Towards sustainable development

UNITED NATIONS, New York – Some of the world’s leading private sector and government environmentalists are gathered here to tackle issues confronting the world today: environmental problems, poverty, rapid urbanization and its impact on communities, cities, women’s rights and gender.

The 14th session of the Commission on Sustainable Development will review specific experiences and best practices in the Small Island Developing States for possible development and replication and support of donor community and agencies of the UN system for financing, investment and capacity-building.

The review will cover four thematic clusters: energy for sustainable development, industrial development, air pollution/atmosphere, and climate change.

In addition to its official program, CSD-14 includes side events, sponsored by major groups, governments, UN agencies and other international organizations. These events are providing informal opportunities for broader exchange of information, experience and views among participants.

Also included are informal caucuses which enhance discussion of the issues, including the rights of the youth, concerns of indigenous communities, and the Asian focus.

Philippine participation in the conference is highlighted by its presentation of the 2nd Helena Benitez Global Forum, a rights-based approach to mainstreaming gender in the commission’s four thematic clusters.

Organizing the Forum are Philippine Women’s University (CSD Roster), Asian Women’s Network on Gender and Development (AWNGAD) in cooperation with the Philippine Government through the Philippine Mission to the United Nations, and the Philippine STAR to engendering sustainable development in global and local policy-making through venues provided by the UN and other international organizations.

Dr. Amelou Benitez Reyes, PWU president, said the Forum "most especially would like to focus on the often seldom discussed rights-based approach and context in mainstreaming gender in issues and policy recommendations concerning the environment and sustainable development. It also would like to underscore the need to identify and compile local best practices in the area of women’s rights and sustainable development."

The first Helena Z. Benitez Global Forum was organized at the UN headquarters in New York April 23, 2004 during the 12th session of the CSD. It was sponsored by PWU, Asian Women’s Network on Gender and Development headed by Daphne D. Roxas, and the Philippine government Permanent Mission to the UN, with Ambassador Lauro L. Baja Jr. presiding over the affair.

The Forum is named after Helena Z. Benitez in recognition of her pioneering work and the continuing relevance of her advocacy of sustainable development women’s advancement.

Ms. Benitez, then president of PWU in Manila, chaired a committee at the UN Conference on the Human Environment held in Stockholm in 1972, and in 1975 was named president of the Third Governing Council of the UN Environmental Program. She was also elected in 1966 as chair of the UN Commission on the Status of Women. It was during her term that the UN General Assembly adopted the long-debated draft declaration calling for a stop to all forms of discrimination against women.

The CSD meeting shows a slew of environment-related projects. These include the creation of the eastmain a-A/Rupert mega hydroelectric dam project in the heart of Eyou Istchee, the ancestral homeland of the James Bay Cree in Canada which is captured in an award-winning film called "One More River." There is a presentation on how to reduce air pollution with cleaner fuels and vehicles.

An interesting presentation sponsored by the World Health Organization will be that on the dangerous use of cooking fires (which cause 4000 deaths a year).

There’s a lot of literature on the Sunpower Hot Water System, or the Solar Water Heating System which makes use of sun power, of women spending more time transporting fuel and water than men, and women carrying four times more than men in volume; a water and energy improvement project in Jordan; of Thai legislators, with assistance from USAID, drafting legislation to allow small community enterprises or energy entrepreneurs to connect to the grid and sell their excess electricity to the utilities. Another project is empowering farmers in Angola through access to credit. Women in Rwanda are empowered through biomass energy production, a project supported by USAID.

Solar energy is used for health clinic and community facilities in Africa. Economic growth and trade are enhanced by hydropower in Somalia and the Honduras. In Mindanao, USAID and its partner, Winrock International, have established the Alliance for Mindanao Off-Grid Renewable Energy Project (AMORE).

Four of the Philippine delegates proudly speak of their projects back home.

Mayor Katherine D. Belo of Panitan, Capiz, says a P15-million water irrigation project has just been implemented this month, and a P1-billion water treatment plant benefiting three towns and one city will be operational in December. A P2-million housing project for the landless and battered women is in the works, said Mayor Belo.

Darita C. Sagales, municipal councilor of Goa, Cam. Sur, said a zero waste manage-ment program is fully successful in her communities. A water rehabilitation system costing P17-million is operational. A reforestation program has students planting three seedlings of trees (now numbering 15,000 trees) and their parents constructing school buildings. She also spoke of successful livelihood programs for women, and a dairy milk program.

On account of wise programming, the women of Isabela, Negros Occidental, said Ma. Lourdes Esteban Nava, Sangguniang Bayan member, live better lives. Mayor Ma. Rita Lyn B. Patricio of Pilar, Capiz, talked about a P14-million fishport project about to benefit 11 coastal barangays, and a mangrove rehabilitation project being financed by KFW, a German Bank.

The people of the first district of Midsayap, Cotabato Province, said Municipal Councilor Maria Belen B. Sabio, are now actively participating in an eco-waste management program launched with the initiative of the PAG-IBIG program in response to R.A. 9003. Because the Council means business, people are expected to dispose of their garbage properly, and those who do not are fined P20 per month.

A watershed program in five municipalities has residents engaged in reforestation activities. A creek rehabilitation project that is ongoing has to have more financial support, said Belen, and funding for a fast food center and a livestock program will go a long way in improving the lives of people.

Secretary Angelo Reyes of the Philippine Department of Environment and Natural Resources must be all ears about the proceedings and results of this important event. More on the conference next Saturday.

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