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Climate Change & Energy United Nations Conferences |
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All
of the UN
conferences of the 1990s are interrelated in terms of sustainable
development themes. Whether referred to directly or indirectly, these
inter-linkages should be recognised and used to avoid duplication of work.
Looking at energy and climate change some of the explicit and implicit
references in the conference documents are outlined below.
UNCED (Earth Summit, Rio 1992)
and
UNCED + 5
(1997)
Documents: Agenda 21
(French / Spanish)
Programme for
Further Implementation of Agenda 21
Energy
and climate change are covered extensively in Agenda 21, particularly in
the flowing chapters: ‘Protection of
the Atmosphere’, ‘Combating
Deforestation’ and ‘Agriculture
and Rural Development’. Modern clean energy technology is particularly
relevant to Chapter 34 ‘Transfer of
Environmentally Sound Technology, Cooperation and Capacity-building’.
The chapters pertaining to human
health, human settlement
development, land
resources, desertification
and drought, sustainable
mountain development, and oceans are
also intrinsically related.
The sections on Energy, Transport and Atmosphere in The Programme for Further Implementation of Agenda 21 are all specifically relevant. It was decided at the UNCED +5 review to make Atmosphere & Energy the sectoral themes, and Energy & Transport the economic sector, for discussion at the 9th Session of the Commission on Sustainable Development in 2001.
United Nations International
Conference on Population & Development (1994)
Document:
Programme of
Action, Specifically: Chapter 3:
Interrelationships Between Population, Sustained Economic Growth and Sustainable Development
A discussion relating the implementation of population policies and the meeting of basic needs. Energy provision for the meeting of basic needs, as well as allowing time and resources for economic and educational developments which would in turn promote lower birth rates, is vital.
Global Conference on the Sustainable
Development of Small Island Developing States
(1994)
Document: Programme of Action
Specifically: Chapter 1: Climate Change & Sea Level Rise; Chapter 7: Energy Resources; Chapter 1: Climate Change & Sea Level Rise
“Small Island Developing States are particularly vulnerable to global climate change, climate variability and sea level rise. As their population, agricultural land and infrastructure tend to be concentrated in the coastal zone, any rise in sea level will have significant and profound effects on their economies and living conditions; the very survival of certain low-lying countries will be threatened.”
World Summit on Social Development (1995)
Document: Programme
of Action (French
/ Spanish)
Specifically: Chapter 2, B, 31,a
“Improving availability and
accessibility of transportation, communication, power and energy services
at the local or community level, in particular for isolated, remote and
marginalized communities.”
Fourth World Conference on Women
(1995)
Document:
Platform for
Action
Specifically: Chapter
4, section K: Women & the Environment, paragraphs 246 – 258
A
discussion of the vital role women have to play in sustainable development
– in relation to energy issues this particularly relates to domestic
production and consumption choices, natural resource management, promotion
of environmental ethics (i.e. reducing resource use and recycling to
minimize waste and excessive consumption), and community infrastructure
design.
United Nations Conference on Human
Settlements (HABITAT II) (1996)
Document:
HABITAT
Agenda
Specifically: Chapter
4.C.6: Sustainable Energy Use (French /
Spanish)
145 “The use of energy is essential in urban centres for transportation, industrial production, and household and office activities. Current dependence in most urban centres on non-renewable energy sources can lead to climate change, air pollution and consequent environmental and human health problems, and may represent a serious threat to sustainable development.”
World Summit on Food Security
(1996)
Document: Plan of Action (French / Spanish / Arabic / Chinese)
Point 7 “Unless national governments and the international community address the multifaceted causes underlying food insecurity, the number of hungry and malnourished people will remain very high in developing countries, particularly in Africa south of the Sahara; and sustainable food security will not be achieved…” Climate change’s impact on (amongst others) desertification, pollution, forced migration due to environmental conditions, biodiversity, freshwater, rural livelihoods, education, health and poverty amplifies these underlying causes of food insecurity.
Commitment 3,
24
“The resource base
for food, agriculture, fisheries and forestry is under stress and is
threatened by problems such as desertification, deforestation,
over-fishing, overcapacity and discards in fisheries, losses of
biodiversity, as well as inefficient use of water, climate change and
depletion of the ozone layer.”
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