The Economic and Social Council this afternoon discussed the role of the United Nations system in implementing the Ministerial Declaration of the High-Level Segment of the substantive session of 2008. Following an opening statement by the Vice-President of the Council, it heard a presentation of the annual overview report of the United Nations System Chief Executives Board for Coordination (CEB) for 2008/2009. Subsequently, it held a Panel discussion on the role of the United Nations system in promoting sustainable development in the context of current challenges.

Somduth Soborun, Vice-President of the Council, in an opening statement, said the 2008 Ministerial Declaration stressed that numerous and interrelated challenges threatened the implementation of the globally agreed policy framework for sustainable development. Those challenges ranged from financial instability, to slowing global economic growth, rising food and fuel prices, and the impact of environmental degradation and climate change. Today, in the midst of the global financial and economic crisis, it had become painfully obvious that current growth paths were neither sustainable nor conducive to the achievement of the internationally agreed development goals. The Council needed to adopt a new approach that reconciled short-term sectoral policies and objectives with the longer-term goal of sustainable development.

Thomas Stelzer, United Nations Assistant Secretary-General for Policy Coordination and Inter-Agency Affairs, introducing the annual overview report of the United Nations System Chief Executives Board for Coordination for 2008-2009, said the report provided an overview of the major developments in inter-agency cooperation within the framework of the CEB during the period covering its session in October 2008 and its session in April 2009. Building on inter-governmental mandates and an important set of internal reforms in the prior year, CEB responded to the demands placed on the United Nations system across a range of issues in a timely and integrated manner. The Board recognized that coherence in the work of the United Nations system needed constant monitoring, to ensure the optimal use of resources for the benefit of the world's most vulnerable populations.

Speaking on the panel on the role of the United Nations system in promoting sustainable development in the context of current challenges were Michel Jarraud, Secretary-General of the World Meteorological Organization; Annika Soder, Assistant Director-General at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO); and Christophe Bouvier European Regional Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). Panellists noted that all countries were affected by some form of natural disasters and some were affected by nearly every type of natural disaster, which were part of natural climate variability. However, with climate change, those were changing, becoming more frequent and more intense, and likely to become more devastating over the next decades, which was why it was vital to integrate climactic issues into sustainable development. Global food production would have to double to feed a world population of 9.2 billion, while conserving the natural resource base that was the foundation of agricultural production. The United Nations and agencies had prepared well to be able to support Member States through mitigation and adaptation initiatives: success would be measured more by the mechanisms, institutions and processes that would be set in motion than just the completion of targets assigned to individual countries. A transition to a low-carbon and efficient global economy was already under way, but how fast and far that could go would depend on the political will of global leaders.

In the discussion following, delegations raised, among other things, the question of capacity-building aimed at improving further negotiations. With regard to mitigation and the targets set, how much could countries that absorbed emissions, which were non-emitters, be expected to do so? That question had not yet been discussed and had to be. How would it be possible to ensure that technology transfer commitments were honoured? Where or how could the United Nations system contribute to the regulation of the process of translating policies into concrete actions on the ground? The challenges required coordinated action from the international community and the United Nations, and therefore the policy and inter-agency coordination were also important. Those actions in broader terms required strong partnerships.

Delegations taking the floor during the panel discussion included Canada, Namibia, Pakistan, and Brazil.

The next meeting of the Council will be on Monday 13 July, when it will continue the discussion of the implementation of the Ministerial Declaration, and will hold a general discussion on the subject.

Report of the United Nations System Chief Executives Board for 2008-2009

The Annual Overview Report of the United Nations System Chief Executives Board for Coordination for 2008/09 (E/2009/67) says that the unfolding global financial and economic crisis was at the top of the CEB agenda during the reporting period. CEB agreed on nine key areas in a joint initiative that encompasses: additional financing for the most vulnerable; food security; trade; a green economy initiative; a global jobs pact; a social protection floor; humanitarian action, security and social stability; technology and innovation; and monitoring and analysis. The CEB initiative launched early in 2007 in response to the global challenge of climate change took more concrete shape during the reporting period, with the United Nations system intensifying its efforts at a coordinated and effective delivery. The Board endorsed the management and accountability framework for the United Nations development and resident coordinator system, including a functional firewall for the resident coordinator system. Given the increasingly difficult and dangerous conditions faced by United Nations personnel in many places of the world, CEB underscored the urgent need to strengthen the United Nations security framework to protect staff and allow operations to continue in insecure and unstable environments. The Board also actively pursued the development of a plan of action for the harmonization of business practices in the United Nations system. During the year, CEB kept abreast of the evolving global situation through updates on a number of topics, including Africa’s development needs, financing for development, the global food security crisis, the Millennium Development Goals, system-wide coherence, and trade. Other significant issues on the Board’s agenda during the 2008/09 included regional coherence; the campaign to end violence against women and girls; disaster risk reduction; International Public Sector Accounting Standards; knowledge-sharing; procurement; collaboration with the Joint Inspection Unit; and coordination of the work of the CEB pillars.

Introductory Statements

SOMDUTH SOBORUN, Vice-President of the Economic and Social Council, said this year's coordination segment represented an important step forward towards the implementation of the United Nations sustainable development agenda. The 2008 Ministerial Declaration stressed that numerous and interrelated challenges threatened the implementation of the globally agreed policy framework for sustainable development. Those challenges ranged from financial instability, to slowing global economic growth, rising food and fuel prices, and the impact of environmental degradation and climate change. Today, in the midst of the global financial and economic crisis, it had become painfully obvious that current growth paths were neither sustainable nor conducive to the achievement of the internationally agreed development goals. The Council needed to adopt a new approach that reconciled short-term sectoral policies and objectives with the longer-term goal of sustainable development.

The internationally agreed development goals, including the Millennium Development Goals, had increasingly forged a shared vision of development, based on the growing consensus that integrated, holistic approaches to the economic, social and environmental dimensions of development were the best way to pursue the United Nations development agenda. ECOSOC had made important progress in enhancing coherence, coordination and cooperation among the follow-up activities and institutions related to the implementation of the different elements of the United Nations development agenda. Major challenges, however, remained, as both national Governments and the United Nations system organizations entrusted with the implementation of the global conferences continued to operate along sectoral lines. When it came to United Nations system-wide coordination, the Chief Executives Board for Coordination (CEB) had a central role to play, and its report would be presented today for consideration by the Council.

THOMAS STELZER, Assistant Secretary-General for Policy Coordination and Inter-Agency Affairs, introducing the annual overview report of the United Nations System Chief Executives Board for Coordination (CEB) for 2008-2009 (E/2009/67), said the report provided an overview of the major developments in inter-agency cooperation within the framework of the CEB during the period covering its session in October 2008 and its session in April 2009. Building on inter-governmental mandates and an important set of internal reforms in the prior year, CEB responded to the demands placed on the United Nations system across a range of issues in a timely and integrated manner. The three pillars of CEB worked closely together to strengthen coordination across the system on programmatic, administrative and operational issues. During the past year, the global community had suffered multiple financial, economic and social crises, the consequences of which were compounded by vulnerability due to the earlier food and energy crises. Two important principles emerged from analysis: the responses to the crisis needed to be coordinated internationally; and they had to address the fundamental imbalances in the global economy, including market failures as well as the development, food, education, health, education, employment, shelter, social and environmental gaps that had preceded the crisis. The task was to respond to the crisis while paving the way for a more sustainable economy.

In operational activities, CEB endorsed the management and accountability framework for the United Nations development and resident coordinator system. The agreement established a vision to guide the creation of a better-managed and more efficient United Nations development system and outlined how accountability and management could be exercised effectively by the different actors at all levels of the United Nations development system. In an increasingly difficult operating environment, CEB also expressed serious concerns over the increased safety and security risks faced by United Nations personnel in many parts of the world. The Board actively pursued the development of a plan of action for the harmonization of business practices in the United Nations system. CEB and its member organizations, in moving towards a more effective and coherent United Nations system, would continue to be guided by the mandates provided by Member States. The Board recognized that coherence in the work of the United Nations system needed constant monitoring, to ensure the optimal use of resources for the benefit of the world's most vulnerable populations.

Panel Discussion on the Role of the UN System in Promoting Sustainable Development in the Context of Current Challenges

SOMDUTH SOBORUN, Vice-President of ECOSOC, opening the discussion of the coordination segment on the role of the United Nations system in promoting sustainable development in the context of current challenges, said the United Nations system played an important role in promoting the concept of sustainable development and in helping countries develop effective strategies and policies for its implementation. From Rio, to Johannesburg to the 2005 World Summit, the United Nations had developed a comprehensive framework for sustainable development, supporting an integrated approach to the economic, social and environmental dimensions. Today, despite a broad international consensus around that framework, its implementation still remained elusive and progress towards sustainable development limited. On the contrary, the global financial and economic crisis, along with recent crises such as food security and energy crises last year, had underscored the un-sustainability of current paths to growth.

The challenge for the United Nations system was to support countries more effectively in their efforts to implement the sustainable development agenda. A panel discussion on those issues during the coordination segment provided an opportunity for the Council to understand the impacts of current challenges on sustainable development, both in the short-term and long-term, identify ways in which those challenges could be addressed, and recommend ways in which the role and approach of the United Nations system could be strengthened to respond and support national efforts more effectively. Mr. Soborun observed that the Council could explore ways for the CEB and the High-Level Committee on Programmes to promote greater coherence and cooperation within the system that would facilitate greater synergies between the system’s programmes and activities relevant to sustainable development, as well as for the functional commissions and other intergovernmental bodies guiding the work of the United Nations system to facilitate greater policy coherence between the various system interventions relevant to sustainable development.

THOMAS STELZER, United Nations Assistant Secretary-General for Policy Coordination and Inter-Agency Affairs, said climate change, food, the energy and financial and economic crises impacted sustainable development. The efforts undertaken thus far aimed to strike a balance between economic growth, sustainable development and environmental protection. They were pursuing vigorous economic growth, but were aware of the fact that they needed to respond to the adverse impacts of such economic growth. Decent work for all needed to be at the centre of all strategies. The panellists had the opportunity to analyse the long-term and short-term measures and how impacts could be mitigated. The system was working to translate the rich framework on sustainable development into practical measures to be implemented.

MICHEL JARRAUD, Secretary-General of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), said last year ECOSOC had adopted a Ministerial Declaration on implementing the internationally-agreed goals with regard to sustainable development, and that recalled that action had to focus on a number of issues, one of which was climate change. Another was integrated water resources management. At the same time, the Declaration emphasized the need for coordinated and effective international support for those countries that were recovering from conflict or natural disasters. All countries were affected by some form of natural disasters and some were affected by nearly every type of natural disaster, which were part of natural climate variability. However, with climate change, those were changing, becoming more frequent and more intense, and likely to become more devastating over the next decades, which was why it was vital to integrate climactic issues into sustainable development. It was important not to lose sight of the fact that climactic events affected developing countries the most.

Economic disasters related to natural disasters were increasing, but lives being saved were also on the way up. Early warnings were important in that regard, but they were not always applicable, such as in the case of earthquakes, showing that more needed to be invested in the system. With regard to climate change, the United Nations system had a long experience of coordinating its action in that regard, ever since 1979 with the First World Climate Conference. On climate change, the United Nations had made enormous progress on delivering as one, and the CEB had taken a leading coordinating role in that regard. There was, however, a need to strengthen the observation system, and the system of climate data, as well as action in the field of climate reaction. There was also a need for human capacity-building, and WMO was doing its part in that regard, not forgetting that women had a role to play. Very soon the United Nations system would be organizing the Third World Climate Conference in Geneva, which was important as the WMO wanted to link data miners and many others with decision-makers, with derivative benefits for all sectors, including health, food security, disaster risk reduction, and water resource management.

ANNIKA SODER, Assistant Director-General at the Office of United Nations Coordination and Millennium Development Goals Follow-up of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), said the United Nations system was doing much more than one believed. World hunger was projected to reach a historic high in 2009 with 1,020 million people who went hungry every day, according to new FAO estimates. And the world population was projected to grow from 6.5 billion in 2005 to nearly 9.2 billion by 2050. Global food production would have to double to feed a world population of 9.2 billion, while conserving the natural resource base that was the foundation of agricultural production. Providing an adequate supply would require more efficient production systems through good farming practices that incorporated the value of natural resources in production, sustained by an enabling policy environment. An increase in demand for biofuels could further increase pressure on inputs, prices of agricultural produce, land, and water. In the climate change field agriculture was a major factor, and adaptation was very much needed. Ecosystems services also needed to be protected. There was good news, the Group of Eight (G-8) had stated that they would contribute $20 billion over three years to food security and agriculture and policies aimed at country level development for self sustenance, which illustrated a paradigm shift, which could not have been seen without the increased coordination of the United Nations system.

What could be done? How could one deal with such a complex situation? A declaration had been adopted one year ago at the 2008 Rome High-Level Conference on World Food Security, which identified, medium- and long-term measures that addressed all policy areas, and called upon relevant intergovernmental organizations, with the involvement of national Governments, partners, the private sector, and civil society, working together in this area to implement them. Despite not being able to come to a joint agreement on biofuels, there had been agreement to try and do so in future discussions. FAO had also organized a conference in Africa, where national development plans on water resources, and investment plans were highlighted and adopted for all the African countries concerned. The United Nations and agencies had prepared well to be able to support Member States through mitigation and adaptation initiatives. Success would be measured more by the mechanisms, institutions and processes that would be set in motion than just the completion of targets assigned to individual countries.

CHRISTOPHE BOUVIER, Regional Director of the United Nations Environment Programme Regional Office for Europe, said there was a need to consider bold and radical changes in thinking, due to the challenges that were before the international community. Thus, when talking about cooperation within the United Nations system, the tenets of that cooperation and the very concept of sustainable development should be re-examined. It was important to strengthen the environment perspectives in the concept of sustainability. Beyond semantics, that had implications for how to organize within the United Nations system. Initiatives such as the Global Green New Deal, a multi-agency initiative, was trying to give global significance to ways in which the global development complex could help to promote solutions using the current or forthcoming financial instruments.

There were already a large number of inter-agency programmes ongoing in this regard, as mentioned by the FAO and the WMO earlier. All were related to climate change and the food crisis, which had to be seen through the prism of the millions suffering from hunger. Agricultural prices were affecting a billion people, and in 2050, 50 per cent more people would have to be fed than were hungry now. The good news was that the crisis was also an opportunity for investment in energy-efficient technologies, renewable energies, public transport, and sustainable development of manageable resources, using the ecosystem as a natural asset rather than as a burden on economies. A transition to a low-carbon and efficient global economy was already under way, but how fast and far that could go would depend on the political will of global leaders. From the perspective of the United Nations system, that was a theme that allowed a federated approach, for the sake of current and future Members.

In the ensuing interactive discussion, speakers noted, among other things, that the discussion was very high level, in terms of coordination, the words partnership and integration. Those were high-level concepts, but working it down to the ground level would prove very difficult. Experience had shown that one could talk about it, but not until it was practically put into concrete action did one realize how difficult that idea was. How was one supposed to do this? How did it work relate to intergovernmental processes in terms of climate change? The question of capacity-building aimed at improving further negotiations was an important question and one which was of concern. With regard to mitigation and the targets set, how much could countries that absorbed emissions, which were non-emitters, be expected to do so? That question had not yet been discussed and had to be. How would it be possible to ensure that technology transfer commitments were honoured? Where or how could the United Nations system contribute to the regulation of the process of translating policies into concrete actions on the ground? The challenges required coordinated action from the international community and the United Nations, and therefore the policy and inter-agency coordination were also important. Those actions in broader terms required strong partnerships.

During the interactive discussion representatives of Canada, Namibia, Pakistan, and Brazil, took the floor.

MICHEL JARRAUD, Secretary-General of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), said that in the United Nations system there were different animals: some were resident, some were non-resident. Some worked through the national institutions at the ground level, and that was why various actions had to be synchronized, so that at the ground level, they could work with the different agencies. There was a concrete pilot project which worked to address pre-emptively the effects of drought, putting into place financial instruments which allowed action before the situation became grave. When the tsunami hit in December 2004, there had been a huge human toll, and neither the United Nations system nor countries were ready, as it was exceptional. At national level, it was very difficult to put in systems to prepare for such a situation. However, the United Nations system could contribute in that regard, functioning as a focal point and providing operational expertise and interfacing with other organizations. The way to address such a catastrophe was through a multilateral, multi-hazard approach, including the United Nations system, the Red Cross, the World Bank, and other organizations.

ANNIKA SODER, Assistant Director-General at the Office of United Nations Coordination and Millennium Development Goals Follow-up of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), in her response to questions and comments raised during the interactive discussion, said that a good example of how partnerships translated into concrete measures on the ground, was the delivery of country pilots. Those pilots were able to have operational coherence in the field, and in all of the eight country pilots implemented thus far, sustainable development elements had been included in each one, which illustrated how cooperation and practical application was done. With respect to questions and comments made on why the process was so slow, she said that the incentives were all wrong; everyone was competing for resources scarce resources; the more that could be done aimed at joint funding, the more they would be actually able to work together and pool resources within individual agencies. Measuring results, which was already ongoing both at the regional and country level, gaps could be identified. The adaptation plans that the United Nations Framework on Climate Change was working on were an example of how adaptation was closely linked to development, and working in a sustainable way the knowledge of the United Nations system could be applied. On the CEB, there was a role for ECOSOC to coordinate such efforts. The High-Level Committee on Programmes tried to synchronize the different standards in all the fora where Member States participated.

CHRISTOPHE BOUVIER, Regional Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Office for Europe, said there was a wide range of concrete examples of collective coordinated action to be cited, including work done with the United Nations Industrial Development Organization and the joint United Nations Development Programme(UNDP)-UNEP programme on poverty and the environment working in a dozen countries where this was an acute situation. There was also a joint Economic Commission for Europe-UNEP-UNDP-Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe programme, and to an extent NATO initiative, working in the Balkans on sustainable development perspectives on environment and security challenges, both in the field of prevention and aftermath of conflicts. Another interesting example was what could be called a territorial approach to climate change, with the objective of helping countries to build national and sub-national level capacity to be able to produce climate change plans which would then be the platform on which mechanisms and whatever came out of the Copenhagen meeting would be able to implement programmes and capacities locally. UNEP could use its comparative advantages with national authorities in order to work together. When it came to norm-setting and coherence, one interesting source of inspiration were reports on the issue of bringing more coherence to the United Nations system that came out in December 2008.


For use of the information media; not an official record


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