"PLACING PEOPLE AT THE CENTRE OF
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT ACTION"
Address by
The Most Honourable P.l. Patterson, ON, PC, QC, MP,
Prime Minister of Jamaica
To The High Level Segment of The Sixth Session
Of The Conference Of The Parties to the
United Nations Convention To Combat Desertification
Havana, Cuba, September 1, 2003
SALUTATIONS
Your Excellency President Dr. Fidel Castro
Colleague Heads of State and Government
Executive Secretary, Ambassador Hama Arba Diallo
Honourable Ministers
Distinguished Ambassadors
Mr. President, I am obliged to express deep appreciation to the Government and
people of Cuba for your warm hospitality. It is all in accordance with your
renowned generosity and accumulated experience in ensuring excellent
arrangements for conferences such as this.
To all those delegations who have travelled from afar, I say how privileged the
Caribbean is to welcome once again within our region, a conference of such
importance and timely relevance.
THE BACKGROUND
Mention of the Caribbean rightfully evokes images of natural beauty, lush forests,
delightful beaches and vibrant people.
The resources of the Caribbean undoubtedly are diverse, but are not without
limitation. Indeed their unique combination renders their richness precarious. We
are constantly reminded of our vulnerability to the threats of natural forces as
well as our susceptibility to the ravages of man made disasters.
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Most of the Caribbean suffers from the legacy of plantation agriculture.
The present challenge is how to produce sufficient food to feed our own people;
how to arrest the alarming rate of land degradation and how to reverse the
spread of rapid urbanisation.
As we watch the devastating consequences of these phenomena in other parts of
the world, we must recognise that none of us are immune and we must take
decisive action now to avert any worsening of the present situation.
WHY ARE WE HERE?
Around the world we are witnessing unprecedented fluctuations in weather
patterns - droughts, floods, heat waves causing alarming levels of death and
damage to infrastructure and agriculture.
As is the case in the spread of epidemics, changes in climatic conditions are
oblivious to political or geographical boundaries. The contagion affects us all. No
country, large or small, developed or developing is insulated.
No one can deny the clear linkages between poverty and many forms of
environmental abuse. But let us not omit from the equation the catastrophic
impact on the environment of the global contagion which emanates from
deplorable industrial practices and toxic waste.
Such actions serve to further impoverish all our countries and their populations.
There can be no sustainable development if we fail to take early and concerted
action.
Jamaica therefore, joins with the rest of the international community in
recognising that desertification is a major economic, social and environmental
problem of global dimensions. The implications are multifaceted and far
reaching. Nothing short of a global partnership of decisive action will suffice as
an effective response.
This must involve long term strategies, focussing on the sustained management
of our land and water resources for greater productivity and the benefit of
mankind.
The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification and Drought provides
the best opportunity to focus attention in finding effective solutions to the
problems of land degradation and drought and their potential for perpetuating
underdevelopment and poverty.
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This must involve the early fulfilment of the many far reaching landmark
decisions taken at fora such as the Millennium Summit, the Doha Ministerial,
Monterrey and the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg.
In light of these commitments, it is our belief that the framework provided by the
CCD must be an avenue for helping our peoples overcome poverty and enjoy
enduring improvements in their quality of life.
We must seize the occasion presented by this Convention to forge the necessary
alliances and mobilise the resources needed for positive social and economic
transformation in the lives of our peoples.
FULFILLING THE PROMISES
FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
Let none of us pretend that anyone at the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio could have
anticipated the hectic pace of globalisation and the full consequences of its
impact.
Despite its potential benefits, the reality for many is that the process has
weakened the nation state in critical areas. It has left us vulnerable to disruptive
capital flows and the vagaries of the market. In many regions of the world,
globalisation has caused rampant environmental abuse by large corporations.
At the Millennium Summit in September 2000, the leaders of the world
committed themselves to working towards a world in which sustainable
development and the reduction of poverty would have the highest priority. At the
Summit we reaffirmed our efforts to strengthen the UN and its measures to
eliminate poverty, to protect the vulnerable, to safeguard the environment.
In Johannesburg at the World Summit on Sustainable Development the UNCCD
was recognized as a mechanism for combating poverty. It was also
acknowledged that, "Small Island Developing States are a special case for both
environment and development."
At the Doha Ministerial and Monterrey and Johannesburg Conferences, countries
of the North and South jointly reaffirmed their commitment to the Millennium
Development Goals for poverty eradication and sustainability. In recognition of
that commitment, donors announced the first significant increase in official
development assistance (ODA) in 30 years. Few of these commitments have
been fulfilled.
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The time has come for us to move beyond the promises of Doha, Monterrey and
Johannesburg. The global agenda cannot be confined to regime changes to
secure hegemonic compliance - it must include providing a better quality of life
for humanity.
We are gathered here in Havana to advance the work of UNCCD as a vehicle for
fighting poverty and fostering sustainable development thereby enhancing the
well being of all our peoples.
THE CASE FOR AFRICA
No one would dare to deny that in the context of sustainable development Africa
has acute needs. The continent is particularly affected by the ravages of land
degradation. Africa accounts for the greatest portion of the one billion people
affected by desertification worldwide.
THE SPECIAL NEEDS OF SMALL
ISLAND DEVELOPING STATES
At the same time, the fact that this Conference is being held in an island state
obliges us to explore the issues relating to vulnerability of the natural
environment of Small Island Developing States (SIDS).
Island states are particularly vulnerable to environmental hazards such as
hurricanes, floods and drought which seriously threaten our economic growth
and development.
In our countries, a natural disaster affects the entire country, leaving no area
undamaged and often no place from which to coordinate recovery.
We suffer from:
- limited natural and human resources
- small economies with low levels of diversification
- small physical size
- high population densities
Loss of land for Small Island States is of relatively greater importance because of
the limited availability of the resource. Land is a scarce but critical national
resource to be kept in trust and utilised for the benefit of this and succeeding
generations.
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For Jamaica, as is the situation for all Island States, particularly for us here in the
Caribbean, land is a fundamental resource for economic development and social
well-being. It affects directly every sector of our economy including mineral and
energy sources. Our Tourism Industry depends on it, our farmers live by it.
Next only to our people, land constitutes our most precious asset. Any loss or
depreciation of this resource would condemn us to further impoverishment, with
declining economic returns from our traditional sectors.
We see the identification of the UNCCD by the World Summit on Sustainable
Development as an important recognition of the relationship between the
preservation of this resource and the prospects for national and human
development worldwide.
POVERTY ERADICATION
The emphasis on the role of land preservation as a vital tool in the fight against
poverty and achieving sustainable development demands additional support for
the Millennium Development Goals.
Jamaica and other Member States of the Caribbean Community recognize the
importance of working towards eliminating poverty. It is for this reason we have
embraced the conclusions of the World Summit on Social Development held in
1995, and the Millennium Development Goals which emphasize putting people at
the heart of development.
In keeping with our national needs and international commitments, Jamaica has
established a national policy and programme for poverty eradication. Through a
coordinated multi-agency approach that emphasizes education, sustainable
natural resource management and economic empowerment of our people,
poverty levels have been reduced by close to 50% in the last decade.
But the fight against poverty can never end until each citizen enjoys the right to
decent shelter, adequate nutrition, access to proper health care and acceptable
levels of education in a competitive global economy.
LAND POLICY
Our Government recognises the right of the Jamaican citizen to a protected
environment as part of the broader social, economic and political rights within a
Charter of Rights, firmly entrenched in our Constitution and transmitted through
proactive programmes.
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Some of the programmes we are now pursuing within a sustainable development
context and buttressed by a modern legislative framework focus on watershed
management, reforestation, improved farming practices, a policy for the
protection and enjoyment of our beaches and the management of hazardous and
medical waste.
In recognition of the finite nature of our land resources and the need to correct
decades of indiscriminate use and poor development practices, the Government
of Jamaica with the full participation of all the stakeholders, prepared and
presented to Parliament a comprehensive National Land Policy.
This document covers terrestrial areas as well as territorial waters. It seeks to
adopt appropriate rural and urban land policies, and correct faulty land
management practices that remain a primary contributor to inequality and
poverty and land degradation. We are complementing socio-economic
development by removing inefficient, onerous and outdated legal, administrative
and other barriers.
We have created the Land Administration and Management Programme, to deal
with land registration, information gathering, public management, land use and
planning.
A significant part of this programme relates to the prov1s1on of land titles,
thereby ensuring security of tenure and economic empowerment for many
Jamaicans. It is our belief that greater security of tenure will ensure greater care
of the land and consequently a reduction in degradation.
We have also made significant progress in ensuring environmental sustainability.
We have created a Ministry of Land and Environment and amalgamated three
major agencies into a National Environment and Planning Agency, bringing
together regulatory and planning functions.
NATIONAL ACTION PROGRAMME
With the assistance of the Secretariat of the UNCCD we have embarked on the
completion of our National Action Programme. We have a Draft Working
Document as well as a list of possible projects for support. These will be
amalgamated for final community consultations and completion by June 2004.
The fact that this Conference is being held in the Caribbean almost ten years
after the Global Conference on Sustainable Development of Small Island States,
demonstrates the persistence and determination with which our countries view
the need to find real and lasting solutions to our environmental problems.
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We look forward to the upcoming review of the Barbados Plan of Action
scheduled for Mauritius in 2004.
We applaud the work of the Committee on Science and Technology (CST), in
establishing the Group of Experts and defining their work programme relating to
the Central Theme of Land Degradation and Land Use.
A strengthened Committee on Science and Technology will facilitate the building
of technological capacity and greater understanding of the land degradation
process while providing sound recommendations for preventive actions. Such a
mechanism is important for safeguarding lands that have not yet been degraded
and assisting with the final development of benchmarks and indicators as well as
early warning systems for countries such as ours.
TRADE AND THE ENVIRONMENT
The Fifth Ministerial session of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in Cancun
will commence in a few days. In our preparations as Developing Countries it is
important that we recall the discussions and decisions adopted at Doha to make
this a Development Round.
At Doha there were important references to the linkages between trade and the
environment as well as the promotion of sustainable development enshrined in
the concluding Ministerial Declaration.
Jamaica, along with its Caribbean and ACP partners, reaffirm our position that
Multilateral Environmental Agreements should not be used as non-tariff barriers.
At the same time the legitimate needs of developing countries, in relation to
market access and the effective use of their natural resources, should be taken
into full account in the work on the interaction between trade and the
environment.
OUTCOMES OF HAVANA
We must leave Havana with a clearer understanding of how our individual and
joint actions, as well as the fulfilment of the promises made at the Millennium
Summit, and at Doha, Monterrey and Johannesburg for predictable and reliable
source of funding to implement the UNCCD, can be translated into a better life
for our peoples.
We propose that greater linkages be forged between the UNCCD and the SIDS
process in order to channel greater resources leading to more focussed and
meaningful implementation of the UNCCD in Small Island States states.
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Mr President, if we are to deal with the issues of land degradation in any
meaningful way, we need to remain focussed on attracting financial and
technical assistance, including support for technology transfer and capacity
building.
We urge this Conference to accept the offer of the Global Environmental Facility
to become a financial mechanism to this Convention.
We must recognize the particular needs of Small Island Developing States, and
their requirement for financial resources to address their particular vulnerabilities
leading to a more focussed implementation of the UNCCD
May our meeting in Havana, be remembered for having rekindled and recaptured
our resolve, for an international spirit of solidarity and for having highlighted our
continued commitment to sincere multilateral action as the only enduring method
of problem solving and sustainable development.
Let us leave Havana with a renewed resolve to fulfil the commitments already
made to address the issue of poverty and its contributing factors, ensuring that
by implementing the UNCCD, we would have made significant progress towards
achieving environmental sustainability for the social advancement and economic
prosperity of all our peoples.
Mr President, I thank you.
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Percival J. Patterson Collection
