WSSD goals for water and sanitation: making it happen?
The WSSD has come up with ambitious goals for meeting the needs of clean water
and sanitation for the poorest in the world by 2015. Innovative thinking and action and
mobilization of finance and technology on a large scale are required to make it happen.
This
session will focus on relevant institutional issues, indigenous solutions at the grass
roots, and coordination between multilateral organizations, national governments, and
other stakeholders for optimal utilization of resources.
Meeting basic
needs and protecting the environment
Despite
decades of experience in different parts of the world
in implementing programmes to meet the basic needs of
food, shelter, and clothing, the world still has 2.8 billion
people living on incomes less than $2 a day, and the degradation
of the environment continues unabated at the global and
local levels. The emphasis by the Secretary General of
the United Nations on WEHAB (Water, Energy, Health, Agriculture
and Biodiversity) provides a framework for meeting basic
needs and protecting the environment. Efforts in the future
would require coordination between various stakeholders
including governments, corporate organizations and NGOs.
The session would develop an approach for action for removing
poverty and protecting the environment, with special focus
on the WEHAB agenda, through coordination between different
stakeholders.
Environment, health, and
education: solutions in a knowledge economy
Ensuring environmental protection and universal health/education requires
solutions based on extensive dissemination of relevant knowledge. Innovative technologies
and responsible corporate practices (beyond profit maximization) help conserve the
environment. Modern
information technology and efficient knowledge dissemination can reach health/education to
those outside the existing formal systems and ensure optimal resource utilization.
Institutional and organizational structures should be developed in every sector, from
public transport to basic education, to complement the new knowledge economy. This session
will develop approaches for institutional solutions related to a knowledge-based future.
Land use, forestry, and
biodiversity
The UN's emphasis on biodiversity protection and studies of global trends
underline the need to heal depleted, degraded forests and destroyed biodiversity.
Solutions require a combination of legal, institutional, and economic initiatives with the
application of science
and technology in areas where it has not happened earlier. Involving local communities and
those dependent on forests and forest produce would be critical for success. This session
will focus on policies for efficient and sustainable land use, regeneration of forestry
resources,
and effective protection and regeneration of biodiversity across the world.
The role of media in sustainable
development
In the information age, the media's role in influencing public opinion and
attitudes is paramount. It has unprecedented opportunity to create awareness about actions
that ensure production and consumption in line with sustainable development objectives,
not for short-term benefits that drive apart private and social costs/benefits. This
session will focus on the media's responsibility to highlight issues relevant to
sustainable development and to create awareness on subjects that promote sustainability.
Governance issues in sustainable
development
The experience of development programmes in recent decades has revealed the need
for new structures of governance - more participative, gender-sensitive, and transparent.
Reforming governance structures at global, national, and local levels is essential. The
cardinal features
of a new structure at each level can emerge from insights gained through recent
experiences. This session will address some of these issues and provide directions for
change and reform in governance in the coming decades.
Climate change: many paths, many
stakeholders
The threat of climate change, as assessed and revealed by the IPCC's Third
Assessment Report, is now an accepted reality with most organizations and decision-makers
throughout the world. While the Kyoto Protocol is yet to be ratified, the global community
must focus on
challenges beyond its first commitment period. It is also essential to create awareness
about and implement policies leading to coordinated action between governments,
corporates, and civil society. This session will focus on the challenge of climate change
and how various
stakeholders can effectively meet it.
