Forum of Environment Ministers

By IPS Correspondents and - - Reprint | | Print |

Nov 25 2003 (IPS) - Environment ministers from Latin America and the Caribbean gathered Nov. 20-25 in Panama to assess the region's sustainable development agenda. The 14th Meeting of the Environment Ministers of Latin America and the Caribbean debated strategy for implementing the Latin American and Caribbean initiative for Sustainable Development (ILAC).

Since 1982, the region's ministers meet periodically, convened by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP).

However, it was not until 1995 that they began to incorporate issues from the international environmental agenda into the debate, during the 9th meeting, held in Havana, Cuba. With the groundwork in place, the Forum of Environment Ministers was consolidated at the 10th meeting, in 1996 in the Argentine capital.

Among the thematic lines the forum is following are: institutional framework, policies and instruments for environmental management, integrated watershed management, biological diversity and protected areas, and climate change and its repercussions for the region.

The forum has an inter-agency technical committee made up of the World Bank, United Nations Development Program (UNDP), United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), and the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB). These institutions provide technical assistance and support in identifying sources of financing.

According to UNEP, one of the achievements of the ministerial forum was the presentation of the Latin American and Caribbean Initiative for Sustainable Development (ILAC) at the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD), held in Johannesburg, South Africa in 2002. ILAC was explicitly included in the Johannesburg Implementation Plan.

The importance of ILAC lies in the relevance of regional goals for the sustainable use and development of biodiversity and the increase in the use of renewable energy sources.

Equally valuable are plans to develop technologies to ensure water quality and appropriate water management, as well as the implementation of plans and policies to reduce urban environmental vulnerability to natural and manmade disasters.

On the other hand, the first UNEP regional report on environmental perspectives, the GEO Report, indicates that while concern about the natural surroundings has grown considerably, it remains a secondary issue on the economic and development agenda. The changes that have been implemented have not substantially improved the environmental situation or reduced degradation. The number of poor continues to rise and the rich-poor gap keeps growing, and these are inherently related to the need to protect the environment and pursue sustainable development