenda and by the CSD. We consider this topic as one that needs further strong attention in the next multiyear programme of the CSD.

In particular, there are good examples for the appropriate regional activities in this area. WHO Regional Office of Europe coordinates environmental health activities and within the framework of this international collaboration, Hungary as a "pilot country" elaborated a national environmental health action programme.

Role of education and mass media in raising public awareness

None of the profound targets set up by the UNCED can be implemented without the active involvement of the various groups of society and without the transformation of their mentality to understand and to follow the principles of sustainable development. It underlines the importance of education at all levels, role of media and in general the increase of public awareness in relation to the increasing environmental and other non-sustainable socio-economic problems.

In the relevant documents of the CSD one cannot find substantial provisions on the role and tasks of education and media in forming an adequate environmentally sound public opinion. The idea of sustainable development is in a very critical situation in the newly born democracies because it has no roots in the past.

As one element of these problems, the ongoing process of privatization of the mass media in our country puts forward the profit oriented attitude and it reinforces certain unsustainable consumption patterns.

We think that the propagation of the new approach of the societies to nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources is the guarantee for intra- and intergenerational social equity.

The future of the UN Commission on Sustainable Development

The UNCSD proved to be an efficient forum for promoting the implementation of the Agenda 21, facilitating the coordination among the various UN organizations and IGOs, exchange of views of national delegations and the representatives of the NGO community on their successes, experiences and problems in course of implementation of the national and/or local level programmes.

In light of this progress, the role and the working style of the CSD should be maintained and further developed in certain aspects. In particular, a clearer and better division of labour is necessary within the UN family by taking into account the special position of and experiences gained by the CSD.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman

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