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UNESCO FUTURE FORUM ON SIDS 8 July 2009

UNESCO FUTURE FORUM ON SIDS 8 July 2009. Presentation by Cletus I. Springer Director, Department of Sustainable Development Organization of American States. About the OAS. World’s oldest multilateral organization formed in 1889

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UNESCO FUTURE FORUM ON SIDS 8 July 2009

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  1. UNESCO FUTURE FORUM ON SIDS 8 July 2009 Presentation by Cletus I. Springer Director, Department of Sustainable Development Organization of American States

  2. About the OAS • World’s oldest multilateral organization formed in 1889 • Longstanding concerns about peace, governance, development, regional cooperation and security in the Americas • Fully owned and managed by its 34 member states • Holds an General Assembly annually and a Summit of Americas biennially. • Summit in Trinidad and Tobago in April 2009 dealt with human prosperity, energy security and environmental sustainability

  3. OAS Department of Sustainable Development • 40 + years of experience on Sustainable Development and Environment in the Americas. • Principal Technical Arm of GS/OAS for supporting Political Organs of OAS and meeting technical-policy needs of Member States on Environment and SD. • Medium for exchange of information and cooperation through project execution, policy recommendations, support to political bodies and Ministerial Processes. • Vehicle for Public Participation in Sustainable Development and Environmental Management • Technical support for addressing sustainable development and environment in strategic areas of the OAS (* See (CP/CISC–17/03

  4. Structure of DSD • Sections • Energy and Climate Change Mitigation • Environmental Law, Policy and Good Governance • Biodiversity and Sustainable Land Management Risk Management and Adaptation to Climate Change Section RISK-MACC • Integrated Water Resource Management

  5. DSD Mandates • Executive Order No. 96-6 (Creation of DSD) • Summit of the Americas Process • General Assembly Resolutions • CIDI and CIDS Resolutions • Santa Cruz +10 Declaration • Inter-American Program on Sustainable Development (PIDS) 2006-2009 • Strategic Plan for Partnerships for Integral Development 2006-2009 • Declaration on Security in the Americas (October 28, 2003) • PC Committee on Hemispheric Security • Joint Consultative Organ (JCO) on Natural Disasters • National Focal Points

  6. Implementation of Mauritius Strategy in the Caribbean • Progress difficult to quantify due to lack of data • Enhanced public awareness of environment and sustainable development over past 20 years, but not translated into progress • More Ministries of Environment but still fragmented decision-making • More coastal zone management units but still increased sea erosion, sand-mining and destruction of coral reefs • More policies and laws but limited enforcement • Better collection and disposal of solid and liquid waste but limited reuse and recycling • more disaster management agencies but limited vulnerability reduction and resilience building to natural hazard risks • Weak risk management ethic

  7. Implementation of Mauritius Strategy in the Caribbean • Generally: • Inherent vulnerability not being reduced and resilience not being strengthened in most critical areas • Limited use of Market based instruments (MBIs) to encourage transition to sustainability • Economic, social and environmental benefits of RETs not being fully exploited • Wind energy being used in 2 countries • Policy tensions between Government and utilities regarding RETs • Governments not leading by example on energy efficiency • RET use in public and private sector not being sufficiently incentivized • Demand reduction not being encouraged

  8. The International Response • Personal concerns: • Imbalance between international processes and advancement on national SD priorities • Already limited national capacity of SIDS being overburdened by MEA processes (meetings, reporting, verification, etc) • National capacity being redirected towards supporting management architecture of MEAs rather than national level implementation • Plea to UNESCO to break out of this trend

  9. Ideas for UNESCO’s Consideration • Support efforts at promoting integrated development planning in SIDS • Support the identification and absorption of technologies in areas such as renewable energy, waste minimization, hazard risk management, biodiversity management and water resources management, forensics, etc • Promote the use of ICT in early warning systems • Support efforts at mainstreaming climate change mitigation and adaptation in development planning • Promote the design and adoption of green policies and strategies • Support the design of industrial policies especially in cultural industries, in context of ecological services • Help build capacity of SIDS for effective participation in carbon markets • Support community resilience building • Continued support for ISARM initiative

  10. END • THANK YOU!!! • MUCHAS GRACIAS!!! • MERCI BEAUCOUP!!!

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