Rob Marris: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will make a statement about the outcome of
the World Summmit on Sustainable Development and its follow up. [76116]
Mrs. Beckett: The World Summit on Sustainable Development addressed some of the greatest challenges of our times. For over a year I
had said the Summit should be about more than just fine words. It should be about a step-change--a move from words to concerted
action and implementation. And it was. I also made clear from the beginning that separate fora would take forward discussion on
climate change and on trade, including trade in agricultural produce.
So Johannesburg built on the success of last year's Doha talks on the new trade round, the Marrakech accords on climate change and
this year's Monterrey conference on financing for development. It reaffirmed and strengthened the international community's
commitment to sustainable development, and reinvigorated the Rio Earth Summit agreements as well as the UN Millennium Development
Goals on poverty eradication. There are no silver-bullet solutions, no miracle cures. But what we do have is a new political
commitment, momentum and energy for the attainment of a sustainable world.
As in all negotiations, we were rightly ambitious, given the agenda we had. I judge the final deal reached between the 180
participating countries--for which the UK, led by the Prime Minister, negotiated hard--to be a successful outcome. We went to
Johannesburg to make a concrete difference to people's lives. I believe that we succeeded. And, whilst I understand the
disappointment of those who pushed us for more, I believe that what was achieved, taken in conjunction with the UN Millennium
Development Goals will, if implemented, represent a revolution in the lives of the poorest people on the planet, and the beginnings
of a revolution in how we treat the planet itself.
The Summit agreed an impressive plan of implementation. We agreed a new target to halve by 2015 the proportion of people living
without basic sanitation. This will save millions of lives in developing countries, and support existing goals on safe drinking
water and health. There are also new targets and timetables on chemicals, biodiversity, marine protection and fish stocks. These and
other commitments will galvanise action and set standards for the next 10 years or more.
The Summit also agreed joint actions on reliable and affordable energy provision for the poor and to urgently and substantially
increase the global share of renewable energy sources. The provision of energy is a prerequisite for the achievement of the
Millennium Development Goals. The Summit did not set a global target for renewables, but even those countries which resisted a
global target have nevertheless committed themselves to domestic action. At the Summit the Prime Minister announced that the UK's
Export Credit Guarantee Department will make available £50m per year to renewable energy exports to developing countries.
And on climate change, Johannesburg issued a ringing call for countries to ratify the Kyoto protocol. Three key developing
countries--China, India and Brazil--recently ratified. And crucially, in his positive statement at the Summit, the Russian Prime
Minister Kasyanov again signalled that Russia is preparing to ratify the Protocol. The Canadian Prime Minister, Chretien, said that
Canada will make a decision on ratification later this year. We are hopeful that the Kyoto Protocol might enter into force in early
2003.
Over 300 new partnerships were also launched at the Summit representing in excess of $235million in resources. We are familiar with
the idea of partnerships at home. But this is a bold new idea for the UN. These partnerships will be the unique inheritance of
Johannesburg--they are not a substitute for multilateral commitments, but they will provide additional and complementary resources.
For example, the EU ``Water for Life Initiative'' and the UK-led multistakeholder partnership for water and sanitation will support
the delivery of the new sanitation target and the existing goals on safe drinking water and health.
Johannesburg has given the global community a strong mandate for intensified action at global, regional and national levels. More
fundamentally, it has forged close links between development and environment policy, in the service of sustainable development.
There is now a widespread agreement that development assistance should be directed at helping the poor and that it needs to be
sustainable if it is to be of lasting benefit. Sustainable management of natural resources and of the environment are essential for
poverty eradication. This now needs to be reflected in the poverty reduction and sustainable development strategies of developing
countries.
We shall work with our partners in the international institutions--the UN, the G8 and the OECD--to ensure that development and
environment policy are mutually supportive. We need to ensure that the follow-up to Johannesburg, Monterrey and the Millennium
Development Goals is coherent.
International trade, and climate change issues already have dedicated international processes of their own. On both, the UK
Government is taking a lead role.
The Prime Minister has hammered home the case for trade reform, especially of agricultural subsidies. Developing countries need
improved market access, so they can sell their produce fairly, without being hampered by trade-distorting and environmentally-
damaging subsidies in the developed countries. This is the single most important issue we need to follow up after Johannesburg.
Improved market access and subsidy reform are a joint concern for development and environment policy. Currently OECD countries give
around $55billion in overseas aid, but subsidise their agricultural industries by around seven times that amount. CAFOD have
suggested that through the CAP the average European dairy cow gets a $2 subsidy a day--the same as the daily income of half the
world's population. We will continue to push for reform of agricultural subsidies both within the WTO and, within the EU, on the
Common Agricultural Policy.
And on climate change, later this month I shall be in Delhi for the next stage of the UN negotiations on implementation of the Kyoto
Protocol.
The implementation of the EU's Sustainable Development Strategy will be a driver for change in Europe. In particular, it will need
to reflect the Summit agreement to develop a global ten-year framework of action programmes to accelerate the shift towards
sustainable production and consumption. We need to decouple economic growth from environmental degradation--to get more from less.
The industrialised North has agreed to take the lead on this and it must be central to the EU's Strategy. This means action on a
whole range of issues such as energy efficiency, waste minimisation--a real challenge for us in the UK--and integrated product
policy.
But equally important is action we will take at home. We will integrate the Johannesburg agreements and relevant follow-up into UK
policy and action, with a sharp focus on the use of technological innovation to deliver sustainable development. If, as a nation, we
achieve greater resource efficiency, this will not only help our environment but also improve our competitiveness.
On energy, we are working towards our 10 per cent. renewable electricity target by 2010. We are making great strides in both energy
efficiency and tackling fuel poverty. On climate change we have been leading globally in the Kyoto process. We are on track to meet
our Kyoto target of a 12.5 per cent. reduction in greenhouse gas emissions and have put in place a comprehensive programme of
measures to meet our more ambitious domestic goal to reduce our emissions of carbon dioxide by 20 per cent.
The Government will shortly publish an Energy White Paper that addresses how to set the UK on the longer term path to a low carbon
economy, as the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution and others have recommended. In particular, the Commission has
recommended we put ourselves on the path to 60 per cent. reductions in carbon dioxide emissions by 2050. We will respond formally to
that recommendation at the time of the White Paper, but already it is clear that action on that scale--in the UK and
internationally--is what is necessary.
And, this Autumn we shall be taking receipt of, and later responding to, the Prime Minister's Strategy Unit's report on how we
manage waste, stemming growth, and promoting recycling and re-use.
Last week I hosted a meeting with leading UK stakeholders, to discuss the follow-up action by government and stakeholders at UK
level. This provided a useful forum for us to discuss the proposals developed by stakeholders and within government, and to
establish some shared conclusions on the implications of the Summit.
Our next review of progress toward sustainable development, which will be out early in the new year, will include further details on
how we intend to take the Johannesburg outcomes forward. Over the course of the next year, we will also be reviewing the UK
Sustainable Development Strategy and meeting our Summit commitments will form a significant part of this.
Perhaps the most innovative feature of the Summit was the emphasis on partnerships between governments and civil society;
particularly NGOs and business. The UK delegation therefore included Members of this House, representatives from the devolved
administrations, local government, the UK Sustainable Development Commission, from business and NGOs. And since this was a Summit on
the future, 4 youth representatives. Besides the formal government negotiations there was a wealth of other events and initiatives.
UK participants were active everywhere and made a huge contribution to the overall outcome. Governments must take the lead in
setting the framework for sustainable development, they cannot deliver it alone.
Johannesburg demonstrated that it is possible to reach agreement on practical steps towards a more sustainable world. We must, and
will, keep moving forward. In the words of the UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan; ``This Summit will put us on a path that reduces
poverty while protecting the environment, a path that works for all peoples, rich and poor, today and tomorrow. We have to go out
and take action. This is not the end. It's the beginning.''