Speech Notes - Hon M Robson
The 4th Asia Pacific Alliance (APA/ICPD) Meeting On Population And Development
Opening Address
Hon. Matt Robson
New aid agency
Thank you for inviting me to open your conference today.
I have just returned from a meeting of the Secretariat of the Pacific Community in Noumea. We had a very interesting
meeting and explored how to strengthen the ability of Pacific peoples to live fulfilled lives. New Zealand supports the
SPC because the Pacific region is a central focus of our development assistance.
I am the Minister in charge of aid and I am also the Minister for Disarmament. You wouldn't think that these two
portfolios had a lot in common, but increasingly they do.
Eliminating poverty, protecting the environment, and stopping the illicit trade of small arms are all about creating a
safe and secure Asia Pacific region.
As many of you will be aware we are in the process of creating a new aid agency, semi-autonomous from the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs and Trade.
When the Alliance Labour government first came to power during the dying days of the 20th Century, I called for the most
comprehensive review ever undertaken of New Zealand's Official Development Assistance.
The review (Towards Excellence in Aid Delivery) was finally released in September of this year, and generated a lot of
discussion.
Armed with that report, we set about creating the new aid agency.
At the moment we're developing a job description for a new top executive, and we'll be advertising for that position
soon.
The new agency will have its own vote, and will report directly to ministers.
Other changes under the new structure will include an even stronger focus on poverty elimination and some reduction in
the number of aid partners.
More emphasis is to be placed on basic education and good governance, while human rights will be more closely
mainstreamed into programmes. Gender and the environment will continue to be major considerations.
Population and Environment
The links between population and environment are complex. Two weeks ago I was at the launch of the UN Population Fund's
State of the World Population 2001 report. It highlights the tremendous challenges our region and the wider world face
in providing a healthy and sustainable environment for all our people.
The analysis of future change is cloaked in uncertainties, given our limited understanding of earth systems and their
interactions with changing economic and social conditions.
Shifting consumption patterns, and institutional innovation will undoubtedly continue to affect the environment, as will
the pace and nature of technical change.
There is reason to believe that these changes will hasten the deterioration of environmental conditions faced by already
vulnerable populations in developing countries.
Such deterioration would likely reinforce vicious cycles of humanitarian crises, conflict over resources, and lack of
development.
We cannot afford that kind of insecurity in today's fearful world.
Population growth is very much at the centre of these complex environmental challenges. To confront these pressing
challenges, a concerted global effort is needed.
The World Summit on Sustainable Development next year in Johannesburg will be an opportunity to develop global
initiatives to meet these challenges, and reinvigorate political support for sustainable development.
Sustainable Development
At the UN Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro, the world leaders explicitly for the first time
recognised that the way we were living was a threat to the planet.
It also recognised that protecting the environment is not an end in itself. That we want improved quality of life for
the poor and a world that is sustainable for future generations.
Given the fact that our numbers have doubled since 1960 to 6.1 billion and will likely exceed 9.3 billion by 2050, there
is no doubt that sustainable development is the greatest challenge we face this century.
You don't have to be a rocket scientist to realise that women's right to education and health, including reproductive
health is crucial to achieving sustainable development. The concern of your organisation (APA/ICPD) that the targets for
improving reproductive health, set in the international Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) in Cairo in 1994
have not been achieved, is therefore well founded.
In our own country, improving adolescent reproductive health remains an important challenge.
The key question for all of us is this: 'how can we ensure the well-being of growing human populations, and still
protect the natural world?
It is an important question that New Zealand will take to the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg
NZODA Response
>From the outset, I need to point out that the complexities of the links between environment and social issues is a
challenge we have identified but have as yet to reflect in our programmes. ICPD highlighted the real need to integrate
health and environment programmes. NZODA partnership with your organisation is therefore very important. Let me outline
some examples of NZODA activities in these sectors. · In the reproductive health area, activities include: 1. $575,000
over two years to a "Men as Partners" Project, by UNFPA (United Nations Family Planning Association). UNFPA members in
the audience would know more about the details than I do. Suffice to say, increasing awareness of gender Issues and
reproductive health among men is no doubt a good thing.
2. In support of reproductive health and HIV/AIDS, funding was provided for Pacific delegates to attend United Nations
General Assembly Special Session (UNGASS) on HIV/AIDS in New York in June 2001. Eleven delegates funded comprised one
NGO representative and one official from four countries (the Cook Islands,. Nauru, PNG, and Tuvalu), one representative
from the AIDS Taskforce of Fiji, one from the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) and one journalist.
3. Inter-agency collaboration between NZODA, the Ministry of Health, and the New Zealand AIDS Foundation in preparation
for the Ministers' meeting on HIV/AIDS that paralleled the sixth International Convention on AIDS in Asia and the
Pacific (ICAAP) in October.
4. NZ$300,000 over three years towards the establishment of a regional coordinator for a Pacific HIV/AIDS programme
designed by the Pacific's UNAIDS co-sponsors.
5. NZ$25,000 towards the costs of a Pacific Society for Reproductive Health workshop held in Madang, PNG, in August to
promote continuing education in the field of reproductive and neonatal health care in the Pacific
6. NZ$200,000 towards a UNICEF HIV/AIDS awareness and lifeskills programme for youth in the Pacific.
7. An STD/HIV/AIDS programme which focuses on strengthening the capacity of Pacific Island countries to respond to the
growing number of HIV infections in seafarers.
8. Various HIV/AIDS education programmes in Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, and Myanmar
I'm pleased to say our contribution to multilateral organizations in this area has risen substantially in recent years:
from NZ$500,000 in 1993/94 to $1.8 m in 2001/2002 for UNFPA; and from NZ$400,000 in 1993/94 to NZ$1.15 million in
2001/2002 for the International Planned Parenthood Federation .
We also contribute $200,000 a year to the Population Council, a research organization that has led the way in research
into the development of microbicides. As a female controlled method that does not have fertility control as a
side-effect, microbicides are key to an effective strategy for HIV/AIDS prevention. In the environment area, the 1996
NZODA Environment Strategy for the South Pacific, focuses on building the capacity of Pacific Island Countries to manage
key environmental issues that affect sustainable development in the region. · Our Pacific Initiative for the Environment
(PIE) programme evolved out of this Strategy. Since its establishment in 1998, $5.2 million has been delivered to the
region through this programme. The allocation for the PIE is now NZ$2 million a year. Support has been provided areas
like conservation, hazardous waste management, environment education plus environment impact reports, and support for
areas to do with climate change.
Integration
A recent study by the World Bank, The Quality of Growth stated that, "Development is about improving the quality of
people's lives, expanding their ability to shape their own futures."
This involves much more than a call for higher per capita income. It involves greater gender equality:
· more equitable education and job opportunities · better health and nutrition. · a more impartial judicial and legal
system. · broader civil and political freedom · and a more sustainable natural environment.
The conference in Johannesburg will present an opportunity to integrate all these agendas into initiatives to promote
sustainable development.
Your organisations are to be congratulated for linking environmental protection to individual decision-making and human
rights, including gender equality.
I commend you for your efforts and wish you all the best for this week. I look forward to hearing about the outcomes of
your discussions
Ends