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No outcome reached at UN Commission on
Sustainable Development
May 14, 2007 -- M2 PRESSWIRE
No negotiated outcome has been reached at the meeting of the UN Commission on Sustainable Development, which was held in New York from 28 April until 11 May. The UK and its EU partners came to the meeting with high aspirations, given the growing recognition of the urgent need to tackle the wide-ranging impacts of climate change and to move to cleaner and increasingly renewable and sustainable energy sources at the same time as making progress towards the Millennium Development Goals. Regrettably, no agreement could be reached, particularly on the subject of energy, on where individual countries, regions and the international community should go from here. Ian Pearson, UK Minister for Climate Change and the Environment said: "This failure to reach agreement on energy for sustainable development, climate change, air pollution and industrial development is a deep disappointment. "The world's population is growing and hundreds of millions of people live in abject poverty. We are far from achieving our Millennium Development Goals. To make progress we have to work for economic growth and stability. Continuing to use energy in an unsustainable manner, with rising emissions and environmental degradation, will risk the very growth and stability we are trying to achieve. "Climate and environmental sustainability cannot be an add on or an afterthought to our economic, development, trade, social justice or security policies. They need to be at the heart of our decisions. "The latest reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change tell us that more, not less ambition is needed. This meeting of the Commission on Sustainable Development offered the international community an opportunity to demonstrate that ambition. "The UK and our EU partners came to the table keen to negotiate a progressive outcome. Regrettably, rather than build consensus on the further steps needed to address these common challenges, many attempted only to reiterate commitments made almost five years ago. This is not progress and does not reflect the increasing urgency with which we need to take action. "The Chairman offered a text to all the negotiating parties in the end game. But it went nowhere near far enough. "We shall continue to put climate change and energy at the top of the international agenda. We will now look towards the meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change in Bali in December to take the next steps." Public enquiries 08459 335577; Press notices are available on our website http://www.defra.gov.uk Defra's aim is sustainable development M2 Communications Ltd disclaims all liability for information provided within M2 PressWIRE. Data supplied by named party/parties. Further information on M2 PressWIRE can be obtained at http://www.presswire.net on the world wide web. Inquiries to info@m2.com. News Provided By |
