Economic and Social Council

 Distr. GENERAL
28 March 1995
ORIGINAL: ENGLISH

COMMISSION ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
Third session
11-28 April 1995
Item 3 of the provisional agenda*

     *   E/CN.17/1995/1.


            GENERAL DISCUSSION ON PROGRESS IN THE IMPLEMENTATION OF
            AGENDA 21, FOCUSING ON THE CROSS-SECTORAL COMPONENTS OF
             AGENDA 21 AND THE CRITICAL ELEMENT OF SUSTAINABILITY

          Integrating environment and development in decision-making

                        Report of the Secretary-General


                                     SUMMARY

      Chapter 8 of Agenda 21, "Integrating environment and development in
decision-making", covers four interrelated issues:  (a) integrating
environment and development at the policy, planning and management levels;
(b) providing an effective legal and regulatory framework; (c) making
effective use of economic instruments and market and other incentives; and
(d) establishing systems for integrated environmental and economic accounting.

      The present report considers national strategies for sustainable
development, one means for combining all these issues in a comprehensive and
integrated manner.  Methodological issues for bridging economic, social,
environmental and institutional variables are also discussed.  Recommendations
are contained in paragraphs 21-24.


                                 INTRODUCTION


1.   The present report is a summary of a document before the Commission as a
background document.  It reflects the main issues raised in chapter 8 of
Agenda 21, 1/ "Integrating environment and development in decision-making",
and concludes with proposals for the consideration of the Commission.

2.   It should be noted that many of the activities contained in Chapter 8 of
Agenda 21 are directly related to activities also proposed within the context
of chapter 40, "Information for decision-making", in particular the sections
on data and information and on indicators.  Discussion of such activities has
been omitted from the present report. Similarly, since the report of the
Secretary-General entitled "Financial resources and mechanisms for sustainable
development:  overview of current issues and development" (E/CN.17/1995/8),
which pertains to chapter 33 of Agenda 21, contains an analytical discussion
of economic instruments, that material will not be repeated here.


                I.  GENERAL OVERVIEW AND METHODOLOGICAL ISSUES

3.   The purpose of integrated plans and strategies is to develop a
consensual vision for the future and to identify common priority issues and
key activities within a framework that provides for consensus-building and
planning and the creation of the institutional support required for
sustainable development. 

4.   It is understood that the strategy process, like decision-making in
general, is adaptive and cyclical, encompassing five discrete but interrelated
stages:  problem identification, policy formulation, implementation,
monitoring and evaluation.  Sustainable development strategies must be
participatory and open to communication, both horizontally and vertically;
they are integrative and inter-sectoral; and they are intended as a basis for
action.


             II.  REVIEW OF PROGRESS ACHIEVED, MAIN POLICY ISSUES
                  AND EXPERIENCES

          A.  Integrating environment and development at the policy,
              planning and management levels

                    1.  Improving decision-making processes

5.   Economic, social and environmental considerations in decision-making may
be reflected through the application of an integrating methodological
approach, through the adoption of a framework that brings sectoral plans
together into a more holistic approach, and through the inclusion of social
and environmental parameters in sectoral economic planning.  The establishment
of such structures as sustainable development councils may also assist in the
decision-making process, since they are intended to provide the mechanisms
through which policy integration is achieved.

6.   Several studies have recently been undertaken on decision-making for
sustainable development; each identifies various characteristics intrinsic to
the process.  Emphasis may shift,and the number of characteristics may vary,
but all would agree that:

     (a) Decision-making must be driven by national needs, priorities and
goals.  External forces, such as multilateral and bilateral donors may and do
in some cases provide the impetus for the decision-making process to begin,
but these donors should do no more than facilitate and should not dictate the
process.  Externally led processes carry another burden; regardless of how
good they may be, they are likely to be perceived as tied to conditionalities,
with more importance given to investment programmes than to the decision-
making process itself;

     (b) Decision-making must be multisectoral and integrative, aimed at
overcoming institutional and policy fragmentation.  Where relevant, this
should include building on existing plans and strategies, within a framework. 
Cross-ministerial decision-making requires both strong political support and
careful institutional development commensurate with the needs and conditions
of the country;

     (c) Decision-making must be participatory.  In contrast to participatory
implementation, which is usually project specific participatory decision-
making involves soliciting people's views in the policy formulation and
management stages.  It is important to keep in mind that such participation
requires time; a frequent criticism of some of the donor-driven processes is
that, although they mandate wide participation, they tend to give greater
priority to meeting deadlines.

7.   Increasing numbers of countries are attempting to improve their
decision-making structures for developing strategies, policies and plans for
sustainable development, as reflected in the discussion on national
sustainable development strategies described below.  These efforts are largely
due to the growth of awareness of the issues within countries and initiatives
taken by Governments.  Organizations within the United Nations system and
non-governmental organizations are also working with Governments to assist
them in this process.

8.   Traditionally, particularly in developed countries, national sustainable
development strategies have taken as their starting point the management of
natural resources and the improvement of environmental quality.  Many
developing countries have begun by expressing their environmental concerns
through development planning and their approach to specific sector-based
development problems, such as desertification.  In development planning, the
challenge has been to integrate environmental concerns into the policies of
other sectoral ministries and into the practice of key sectors of the economy.

In dealing with desertification, it has been necessary to expand the concept
of development beyond more immediate economic concerns and to understand the
economic implications of sustainability.  Much has been done within the past
few years; however, a major obstacle has been insufficient progress in
developing methodologies and techniques for integrated planning and
policy-making.


              2.  National strategies for sustainable development

9.   A number of national strategic planning approaches, both sectoral and
multisectoral, have been introduced by both governmental and non-governmental
actors.  Sectoral plans have an advantage in that they focus the maximum
expertise within a Government (and ideally from among a variety of
stakeholders); the objectives may be clearly expressed; and the institutions
of Governments are generally established to implement and monitor plans at a
sectoral level.  Their disadvantage, however, is that the totality of plans
across sectors may have inconsistent and incompatible objectives.  Moreover,
sustainability issues tend to be marginalized and too often become the residue
after economic plans have been formulated.

10.  In addition, in the absence of a broad, multisectoral approach, the
tendency to equate environment with sustainable development remains strong. 
Sustainable development does not just imply interjecting environment here and
there into the policy process.  It demands a paradigmatic shift.  For this
purpose, Agenda 21 calls upon Governments to adopt a national strategy,
building upon and harmonizing the various sectoral economic, social and
environmental policies and plans that operate in the country.  These
strategies should be multisectoral, participatory processes of consensus-
building that ensure socially responsible economic development while
protecting the resource base and the environment for the benefit of future
generations.  

11.  At the same time, concern has been expressed over the plethora of
related strategies being requested of Governments.  The Organization for
Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), at the December 1993 high-level
meeting of its Development Assistance Committee, took note of the danger of a
donor-driven proliferation of planning requirements for developing countries. 
The Inter-Agency Committee on Sustainable Development (IACSD) has also
expressed concern that, as countries consider formulating sustainable
development strategies, they are likely to be overwhelmed by the
infrastructural and institutional requirements of already existing sustainable
development and environmental strategies and programmes established both by
the organizations of the United Nations system and bilateral agencies.  At its
fifth meeting (1-3 February 1995), IACSD agreed to pursue this issue.  The
United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) was asked to take the initiative
to convene a meeting of an open-ended task force to continue discussion on
national strategies and reporting requirements.  The issue of streamlining
reporting will be on the agenda of the next meeting of IACSD.

12.  Coordination at the national level constitutes one of the biggest and
most complex problems facing sustainable development strategies.  The
integration of international and national initiatives is only possible in the
context of clear national priorities.  Lack of consistency among initiatives
and the lack of control over them may have a number of adverse consequences,
including duplication, increased financial costs, wasted time and effort, and
a lack of direction.  This is another powerful reason for countries to
establish their own internally generated sustainable development strategies as
frameworks for coordination and blueprints for the appropriate coordinating
machinery.


           B.  Providing an effective legal and regulatory framework

13.  Laws and regulations suited to country-specific conditions are among the
most important instruments for transforming environment and development
policies into action, not only through command and control methods but also as
a normative framework for economic planning and market instruments.  However,
much of the lawmaking in many countries seems to be ad hoc and piecemeal or
has not been endowed with the necessary institutional machinery and authority
for enforcement and timely adjustment.

14.  To integrate environment and development in the policies and practices
of each country effectively, it is necessary to develop and implement
integrated, enforceable and effective laws and regulations that are based upon
sound social, ecological, economic and scientific principles.  Programmes also
need to be established to review and enforce compliance with the laws,
regulations and standards that are adopted.

15.  The legal systems in many countries have developed piecemeal over many
years and in conditions that are no longer relevant.  Often, legal provisions
are too general, inadequate, uncoordinated and inconsistent with modern
planning practices.  One of the major needs in all countries is the
development of a framework of national laws and regulations, policy guidelines
and relevant institutional frameworks to support the sustainable development
process in its entirety.


          C.  Making effective use of economic instruments and market
              and other incentives

16.  At its second session, the Commission decided to address the issue of
the use of economic instruments in the context of changing consumption and
production patterns (chapter 4 of Agenda 21), and, inter alia, it requested
the Secretary-General to prepare an analytical report on the use of economic
instruments and other policy measures for changing consumption patterns in
developed countries, with special reference to the sectoral issues on the
agenda of the Commission at its third session, as an input to the Ad Hoc
Open-ended Working Group on Finance.  As noted in paragraph 2 above, this
issue is covered in another report and will not be duplicated here.


           D.  Establishing systems for integrated environmental and
               economic accounting

17.  Conventional national economic accounting is restricted to market
transactions and thus excludes a number of human activities pursuing
non-market aspects of production and consumption.  Integrated environmental
and economic accounting attempts to value environmental services of natural
resource supply, waste absorption and other amenities that can no longer be
considered free gifts of nature.  Thus, systems for integrated environmental
and economic accounting aim at integrating environmental, social and economic
aspects of sustainable development in a broader framework of national
accounting and should be seen as a complement to traditional national
accounting practices.

18.  The System of Integrated Environmental and Economic Accounting (SEEA)
was developed as a satellite system of the System of National Accounts 1993,
which already incorporates certain aspects of natural resources accounting.
Considerable work is being undertaken in the further development of
methodologies and in data collection, as well as in providing support to
strengthen national environmental accounting systems.  

19.  Several countries have made progress in implementing natural resource
and environmental accounting at the national level.  Once enough countries
have conducted pilot studies or national programmes, the results will be
reviewed and assessed and the methodology refined accordingly.

20.  An umbrella project is also envisaged as a joint effort between the
Statistical Division of the United Nations Secretariat (UNSTAT) and UNDP with
a view to improving the coordination of national programmes and the
international comparability of adjusted macroeconomic indicators.


                  III.  CONCLUSIONS AND PROPOSALS FOR ACTION

21.  Governments should continue their efforts to establish national
commissions for sustainable development and integrated participatory
strategies for sustainable development.  In that context, organizations within
the United Nations system and other relevant organizations should support such
efforts through further methodological work, particularly with reference to
models for environmental economics, the impact of economic instruments, and
the use of integrated economic and environmental accounting. 

22.  The organizations and bodies of the United Nations system, in
cooperation with Governments and, as appropriate, non-governmental
organizations, should place a high priority on actions aimed at supporting
national coordination and planning activities related to the implementation of
Agenda 21, with particular emphasis on developing frameworks for national
strategies in which sectoral plans can be accommodated.

23.  Organizations in the United Nations system and other relevant
organizations should organize regional-level workshops to explore, discuss and
further develop methodological approaches to integrated planning for
sustainable development, drawing upon, for example, work being done in
environmental economics, valuation, natural resource accounting and integrated
economic and environmental accounting.

24.  UNSTAT and other relevant organizations and bodies of the United Nations
system, other intergovernmental organizations and non-governmental
organizations, should further the work in integrated economic and
environmental accounting, particularly with regard to:  (a) continuing
methodological development for consensus-building; (b) promoting the
implementation of national programmes by supporting and motivating national
statistical services; and (c) strengthening technical cooperation in this
area.  In addition, in the medium term, the relevant organizations should (a)
revise international methodologies, notably the Handbook of National
Accounting:  Integrated Environmental and Economic Accounting; 2/ and (b)
initiate data collection and dissemination for possible uses in Earthwatch and
the envisaged complementary development watch.


                                     Notes

     1/  Report of the United Nations Conference on Environment and
Development, Rio de Janeiro, 3-14 June 1992, vol. I, Resolutions Adopted by
the Conference (United Nations publication, Sales No. E.93.I.8 and
corrigenda), resolution 1, annex II.

     2/  United Nations publication, Sales No. E.93.XVII.12.


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Date last posted: 2 December 1999 13:24:30
Comments and suggestions: DESA/DSD