de eerste week teneinde

Wanda raakt al aardig "ingeburgerd". De overige Nederlands sprekende dames in New York Ineke Gijsbers en Katinka van Bekkum (beiden Bahaï), Leida Rijnhout (ANPED), Sasha Gabizon (komende week; WECF) en ondergetekende zijn allemaal actief in de women's caucus en betrokken bij de statements van de women major group. Er zijn vele nieuwe "gezichten" in de women's caucus en dat vraagt veel aan uitleg en afstemming.

Wat citaten uit de statements van de afgelopen week:
van de women major group:

"In teaching the life cycle perspective, it must first be understood that what is taken from earth must be replaced (as much as possible). For every tree cut down, a tree will be planted. With this basic understanding, reusing, reducing and recycling becomes a natural part of life as a way of giving back. Everything in both the natural and person-made environment is valued. Materials used in production of goods is seen as future potential resources of subsequent products or as energy. Implementation of this is hampered by narrow definitions of words and concepts."

"In capacity development and technology transfer, we must recognize traditional knowledge and look for ways to effectively combine this with modern technology. An example of this is the way small-scale (sometimes illegal) gold mining is “educated” in Surinam. Here in consultation with local people, contemporary practices were adapted and taught to the miners.
In the area of chemicals is would be helpful if the UN would create a platform and act as facilitator in the honest and transparent labeling of products, enabling companies to overcome obstacles of having to decide again and again on regulations of common labeling, particularly as product travel from country to country.
Some element, like GMOs are not included in labeling at all. Accurate labeling, as implementation of the right to information (based upon the Rio Principles and the Aarhus Convention), enables women to make informed decisions and better ensure the health of our families."

Hoewel hoofdstuk 19 van Agenda 21 benadrukt dat: “the broadest possible awarness of chemical risks is a prerequisite for achieving chemical safety” is goede informatie over 80.000 – 100.000 toxische chemicalien is nog steeds niet beschikbaar. Het is te hopen dat hier nu eens verandering in komt en de "dead lock" van de Rotterdam Conventie wordt doorbroken.

De intervention over chemicals door de women major group.

Uit de tekst van de vrouwen over Waste: "We would like to echo the Zero Waste approach which proved to create jobs for men and micro-business opportunities for women, produce less harmful wastes to the environment and lead to Zero Warming."

En de statement over DuCroPro:
"The Women’s Major Group is amazed by the lack of focus on the Review of programmes on sustainable consumption and production.
Women are the main consumer group, and empowering women to make responsible decisions is important. Education that empowers consumers, including women and young people, to make responsible, ethical decisions is essential to changing consumer behaviour. In order to support the engagement of women in sustainable consumption and
production initiatives, programmes need to include women in their design and
implementation and they need to integrate the perspectives and recommendations of women.
Women must be supported in undertaking sustainable production activities to enhance their access to legal rights, bank credit, and ownership of land and other natural resources. Women must be recognized as active agents of change and given the opportunity to become owners of wealth ....This is an important means for releasing women’s potential and promoting social cohesion"

Landen (een selectie):
The EU is of the view that:
“The best waste is the one that has not been produced”:
Prevention, in particular pollutants prevention - both qualitative and quantitative -, is a key factor in any waste management strategy and should target any type of waste (hazardous, non-hazardous, radioactive). More research is thus needed on new technologies and on traditional practices able to reduce waste production.
A prevention strategy should be based on the polluter pays principle, include extended producer responsibility and product information availability, and act upstream on the consumption pattern and the eco-conception of the product. Prevention also includes reducing the presence of hazardous substances in products in order to diminish the environmental impact of waste treatment;
The RoHS directive and the REACH regulation are examples of initiatives preventing hazardous waste by regulating the use of certain substances;

“Waste which can’t be prevented should be separated and used to the greatest extent possible through preparation for reuse and recycling”: Reuse and recycling (e.g. of bio-waste) contribute to resource preservation, and when done properly to sustainable growth, and have a lower environmental impact than incineration and landfill;
When it comes to technologies converting waste to energy, “some wastes are very suitable for energy recovery when further recycling is not possible” under certain conditions;
Finally, “disposal should be restricted as much as possible to waste that can not be used in a recovery process” : Banning landfilling of certain types of waste is therefore useful as well as targets for reducing quantities of biodegradable waste in landfills in order to reduce waste-related greenhouse gas emissions....
The EU considers that: Implementing environmentally sound waste management policies also means achieving sanitation and all health related targets in the context of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG); all waste treatment, including reuse and recycling, can have adverse effect on human health and the environment if not applied properly.
Appropriate legislation and Best Available Techniques (BAT) to reduce the polluting emissions of waste treatments are therefore particularly helpful.
Information availability on the occurrence of chemicals in products and their properties is also of major importance;"
Boosting the demand for better products and production technologies and stimulating the diffusion of lower life-cycle impact products should be a priority as well as helping consumers in making informed choices, both when buying a product and when disposing of waste. Targeted initiatives towards specific consumer groups – women, children and youth - are of major importance when it comes to cultural and behavioural change of individuals and communities".

Geen slecht verhaal, maar jammer dat de major groups weer alleen als doelgroep worden opgevoerd!

En de conclusie van Zwitserland:
"Due to the huge flow of goods worldwide, it will not be sufficient to act at the end of the production supply chain only in order to effectively control the environmental impacts. To achieve sustainable development, it will be even more necessary to improve social and environmental criteria all along the life cycle of goods and services."

Opmerkelijk was de presentatie van een van de pannelist die een concrete en gepassioneerde voordracht gaf over de relatie tussen transport en gender.

(Zoals altijd) gaf Noorwegen een goed en gloedvol betoog:
"the gender dimension runs through all the themes of CSD 18.
- Changing unsustainable patterns of production and consumption will not be possible without the empowerment and active participation of women.
- Unsustainable management of chemicals, waste and mining all have negative impacts on the health and welfare of women and children. Women's rights and opportunities must be safeguarded, and they should be empowered to play a more significant role in management and decision-making processes governing these sectors.
- The Norwegian experience shows that active government intervention - through laws and regulations as well as financial incentives - is required to make this happen."

Een opmerkelijke tekst van G77:
"Many delegations have alluded to the concept of green economy, particularly in the SCP discussions. However, for the G77 and China any green initiative needs to be rooted in the context of poverty eradication. Delinking growth from environmental degradation needs to also take into account the social pillar of development.
Additionally, the G77 and China believes that the results of this session need to be forwarded to other relevant ongoing processes, such as the preparations for the High-level Plenary Meeting and the ECOSOC’s AMR theme, mainly women equality.
........How can the CSD and the UN better respond to the interlinkages, cross-cutting issues and particularly implementation gaps in developing countries, particularly in respect to the themes under review?"

Opmerkelijk door de link met women equality én het feit dat er een link met andere processen wordt gelegd!

Maar helaas, dit waren tot nu toe ook de zeer weinigen (buiten de major groups) die echt een relatie legde met gender en vrouwen invalshoeken en belangen tijdens de thematisch sessies.

Tot mijn vreugde maakt UN Water er echt werk van om water op de agenda te houden als cross-cutting issue. Ze hebben een document gepubliceerd (download . pdf) dat formeel naar de CSD is gestuurd.
Uit het document: "Decision-making in all sectors has a significant impact
on water resources issues. At the same time, the management of increasingly stressed water resources will have direct impacts on the themes of CSD-18/19. The contribution of water in areas such as mining and waste management, the impact on water resources of consumption and production patterns and the linkages to broad development goals must be articulated and understood at the political, policy and decision-making levels.
Since water is essential for all social, environmental and economic activities, sectoral approaches will not be sufficient to manage water properly. As such water is a resource that demands a sustainable development lens; and this being the case the participation of users, planners and policymakers at all levels is crucial. This approach described in the Plan of Implementation of the World Summit on Sustainable Development as Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM)4. The summary of the discussions held at the sixteenth session of the CSD, it was recognized that IWRM was the framework for the entire water sector and an essential tool for effectively managing water resources and water-related issues5"

Daar moeten we de vrouwen, de EU en de NL delegaties e.a. komende week nog zeker wat over laten zeggen!

Wanda en ik woonden gisteren een bijeenkomst bij over een initiatief dat de VN wil nemen om duurzame consumptie en productie aanbevelingen ook echt "handen en voeten" te geven: "generation solution". Er is nog veel onduidelijk en de eerste stap is nu om de doelstelling echt duidelijk te krijgen. Op zich is het heel nieuw en hoopgevend dat de VN al anticipeert op volgend jaar en probeert alle major groups op een goede manier bij het proces te betrekken. Het "gevaar" is natuurlijk dat er een derde stroom ontstaat naast 10 year framework en het Marrakechproces - dat mag niet de bedoeling zijn.
De ideeen tot nu toe (uit de concept note):
• To help maintain momentum on SCP
• Develop indicators to identify successful SCP projects
• To show the level of commitment and involvement of civil society in changing consumption and production patterns by raising the visibility of their ongoing activities;
• Support major groups and civil society’s effort to develop common inputs to the 10 years framework of Programmes and to Rio+20;
• To show the UN as the world’s enabler, convener and committed to the sustainable consumption and production agenda;
• To share experience and initiatives on consumer behaviors between major groups representatives, SCP experts and Marrakech Process actors in order to identify key priorities for awareness-raising, education, communications and information, capacity-building on sustainable consumption;
• To foster partnerships, collaborations and innovation across different sectors, regions and markets
• Help assess how the new phase of the Marrakech Process on SCP could support these efforts."

De discussie wordt komende week vervolgd.