Statement by
Vice Admiral Conrad C. Lautenbacher, Jr.
U.S. Navy (Ret.)
Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere
Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
to a Panel on the World Summit on Sustainable Development,
hosted by the Women’s Aquatic Network
South African Embassy
Washington, D.C.,
October 17, 2002

 

Honorable Deputy Chief of Mission Thandabantu Nhlapo, distinguished panelists and invited guests, thank you for attending this panel on the World Summit on Sustainable Development. Special thanks to the Women’s Aquatic Network for organizing this important discussion and to the South African Embassy for hosting it.

Last month, I had the great honor and pleasure of being part of the U.S. delegation at the World Summit on Sustainable Development (or WSSD) in Johannesburg, South Africa. The WSSD served as a 10 year follow-up to the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, also known as the Earth Summit.

Like its predecessor, the WSSD sought to generate continued action on sustainable development and the environment. The expected outcomes were a negotiated text and an array of partnerships poised for continued collaboration. I will elaborate on these mechanisms in a moment.

First, I would like to give you a picture of what is was like to be at the Summit:

• more than 22,000 people participated in WSSD — including more than 10,000 delegates, 8,000 NGOs and representatives of civil society, and 4,000 members of the press.
• one hundred world leaders addressed the Summit.
• aside from the main convention center for negotiations, the Summit comprised a multitude of other venues:
  • Ubuntu Village Exposition Center, the largest tent ever erected in the world, housed hundreds of exhibits on sustainable development and the environment. Estimates suggest that more than 150,000 schoolchildren, delegates and others visited the site.
  • The SunDome arena was transformed into a “WaterDome," in which stakeholders from public and private organizations in the water sector launched or exhibited their water-related activities, policies, initiatives, technologies and products. The Dome even included its own waterfall!
  • Nedcor Bank transformed into the IUCN (World Conservation Union) Environment Center and constantly held seminars and lectures.
  • The NASREC center provided a place for the 8,000 NGO representatives and others to gather, protest and conduct activities.
  • Daimler Chrysler supplied a thousand cars, vans and coaches to transport participants between venues.
• CO2 emissions in the region due to Summit participants is estimated at 150,000 tons.

How does all of this effect the fact that: “60 percent or more of world fisheries are judged to be fully exploited or overfished?” And that some 80 percent of the pollution load in the oceans originates from land-based activities?

As Nitin Desai, United Nations Secretary-General of the World Summit and Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs succinctly stated, “Johannesburg gives us a solid basis for implementation and action to go forward. Although the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation, (i.e., the negotiated outcome), is only some 50 pages long, it is more targeted and more focused than (the Earth Summit’s) Agenda 21. We have agreed on global priorities for action and we have agreed to take action."

The negotiated text from Johannesburg includes:

• time-bound targets related to fishing capacity, depleted stocks and access to water and sanitation;
• a recognition of the value of Earth observations to oceans and water cycles; and
• a call to protect biodiversity and improve ecosystem management.

Assistant Secretary Turner will elaborate on the text. However, to accomplish this work, not only governments — but NGOs, intergovernmental organizations and businesses — launched more than 300 voluntary initiatives.

The U.S. government announced a White Water to Blue Water initiative. The initiative recognizes the critical land/sea link — that oceans and coasts are recipients of whatever happens upland and upstream. The initiative, therefore, seeks to build capacity for integrated, natural resource and ecosystem-based management of watersheds and marine ecosystems on a regional basis.

The Departments of Commerce, Agriculture, State, and Interior, USAID, and EPA are working together — as well as with state and foreign governments, the private sector and NGOs — to launch a pilot in the Caribbean next year. We want to help the Caribbean basin countries promote better cross-border coordination for watershed and coastal management.

This initiative will also draw from or expand on existing efforts such as the U.S. Coral Reef Task Force. Two weeks ago, the Task Force identified land-based pollution as one of its key focus areas over the next three years. It established a regional subcommittee to help support watershed-based efforts in the United States and wider Caribbean region to address land-based pollution and coastal zone activities affecting valuable coral reef ecosystems.

Another significant United States led initiative is the Geographic Information for Sustainable Development (GISD) partnership. Underscoring science as the basis for decision-making, this initiative draws on technological leaps to make wide use of satellite data. NOAA’s operational satellites and several other federal agencies provided Earth observation data, state of the art GIS technologies and other knowledge to pilot projects in Africa. Managers will be better able to address long-term challenges to natural resource management, land-use planning and disaster mitigation.

There are a host of other initiatives the U.S. government will pursue with its partners:

• The African Process addresses key problems affecting sustainable development of the marine and coastal resources in sub-Saharan Africa.
• The Partnership on Earth Observation Education and Training will facilitate coordination between Earth observation agencies and institutions offering education to enhance training in this field.
• The Oceans Forum group, which Dr. Cicin-Sain is spearheading, seeks to assist governments with implementation of negotiated outcomes and achieve synergy in the partnerships.
• The Global Exchange of Conservation Stewardship Practices was initiated by the U.S. Forest Service, but will receive support from NOAA. The initiative will provide peer-to-peer exchanges to build capacity in sustainable agriculture, natural resource management and watershed conservation practices.

I could continue for the full hour and a half panel describing partnerships related to water and sanitation, large marine ecosystems, integrated global observation systems and other activities affecting the coastal and marine environment, but I will save time for the other panelists to speak!

For those who would compare Rio in 1992 with Johannesburg in 2002, remember that in Rio we generated plans and promises — while in Johannesburg, we engaged in the hard
work of actually doing something! The partnerships proposed by the United States and others in areas such as clean water, agriculture, forestry and coastal zone management are real projects with partners and deliverables. In the end, if everyone follows through on the commitments made, the world will have taken a giant step forward. Thank you.

¹ BBC, 15 July 2002, ‘Poor Prospects for Earth Summit’ by Alex Kirby
² UNEP/Global Programme of Action Web site