WSSD Statements: Botswana, Bolivia

BOTSWANA

Statement

by

HIS HONOUR LT. GENERAL SERETSE KHAMA IAN KHAMA
VICE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF BOTSWANA

to the World Summit on Sustainable Development

Johannesburg, South Africa
2nd September 2002

Mr. President

1. Ten years ago at Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, we the international community committed itself to cooperate in the promotion of a peoplecentered development process aimed at securing a global environment that is conducive to sustainable economic growth and development. Today, the optimism of Rio has not been realised. The world has witnessed unacceptable levels of poverty, disease, economic stagnation, environmental degradation and many other problems caused in part by natural disasters and in part by poor governance. These conditions have deprived multitudes of people the basic necessities of human life and dignity.

2. In response to all these challenges, the international community convened a number of Summits and Conferences, which adopted action programmes with a direct bearing on sustainable development. It is my hope, that the Johannesburg Declaration and Plan of Action will refocus world attention on key priority areas to ensure sustainable development.

3. The momentum generated by the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in 1992, marked a new global approach to sustainable development. It played a catalytic role, which influenced Botswana to adopt an integrated approach to development underpinned by the three pillars of sustainable development, namely; economic development, social development and environmental protection. This transformation involved the sustainable use of natural resources so as to ensure that sustainable development is consistent with economic growth.

4. In Botswana, we have declared poverty eradication a central focus of our National Development Planning Framework. Botswana's long term strategy, "Vision 2016: Towards Prosperity For All" - pledges the eradication of poverty by 2016.

5. In this regard, we have to recognise that actions taken at national level alone cannot be sustained in the absence of a supportive global environment. Such an environment must incorporate an appreciation of the critical role played by trade, finance, investment, technology and Official Development Assistance. I am however encouraged that poverty eradication features prominently in the draft plan of implementation which we will be adopting during this Summit.

6. Since Bali, the international community has been grappling with the difficult issue of financing for sustainable development. We cannot overlook the imperfections in the financial and global trading systems, which-impede development in low-income countries. In discussing financing, we should not merely restrict our agenda to issues of development assistance. Aid alone, is not a sufficient condition to address problems of development. We should give due regard to other innovations that can generate more financial resources.

7. In our view, Mr. President, these should include greater market access, technology transfer, enhanced Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), combating HIV/AIDS and capacity building for developing countries. But these have to be matched by appropriate policies and conducive environment, and governance that is responsive to basic freedoms. To this end, with commitments from the Monterry Consensus, the international community has another opportunity to pursue sustainable development efforts and to take Agenda 21 forward.

8. The Member States of the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) and Africa as a whole appreciate the support extended to a number of countries in the continent through the Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative. Such support will contribute to enhanced economic growth prospects in Africa and towards fulfillment of sustainable development challenges. We also appreciate the support the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) has received. NEPAD recognises that Africa's development problems and challenges can only be addressed successfully in partnership with international cooperating partners.

9. At Rio, none of us had anticipated that HIV/AIDS would become a global challenge of such magnitude. HIV/AIDS is a tragedy that is preventable by humans and therefore one the Summit must address resolutely. Let us seize this opportunity while we are here to make tangible commitments to reverse the devastating effects of HIV/AIDS in Africa and elsewhere in the world through all possible interventions. We must redouble our efforts to meet the agreed targets as set out in the United Nations General Assembly Special Session Declaration on HIV/AIDS. The Global Fund established at this Session must be provided with adequate resources and made accessible to all affected countries.

10. Despite the setbacks resulting from the many challenges we face, including HIV/AIDS pandemic, Botswana remains committed to the success of the critical conventions that address the need for a sustainable use of the Earth's environmental resources. To this end, Botswana is actively implementing all three Rio Conventions namely; the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Convention to Combat Desertification and Drought. We have also become party to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety and the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance for which the Okavango Delta has been designated as our first Ramsar site.

11. In a deliberate move to ensure the protection and conservation of biodiversity, Botswana has set aside seventeen per cent (17%) of its land territory as national parks, game and forest reserves.

12. In Botswana water is a scarce resource, and a very critical economic, social and environmental resource. Access to safe clean water is a basic human right. The Government of Botswana is currently reviewing the National Water Master Plan that was completed in 1992. The Water Master Plan provides for development and better management strategies for water resources in the country. Achieving the Millennium development goals of access to safe drinking water and sanitation remain key elements of poverty eradication and disease prevention.

13. The Government of Botswana recognises the complementary role of other stakeholders in development as identified by Agenda 21. The private sector, community based organisations, the youth and other members of civil society are vital partners for sustainable development.

14. We must at this Summit set ourselves clear, specific and time-bound targets on strategic areas of importance in the economic, social and environmental arena. We must then monitor and review our progress, reorient our actions and priorities in order to address the emerging global challenges.

Mr. President,

15. Botswana is fully committed to the implementation of sustainable development programmes through Agenda 21 processes. We endeavour in this regard, to deploy our energies towards the realisation of Agenda 21 and the dawn of a progressive and prosperous community of nations living within a rich Biodiversity in a clean and protected environment.

16. I thank you for your attention.

ENDS

*************

BOLIVIA

Statement

by

Jose G. Justiniano Sandoval
Minister of Sustainable Development and Planning
and Head of the Economic and Social Ministerial Council Republic of Bolivia

at the World Summit on Sustainable Development

Johannesburg, South Africa 2 September 2002

Mr. President:

RESPONSIBILITY AND SUSTAINABILITY

1. We hope this meeting will be known in History as the Responsibility Summit.

2. As the globe is warming in economic, social and environmental terms; at a time when terror is threatening cities and fear propagates in people's minds, we are gathered here in Johannesburg. We should congratulate ourselves on our endeavors to foster development rather than talking about weapons. We came to face the crisis, responsibly.

3. It is no longer enough to pinpoint the culprits. The time to blame for the mistakes or unfulfilled promises is over. This is time for action. We have a responsibility with the future, with our children. Hunger is no longer satisfied with protests. Thirst must be quenched.

4. Although these tasks must be undertaken by all of us, the responsibility is differentiated. However, it is undoubtedly a shared responsibility, and those that do their share their implementation, shall be entitled to inherit the Earth for their people.

5. For us Bolivians, sustainable development has not merely meant the promised land, but has also become a path to follow. From our standpoint, sustainable development has four and not only three components. In addition to the economic, social and environmental aspects, we conceive a fourth dimension of sustainable development: the backbone of political sustainability. Institutionality. Citizen action. Popular participation. Governance. If some preferes, good governance. The governance that is good because it is legitimated from the bottom up and from the inside towards the outside.

6. Since the Rio Summit, we were the first country on the planet that created a Ministry of Sustainable Development. Today, almost 10 years later, my portfolio also includes Planning and coordination of the social and economic governmental areas. We have put into practice an integral and integrated vision. And it is sustained as a State policy.

7. We are also the first country in the world that has certified forests. One million hectares of certified Rain Forests and four hundred thousand hectares are currently being granted certification.

8. The first Article of our Constitution consecrates the principle of a multicultural and multilingual nation. It also ratifies the 169 th, Convention of the International Labor Organization. It acknowledges our indigenous peoples right to be consulted on the use of our natural resources.

9. However, if policies that lack a program are considered blind, it is also true that the best models that lack power are irresponsible.

10. Bolivians and their democratic representatives have had the wisdom to build - in spite of, or maybe thanks to, the current difficult times - a new government that we have come to call the Government of National Responsibility. Responsibility with current and future generations.

11. Our aim is to grant increasingly more power to the people, over and above the power conferred to them by Popular Participation, National Dialogues, Social Control schemes and the Poverty Reduction Strategy.

12. Empowerment to have things done. Empowerment to create. Empowerment to enable people to do. Empowerment to enable people to create. Citizen power. Believing in local capacities and strengthening them. Building capacities on the energy of people as actors of their own development.

13. A responsible community constitutes the basis of global sustainability. In Bolivia, many communities have responded to the trust deposited in them. We are supposed to strengthen the mechanisms to articulate the local endeavors with national and global issues. To promote concurrent actions at the private and public level, becoming a conveyor belt between local and global endeavors and vice-versa. A vehicle driven by production: a productive transformation of the rural areas.

14. The international community must turn globalization into a circuit of opportunities rather than threats. A network of reciprocities and mutual obligations and rights. If our import duties are reduced by this is offset by foreign subsidies, the positive counteracts the negative and irresponsibility is fostered.

15. We believe that we have made good progress in the right direction. We disrupted the coca-cocaine circuit, but we have yet to close the virtuous circle of alternative development. We capitalized our state-run companies, but our neighbors became the victims of Washington's Consensus. We have become the sub-continent's energy core, but the environmental contribution of our gigantic gas reserves are still seeking a sustainable benefit. We have taken great steps in the area of human development, but this progress is still insufficient.

16. We are still lacking concrete markets, accessible technologies and a mechanism that actually rewards the enormous environmental efforts made by out productive sectors and governments. At this Summit we are advocating for a good governance of the international threats, in order to minimize the negative impacts on our internal plans and needs. So the responsibility of the communities requires also a global answer, including financial, commercial and ethical foreign responsibilities.

17. When we fight against corruption we also expect corporate responsibility and transparency. When we create conditions for direct foreign investment, we expect more reinvestment than remittances. When we pay environmental costs, we demand cooperation.

18. Without responsibility from all and for all there is no sustainability, Mr. President. The Implementation Plan that shall emerge from Johannesburg shall also become our responsibility. We should call it Responsibility 21, as a renewed commitment to accelerate the implementation of Agenda 21 . We shall contribute our share to that plan. We have done it since Rio, and we shall continue doing so, with zeal. We shall invigorate it under the Millennium Goals. We will struggle mainly to reduce extreme poverty by half by the year 2015. To attain this, it shall be necessary to establish a sustainable alliance based on inter generational responsibility.

19. In this sense, allow me to conclude by extending an invitation, especially to our brothers in the Americas. During the past decade Bolivia organized the Sustainable Development Summit of the Americas. By the year 2005 many of our nations shall be implementing their sustainable development strategies. Our practice has led us to articulate them with the poverty reduction strategies. My country would be most pleased to host this event once more and become the venue of a renewed articulation effort for the Americas in 2005, as a pragmatic benchmark to put in practice the agreements reached in South Africa. 20. Your country is beautiful, Mr. President, and your call of attention to the world regarding the issue of social apartheid in the Planet, has been clearly listened. Bolivians, our parliament and government and this delegation, with a significant presence of indigenous people, wishes to express a special recognition to your example and the efforts deployed by your people.

21. We are taking with us a lot more than a mere mission. The message of South Africa is one of integration. It is against exclusions of any nature. The United Nations played a key role in putting an end to the pit of colonization, or the fall of the Berlin wall. Hopefully today's multilateral effort is going to be remembered in years to come as the beginning of the construction of the bridge between the haves and the have nots.

Thank you very much.

ENDS

© Scoop Media