Resolution 1449 (2005)1
The environment and the Millennium Development
Goals
1. In September 2000 the United Nations General
Assembly unanimously adopted the Millennium Declaration. The Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs) are part of the road map to implement the Millennium
Declaration in addressing the world’s most important development
challenges. A Millennium Review Summit will take place in September 2005
to assess progress and give directions to meet the MDGs. Sustainable
development is at the heart of the MDGs and this should be reflected
in the decisions to be taken at the UN meeting in September 2005.
2. The Parliamentary Assembly recalls its Resolution
1318 (2003) on globalisation and sustainable development, highlighting
the links between globalisation, planet-wide risks and shared responsibilities
that create a need for concerted action by the international community,
as well as its Resolution
1319 (2003) on the follow-up to the World Summit on Sustainable
Development: a common challenge, where the Assembly stressed the opportunities
that parliamentary action can provide as a useful contribution to sustainable
development at the global level.
3. The Assembly welcomes the commitment of
the heads of state and government of member states of the Council of
Europe to achieve the MDGs expressed in the Warsaw Summit Declaration
and Action Plan of 17 May 2005 and in particular the reference to “everyone’s
entitlement to live in a balanced, healthy environment” (Action
Plan, IV-3) and to “promoting sustainable development” (Action
Plan, II-7).
4. The goal of ensuring environmental sustainability
(MDG 7) includes specific targets to integrate sustainable development
principles into country policies and programmes, reverse the loss of
environmental resources; reduce by half the proportion of people without
access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation by 2015; and achieve
significant improvement in the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers
by 2020.
5. The targets included in MDG 7 are far
from being met and more needs to be done to take environmental concerns
into account. Besides the great importance of ensuring global sustainability,
the state of the environment is also crucial for achieving other Millennium
Development Goals: a clean and safe environment is indeed a necessary
condition to achieve the MDGs related to improving human health and eradicating
poverty and hunger.
6. National sectoral policies, such as those
relating to the environment, agriculture, fisheries, energy and education,
can have a major influence on aid and development policies of industrialised
countries and therefore have an impact on meeting the MDGs. A number
of countries, including those of the European Union, are working on ways
in which non-aid policies can assist to accelerate progress to meet the
MDGs.
7. The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, published
in March 2005, has shown that 60% of ecosystem elements supporting life
on earth, such as fresh water, clean air or a relatively stable climate,
are being degraded or used unsustainably. We can decrease the human pressure
on the services that nature provides but this requires radical changes
in the way nature is treated at every level of decision making, as well
as new forms of co-operation between government, business and civil society.
8. The MDGs are a very ambitious set of objectives
but they can still be achieved by 2015 with intensive efforts by all
parties to improve governance, actively engage civil society, mobilise
domestic resources, substantially increase aid and make suitable policy
reforms at the global level, such as in the field of trade.
9. The Assembly recognises the high impact
that personal choices and decisions in Europe have in other parts of
the world. It also recognises that it is a challenge for Europe to address
the impact of its own production and consumption patterns on the global
environment and stresses the need to de-couple economic growth from environmental
degradation.
10. The Assembly affirms the importance of
taking account of the cost of inaction and weighing it against increased
future costs of action. The Assembly recalls its Recommendation 1653
(2004) on environmental accounting as a sustainable development tool,
where it underlined that the adoption of such an accounting system at
all levels of government would enable political decision makers to know
the environmental outcomes of the policies implemented, as well as integrate
the “environment variable” into decision-making processes,
and therefore make the environmental effects of government policy more
perceptible.
11. The Assembly fully supports European
Union plans to “do more” about achieving the MDGs by focusing
on increasing official aid, speeding up reforms to improve the quality
of aid, rethinking the way that the EU influences the conditions for
development and ensuring that Africa is the main beneficiary of these
new approaches, while seizing new opportunities for partnership between
the two continents.
12. The Assembly considers unacceptable that
1.2 billion people in the world lack access to safe drinking water and
2.6 billion lack access to basic sanitation. It recognises that EU governments
provide €1.4 billion annually to water and sanitation in developing
countries, as well as the additional resources provided by civil society
organisations.
13. It welcomes World Water Day on 22 March
2005, marking the start of the UN International Decade for Action “Water
for Life”, (2005-2015). It further welcomes the organisation of
a European Solidarity Week on water issues from 17 to 21 October 2005,
in Strasbourg, with the participation of the Council of Europe and the
organisation of a joint colloquy by the Assembly and the Congress of
Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe. This event will
make a contribution to the 4th World Water Forum on “Local Actions
for a Global Challenge” which will take place in Mexico in March
2006.
14. Council of Europe member countries have
a good situation regarding access to improved water sources but the quality
of drinking water often does not meet basic standards, constituting a
major health risk. The level of access to basic sanitation in Europe
is high but the maintenance of sewage systems is a problem in many countries.
The target to integrate sustainable development principles into national
policies and programmes is an area in need of improvement in all countries
and Council of Europe member states need to intensify their efforts to
make progress in “greening” their sectoral policies.
15. In the light of these elements, the Assembly
recommends that member states:
i. ensure access to water and sanitation
for all, which should be considered as a fundamental human right;
ii. address the burden placed on local
authorities regarding the provision of water and sanitation and the
importance of improving local and regional capacity (technical, technological
and financial) to achieve this goal;
iii. improve water governance and facilitate
decentralisation of decision making on water and sanitation matters;
iv. develop integrated water resource management
and water efficiency plans, including the establishment of the necessary
legal and institutional frameworks;
v. support and fully engage on the EU Water
Initiative, designed to contribute to achieving global targets for
drinking water and sanitation by mobilising a wide range of partners
to increase co-ordination and co-operation on water issues at all levels,
under the overarching policy framework of integrated water resources
management based on a river basin approach;
vi. step up efforts to curb unsustainable
consumption and production patterns through regulations, economic incentives,
ecological tax reform, public information and education;
vii. integrate environmental issues in
the dialogue with partner countries and support them to meet their
obligations under environmental agreements;
viii. incorporate the sustainable management
of natural resources, including biodiversity, in development co-operation
programmes;
ix. co-operate and work further to develop
a global framework to address climate change post-2012 by promoting
the implementation of the Kyoto Protocol, based on countries’ common
but differentiated responsibilities and capabilities;
x. endeavour to achieve the objective to
earmark 0.7% of their GDP for official development aid and, for those
that have not already done so, adopt a timetable to meet this target,
which was set in 1970 but has only been met by five member states so
far: Denmark, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, and Sweden. Six
further member states (Belgium, France, Finland, Ireland, Spain and
the United Kingdom) have adopted timetables to achieve this target
before 2015;
xi. work with UN agencies to develop effective
follow-up and monitoring systems to assess progress in meeting the
MDGs and the actions needed;
xii. join efforts with international donors
to tackle the main challenges identified by member states, such as:
a. strengthen institutions and
law enforcement;
b. develop adequate legal frameworks;
c. develop sectoral strategies,
particularly in water and air quality;
d.
increase financial resources;
e. improve public awareness and
public participation;
f. build capacity to collect and
analyse data;
g.
develop local capacities;
h. integrate ecological and social
priorities in the reforms that central and eastern European countries
are currently undertaking;
xiii. establish multifunctional agricultural
policies so as to preserve life’s essential elements: water, air
and soil;
xiv. set up international trade rules,
in the context of the World Trade Organization Doha Round, which take
significant account of the non-economic effects of agriculture on the
environment with the aim of preserving water, air and soil.
16. The Assembly calls on national parliaments
to contribute to keeping the political momentum on the MDGs beyond the
UN Summit in September 2005. It further calls on national parliaments
to lead the way in ensuring that the governments of member states take
action to honour their commitments regarding the MDGs.
17. It recommends that national, regional
and local authorities fully engage, within their area of jurisdiction
and competence, in activities to meet the MDGs so that Europe meets its
share of global responsibility towards other countries and regions, and
to present and future generations.
18. The Assembly urges global leaders, and
particularly the five member states of the Council of Europe that belong
to the G8, to show their commitment towards achieving the MDGs, including
through urgent action against climate change, at the G8 Summit in Scotland
from 6 to 8 July 2005.
1. Assembly
debate on 20 June 2005 (17th Sitting) (see Doc.
10566, report of the Committee on the Environment, Agriculture
and Local and Regional Affairs, rapporteur: Mr Dupraz).
Text adopted by the Assembly on 20 June 2005 (17th Sitting).
