Statement by Minister Ronnie Kasrils, Minister of Water Affairs and Forestry, to the high-level segment of CSD11

Chairperson,

My delegation is sure that we speak for all in expressing confidence in your leadership of this 11th session of the Commission for Sustainable Development. This is an important and historical moment following the World Summit on Sustainable Development, held in Johannesburg, September 2002. It is the first time that we are gathering with the express intention of designing the modalities for the Decade of Implementation. It is a decade at a point in time when multilateralism is under threat, while at the same time fundamental to achieving the global agenda on poverty eradication and sustainable development.

Chair, the South African delegation associates with the statement by Minister of National and Regional Development, Water and Environment of Morocco on behalf of the Group of 77. I would like to thank Mr Desai and Mr Topfer for their opening remarks.

At the outset, South Africa would like to express thanks and gratitude to everyone that made Johannesburg 2002 a success. In our view the World Summit on Sustainable Development has opened the way for the world to take new strides in the foremost challenge of our time -- the eradication of poverty and closing the gap between rich and poor, combined with protection of the environment. The Summit emerged with a number of important outcomes, including:

• High-level commitment to a multilateral agenda for global sustainable development.
• An action-orientated Programme of Implementation, with 37 very specific targets and timeframes.
• A global commitment to poverty eradication in the context of sustainable development.
• Clear linkages between the three pillars of sustainable development. WSSD served as an important point of integration of the global institutions involved in sustainable development implementation.
• A focus on the regional dimension and prominence of the specific concerns of Africa.
• A multitude of voluntary partnerships for sustainable development among the various government and non-government stakeholders.

We believe that the Johannesburg Summit shifted the focus of world leaders from policy debates to the real task of “making it happen” and achieving high-level commitments by heads of state and leaders from business and civil society. The challenge before us, is to maintain the positive momentum established at Johannesburg: in reaching the targets; in collectively mobilising new resources and investing in the necessary infrastructure to meet these commitments. The bottom line is that there is a global business plan in many of the target areas. We now collectively need to put up the resources to match the commitments made in Johannesburg.

South Africa would like to thank the Secretary General for his report entitled “Follow-up to Johannesburg and the future Role of the CSD -- the implementation track”. We have before us, a commendable and comprehensive set of proposals as a basis for our discussions. I have no doubt that, given the collective wisdom in this room, we will develop the most effective way forward - in the interests of the peoples of the world.

I would like to note that we are here to practically take forward 30 years of multilateral work which began in Stockholm, was solidified into a blue print in Rio, and translated concretely into action and time bound targets in Johannesburg. As a result, it was agreed, in Johannesburg, that the modus operandi of this Commission would have to be restructured and transformed into a “new CSD” to meet the challenges and opportunities that face us. Ultimately, this work is aimed at achieving enduring peace, stability and prosperity for all people without compromising the ecological integrity of the planet, upon which we all depend.

Chair, South Africa congratulates the Bureau for the innovative way of organising this 11th session of the CSD. We strongly support the model that enables the political segment to guide subsequent officials’ deliberations. This provides the necessary political leadership and oversight to ensure actual implementation. We would encourage the use of this format in future CSD sessions. Johannesburg identified the CSD as the high level forum to ensure implementation. We believe the work of the Commission will therefore require continued and active participation of Ministers. In this respect it will be important to move away from the almost exclusive representation of environmental ministers at CSD sessions, and ensure active participation of ministers from social and economic portfolios. In an effort to further enhance the way the CSD functions, I would like to address the following important issues:

Firstly, on the organisation of work of the CSD over the next ten years, South Africa supports the idea of a 2-year cycle of work as agreed in Johannesburg. This work program would consist of 1 year focusing on the review of implementation, including assessment of progress and identification of challenges. The review year would be followed by a policy year to identify options for expediting progress, and to consider ways of addressing the constraints. This approach would ensure that CSD deliberations are both focussed and action-orientated.

The 2-year cycle should be streamlined. The components of the cycle, and the nature of their outcomes should be crystallised and designed in a way that enables the international community and partners to meet the objectives and targets set in Johannesburg. Chair, this is the decade of action. We must leave CSD 11 assured that the 2 year cycle provides an empowering framework for all of the actors. In this respect, I would like to highlight the important role of experts and scientists, other major groups and regional groups in implementation. In particular, we welcome the proposals by the Secretary General on regional implementation. One of the innovations of Johannesburg was the emphasis placed on the regional dimension. We believe that this approach will promote implementation and enhance co-ordination between regional and sub regional initiatives and actions.

Secondly, Chair, on the programme of work for the CSD, South Africa is supportive of the principle that there should be a balance of predictability and flexibility. Predictability would enable countries and regions to prepare for CSD sessions, while flexibility would enable the CSD to respond to emerging issues, and maximize opportunities to link with other major initiatives. We would therefore support a logical cluster of issues or themes that (i) integrate the economic, social and environmental components of sustainable development and (ii) deal with interrelationships and inter-linkages between sectoral themes, such as water and sanitation, health, energy etc). South Africa would like to note, however, that the scheduling of themes should not result in countries delaying implementation on those themes that are set for later in the cycle. Progress in regional implementation should be addressed in all themes. In this respect, Johannesburg recognised the special concerns of Africa and we believe this emphasis should be reflected in the future work program.

Thirdly, I would like to address the need for co-ordination of the work of the CSD with other international agencies. South Africa commends the initiative to develop a coherent system wide approach within the UN to the follow-up on the WSSD. We also strongly emphasise the importance of ensuring integration with follow-up work being done on the Millennium Development Goals, the Monterrey Consensus and other international conferences. It is important to clarify the responsibilities of UN agencies and other international institutions including the WTO and Bretton-Woods Institutions, in implementation of the JPoI.

Fourthly, a key success factor for the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation will be a mechanism to monitor, evaluate and report on progress. In this respect, we will have to define a reporting format that allows for review and analysis of accountability and responsibility at all levels of governance, of international agencies and of stakeholders involved in implementation. The reporting formats must be rational, accessible and empowering to the different players in order to enhance implementation. In particular it is necessary for the reporting system to be co-ordinated in a way that minimises duplication, and that organises for the CSD to be the reporting platform for implementation of the global sustainable development agenda.

Fifthly, the CSD will need to strengthen the role and interaction of stakeholder engagement, building on the innovative dialogue techniques developed at WSSD. The role of major groups in implementation cannot be over-emphasised. In this context it will be important to develop a system that enables reporting of progress by major groups.

Finally, the partnership initiatives were innovative products of the WSSD evolving from a recognition that governments alone would not be able to provide the resources necessary for implementation. They provide a vehicle for the involvement of a wide range of actors, for leveraging and accessing resources. South Africa believes that these partnership initiatives should reinforce (rather than undermine) the implementation of formally negotiated inter-governmental commitments as stated in the JPoI. A mechanism is needed to introduce special reporting, accountability and responsibility measures for partnership initiatives, while recognizing that they are essentially voluntary in nature.

In conclusion, Johannesburg reminded us that poverty eradication, changing unsustainable patterns of production and consumption, and protecting and managing the natural resource base of economic and social development are overarching objectives of, and essential requirements for, sustainable development. This is the framework that should guide the future work of the CSD and contextualise implementation of priority issues for South Africa such as access to water and sanitation, access to energy, food security and management of biodiversity.

I thank you.