FOR PARTICIPANTS ONLY
16 November 2001
ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMISSION FOR ASIA AND THE PACIFIC
Drafted by: M. Ichimura
Concurred by : Mr M.A.Khan
Approved by: Mr R.Sawhney
First Meeting of the Kitakyushu Initiative Network.
20Seventh Meeting of Senior Officials on Environmental Cooperation in North-East Asia
26-– 21 November 27 July 2001
Kitakyushu, JapanBeijing
OPENING STATEMENT BY MDR. RAVI SAWHNEY,
DIRECTOR
CHIEF, ENVIRONMENT AND NATURAL RESOURCES DEVELOPMENT DIDIVISION
E, ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMISSION FOR ASIA AND THE PACIFIC (ESCAP)
Distinguished Delegates, RepresentativesExperts , Ladies and Gentlemen,
On behalf of the Executive Secretary of ESCAP, Dr. Kim Hak-Su, iIt gives me great pleasure to welcome extend to you all on behalf of ESCAP, a warm welcome tto thhise First Meeting of the Kitakyushu Initiative Network.
First of all, lLet me take this opportunity to convey at the outset, my deep appreciation to the City of Kitakyushu and to the Government of Japan for kindlytheir gracious hospitality in hosting this meeting and for making for their excellent arrangements and gracious hospitality. I would also like to also thank the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES) for providing technical and logistic supports as athe local host institution for the organization of theis Meeting.On behalf of the Executive Secretary of ESCAP, Dr. Kim Hak-Su, I would like to welcome all of you to the Seventh Meeting of Senior Officials on Environmental Cooperation in North-East Asia in this historic city of Beijing. I would like to express our most profound appreciation to the people and Government of the People's Republic of China for the generous hospitality and the excellent arrangements made for this meeting.
It is just over a about one year and a couple of months since we ESCAP organized the Ministerial Conference on Environment and Development in Asia and the Pacific, here in theis same city of Kitakyushu. TThe Conference Environmental Ministers and senior level officials from ESCAP members and associate members got together here to conducted a comprehensive assessment of state of the environment and sustainable development policy in the Region, reviewed the implementation of Agenda 21 and other international programmes, identifyied critical environmental issues in the Region, a
ndand formulated a new action programme to address these critical issues. The Kitakyushu Initiative for a Clean Environment was adopted as one of the four landmark principal outcomes of this Ministerial Conference.
The Kitakyushu Initiative is a timely response to the growing predicament of urban environment in Asia and the Pacific. Cities in the region have seen remarkable growth, rapidly rising incomes and growing economic activity in recent years. Unfortunately the process that enabled cities to harvest high rates of growth has also given rise to major ecological problems and environmental degradation trends that makes such development unsustainable and could jeopardize the very survival of people it was intended to benefit. The following indicators would show that the pressure on urban environment is overwhelming:
· urban population in the region has been projected to increase by 800 millions in the next 20 years, which is equivalent to the establishment of a new city of about 110,000 people every day for the next two decades
· slums and squatters are growing at a faster rate than the cities themselves. Already 15-50% of the urban population is living in slums and squatters at a population density of 2,500 persons per hectare
· there is a huge backlog in the availability of public utilities and environmental services. Urban areas are therefore beset with traffic congestion, growing pollution, problem of water supply, sanitation and solid waste disposal and associated health hazards
· traffic congestion is estimated to cost anywhere between US$ 272 million to over US$ 1 billion per year in Bangkok, nearly US$ 300 million in Hong Kong, and over US$ 300 million in Singapore, primarily due to wasted fuel and time delays. It also contributes to pollution
· the levels of suspended particulate matter in several cities are 2 to 3 times higher than those recommended by WHO
· the urban areas in Asia currently spend about US$ 25 billion annually on solid waste management and this is likely to double by 2025 on an average, 50-70 per cent of waste in municipal areas is collected and less than a quarter of that amount is properly disposed off
· the resources of municipal authorities are limited but the pressure on these as sole supplier of services is enormous. Unless some remedial measures are taken the backlog of public utilities and environmental services will continue to increase.
In this context, it is useful to remind ourselves that about 35 years ago the urban environment in Kitakyushu was beset with similar problems. The city however managed to overcome these through a combination of innovative institutional, technical, regulatory, financial and participatory approaches. Today the city of Kitakyushu is a remarkable example of
The assessment at the Ministerial Conference indicated that there were good signs as well as bad signs in the state of the environment of the Region. The worst sign is that the region’s environment still continued to degrade in a number of aspects, as is obvious to everybody. In the field of urban environmental quality, I could simply refer to some of the basic facts that, out of the 15 cities in the world with the highest levels of totally suspended particulates (TSP) in the air, 12 are located in Asia; six of the 15 cities with the highest level of sulphur dioxide are also located in the region; the levels of TSP in several cities are three to four times those recommended by WHO.
On the other hand, our region has demonstrated the significant progress in policy responses to environmental degradation through strengthening of institutions, improvements in the formulation and implementation of policies, growing environmental consciousness and public participation, which is a good sign. As a concrete example, the City of Kitakyushu is renowned for having successfully overcome the environmental pollution that was once very severe in its urban area, through a combination of institutional, technical, regulatory, financial and social participatory approaches. Kitakyushu also has a long history of cooperation with local authorities in the Asia and Pacific region in environmental activities.
When Mr Kim Hak-su, Executive Secretary of ESCAP visited this city last year to attend the Ministerial Conference, he described the city of Kitakyushu to be a remarkable Asian city, harmoniously blending modernization, urbanization and technological advancement for the twenty-first century with the best of Japanese tradition, art, culture, and carefully maintained natural beauty. I totally agree with his observation, but also think of the hard work of the people behind the scene to make this vibrant city to maintain its exemplary environmental track record, which has received international recognition time and again.
Of course, this Kitakyushu's case is not an isolated miracle that has only happened in this cityAsia. of Kitakyushu. Similar successful endeavours have now been observedwitnessed in a number of other cities in the region in improving Asia-Pacific countries to overcome their problems in urban environmental quality, and some are also very successful despite number ofprevailing cconstraints and resource limitations. The Kitakyushu Initiative for a Clean Environment was therefore formulated to draw lessons from the practices and experiences not only of the city of Kitakyushu, but also of other successful cities, and put them together into a menu of effective actions that could be replicated in other cities inof the region.
Distinguished Delegates, Ladies and Gentlemen:
As a principal mechanism to promote implementation of the Kitakyushu Initiative, tThe Ministerial Conference had also proposed the establishment of the Kitakyushu Initiative Network to effectively implement the Kitakyushu Initiative. The Network is expected to should provide the local governments of the region with an open forum for to strengthen intercity cooperation onfor improvement of urban environmental quality through promotion of innovative means and best practices toward resource generation, enhancing capacities, technology transfer and creation of opportunities for investment.. In order to catalyze the network, ESCAP has already developed pilot projects in collaboration with local governments of the region, which will be linked and strengthened through the Network. In this connection, we acknowledge with gratitude the offer of IGES to undertake the central coordination of the Network. The initial framework of the network activities is thus in place. Your strong commitment and support is now needed to effectively operationalise its activities.
All the foundation work has been undertaken by ESCAP and collaborating institutions targeting at this Meeting. By now, we have developed the pilot projects with participation of local governments of the region, which will be linked and strengthened though the Network; we have had the dialogue with IGES which now offers supports to undertake the central coordination of the Network, for which we are very grateful. With all these in place, this Meeting is the first regional-level event of the Network, and the best occasion to announce the inauguration and operationalization of the Kitakyushu Initiative Network for a Clean Environment, for wider audience.
However, iIt is needless to say that the most important component of the Network is should be tthe participantsting , or participation of the local governments of the region. The success of the network will hinge upon their active participation in its activities. I have noted that 18, as mandated by the Ministerial Conference. Future of the Network fully depends on deliberation and guidance of the participating local governments on how the Network can better serve the objective of the Kitakyushu Initiative, in other words, how the Network can better assist your own efforts in cleaning up your environment.
Here in this meeting we have the representation of 18 local governments of throughout the region are participating in this Meeting. I understand that all of you these local governments are making serious efforts taking eager steps to improve your their urban environment, and most of you many of them are already involved in the implementation of the Kitakyushu Initiative in one way or another. , if the level of involvement so far may differ from one to another. In this contextsense, you are it would be reasonable that we invite you as the core members of the Kitakyushu Initiative Network and we are banking on your commitment and support to make the network vibrant and sustainable. To supplement the active role of local governments, support from national governments is also crucial in implementing the Kitakyushu Initiative. I am therefore pleased to note that a number of participants in this Meeting are from national governments. This Meeting therefore, also provides a valuable opportunity to establish a framework for collaboration between national and local governments in promoting the Kitakyushu Initiative.
. You may consider that the Network is yours, and the Network. activities should concentrate for the present phase in assisting those core members.
During the past preparatory period, we have had the strong support of national governments as well as governmental institutions in a number of countries. Noting that the support at national level is essential for the implementation of the Kitakyushu Initiative, the 57th session of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific in April 2001 adopted a Resolution 57/2 Ministerial Conference on Environment and Development in Asia and the Pacific 2000, which requested the active participation of all member and associate member governments, and called for innovative patterns of national and local governmental collaboration. With participation of the representatives from both national and local governments, this meeting would provide a valuable opportunity to promote such collaboration.
Distinguished Delegates, Ladies and Gentlemen,
As mandated by the Ministerial Conference in 2000, the Kitakyushu Initiative is a priority mechanism to achieve measurable progress in the improvement of the urban environment in cities of the region. The progress made w in Asia and the Pacific, which should be reported at the next Ministerial Conference which is to be held in 2005. This rather short time -term frame, makes it imperative that we work gives us a good reason keep our activities sharply that we should keep all the activities to be sharply focused and adopt a also take the pragmatic approach for harvesting to achieve very quick progressresults within the next two to three years. I therefore strongly urge you to keep these considerations in mind while deliberating on the that this view should be fully integrated in the deliberation of the future activityies of the Kitakyushu Initiative Network. We are not reinventing the new wheels in capacity building, technology transfer and other important aspects in achieving urban environmental improvement. But we would rather look into the success of whatever the programmes that already exists, draw lessons from them and promote the use of those existing mechanisms.
I am confident that with your support hope that this Network Meeting will put the implementation of Kitakyushu Initiative on a fast and firm track. I wish would constitute a very firm step for the sustainable future of the cities in the region, as well as of their people.
I wish you every success in your deliberations and look forward to a tangible reviewing the outcomes.e of the Meeting.
Thank you.
I also would like to express my profound thanks to all the participating countries as well as to our partner agencies for their continued support to the activities of NEASPEC. Amongst all, our particular appreciation goes to the Government the Republic of Korea, which provided financial support in making this meeting happen. The Government of Japan and the Asian Development Bank also provided project-based funding supports, for which we are very much grateful, too.
Distinguished Delegates, Ladies and Gentlemen,
As you are all aware, the sixth Meeting of Senior Officials held in Seoul in March last year adopted the Vision Statement for Environmental Cooperation in North-East Asia. This vision recognizes that the environmental challenges of the North-East Asian subregion are serious and, to address them adequately, will require strong national commitment and active cooperation among the countries of the subregion. Our meeting today aims precisely to put into action the vision that you have set since the last meeting.