ASIA
PACIFIC YOUTH POSITION PAPER TOWARDS
RIO
+20
Kathmandu
Nepal
12
August 2011
Preamble
1. In
recent years, the Asia-Pacific region has experienced robust economic growth
with emerging economies. However, key challenges remain in ensuring that
negative environmental and social consequences are vigorously tackled and that
economic opportunities benefit all.
2.
Severe
and pressing issues which have arisen as consequences include climate change, melting
of glaciers, rising sea level, biodiversity loss, energy crisis, food insecurity
and health problems, depleting natural resource base, natural disasters, migration
and deforestation. Vicious circle of poverty is on the top of all. The
transition to a green economy, revision of institutional frameworks on
sustainable development and enabling of low-carbon solutions to energy issues
are therefore at central to address these interconnected challenges.
3.
It
is our firm belief as Asia Pacific youth [representing over 50% of the worlds
population], that Rio+20 marks an important milestone for the global community
to critically reassess our collective commitment towards sustainable
development and to implement the reforms that are necessary to transform our
societies and economies. The decisions made at Rio+20 will have potentially
widespread implications for the Asia-Pacific region. It is us, the youth, who
will be affected in future with the decisions made today, and we have to take lead
in the coming era in effecting and establishing better economic structures and mechanisms
for conservation of our environment.
4.
Therefore,
it is crucial that we effectively and strongly participate in decision making
processes through the provision of important perspectives, thereby taking
ownership of the trajectory of the Asia-Pacific's development path leading to a
more sustainable future.
5.
Keeping
in view the diversity of the Asia-Pacific region, this paper sheds light on the
most pragmatic recommendations made by youth, as vital change makers, to address
our regional issues.
Green Economy to Eradicate Poverty
Background
The Asia
Pacific region is more vulnerable towards the impact of climate change;
therefore, urgent adaptations and actions to protect the environment have
become an utmost priority. Youth of today should own the responsibility and
promote the concept of green economy to tackle the issues of the region.
Poverty eradication and environment conservation are the ingredients of Green
Economy. According
to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), “Greening the economy
refers to the process of reconfiguring businesses and infrastructure to deliver
better returns on natural, human and economic capital investments, while at the
same time reducing greenhouse gas emissions, extracting and using less natural
resources, creating less waste and reducing social disparities.”
A
question always arises who has the ownership right of ecosystem services?
Neither the government nor the rich has complete right, the major possession of
natural resources lies with the local communities including the vulnerable and
marginalised inhabiting in the mountains and remote areas, actually deserve to
benefit from the ecosystem services, both tangible and non-tangible benefits.
As per the Polluter Pays Principle “Polluter has to pay for the damages caused
by him/her to the environment and not the ignorant.” Mankind enjoying the
luxury of nature in several forms of services has been posing great threat to
the environment and never realised the extinction of species, disappearance of
resources and is presently responsible for climate change. Green economy is the
best solution to food crisis and so to alleviate poverty. Green economy is the
stair-case to achieve sustainable development.
According
to the User Pays Principle “one has to pay for deriving benefits from the
ecosystem, it may be the government, private sector, public or any other
stakeholder”. Earth is not the premise to dump all the waste and extract all
the resources, this way we are ruining our own future leading to low GDP resulting
into low economy growth.
Green
economy aims to profit the people and the planet. It acts as a fulcrum to
maintain a balance between the sustainable development of mankind and GDP
growth. Due to expanse of urbanization the demand and supply curve of
availability of resources has shown an abnormal growth, with more demand of
resources (natural and manmade) and less availability with increasing span of
time. Green economy is the best option to bridge the gap between scarcity of
resources and growth and thus eliminating social inequity.
Challenges
6.
Poverty: Barring a few outliers, the Asia Pacific region has seen a
significant amount of economic growth in the recent past. However, there still
exists a wide divide between poor and rich and social inequity which hampers
the overall development of the nations.
7.
Climate change and natural disasters: Changing climate is exacerbating the pressure on
natural resources and the region is witnessing its impact in the form of
glacier melting, floods, droughts, sea-level rise, loss of biodiversity etc.
8.
Over exploitation of natural resources: To accelerate the development, people are
exploiting the natural resources in an unsustainable manner, which is having
multiple impacts like environmental pollution, degradation of ecosystems
setting.
9.
Unsustainable production and poor waste management: Production of non-biodegradable products, usage
of unsustainable processes and poor handling of waste poses threat to the
environment.
10.
Lack of access to clean and renewable energy
technologies: Access to a
reliable and adequate source of energy is inextricably linked to sustained
progress and growth. However, the most common source of energy production in
the region is biomass, fossil fuel burning which poses considerable risks to
the environment in the short and long-term. Despite of availability of
renewable resources, lack of technology has compelled people to use the resources
in unsustainable ways. There needs to be strong mechanism to promote renewable
energy like hydropower and other alternative energy resources.
11.
Unsustainable urban development: More Asia Pacific cities have become the focal
points as major producers, consumers and distributors of goods and services.
However, many cities tend to lack sustainable services such as water, air and
transport systems. Migrations levels are high in cities, creating more slums,
increasing pressure on limited resources and increasing pollution.
12.
Inefficient governance and political instability: There is lack of good institutional framework in
the Asia Pacific. The current governance system is a centralized system with
top-down approach. Voice of community and other vibrant groups including youth
is generally not audible to decision makers to make strategic policies as per
the need of the community.
13.
Lack of priority given to research and development:
Asia Pacific region is more vulnerable to climate
change impacts, but the development activities have been practicing without
basic findings of research. For example, the Himalayan region was presented as
data lacking are (white spot) by 4th Assessment Report of the IPCC.
14.
Quality of Life: Currently, happiness, mindfulness and wellbeing of society that
reflects the true quality of life is not taken into account.
15.
Lack of evaluation of ecosystem services: Ecosystem provides number of services with tangible
and intangible benefits. Mountain ecosystems are sources of exhaustive number
of services, which are not valued by consumers and providers.
16.
Low literacy level: Marginalised communities do not have access to the basic education and
those getting are generally ignorant of the environmental issues because of the
curriculum. Brain drain is another issue which is hampering the development in
the region.
17.
Unemployment and lack of opportunities: People are not getting enough opportunities to
get jobs and vocational trainings or skill development opportunities.
18.
Food security in the HKH region: Majority of the HKH communities are highly
dependent on livestock and rain-fed agriculture for their livelihoods and due
to changing hydrological regimes they are highly vulnerable.
19.
Gender issues:
Women are worst hit as men have to migrate out for
work due to scarcity of resources in the mountain region.
20.
Melting of glaciers in the HKH range: Melting of glaciers has contributed faster to
sea-level rise in the last 350 years. It also contributes to catastrophic floods known as glacial lake
outburst (GLOFs) causing heavy loss of life and property.
21.
Health issues: Due to less accessibility to resources, infrastructure and other health
facilities the mountain communities are likely to be vulnerable to various
diseases.
Recommendations
22. Government, industries
and people are the stakeholders of any system that has to work in a team to promote
green economy.
23.
Existing
policies and programmes should be properly implemented with continuous
monitoring and evaluation mechanism. Government should further carry out SWOT Analysis
to assess the gaps and missing links of the present policy reforms. Sustainable Development
strategies need to be prioritized and mainstreamed in the government policy
framework to strengthen existing environmental laws and policies such as Air
Act, Water Act, Forest Conservation Act, CBD, Waste management act, Act to safeguard
the rights of local communities, Costal Zone Regulation Act and implement new
acts to ensure green growth of the economy.
24.
Government should provide several carbon market
mechanisms such as Payment for Ecosystem Services, REDD, REDD+, etc to create green
jobs for the unemployed and marginalised communities inhabiting the mountain
regions.
25.
Further assessments such as Environmental Impact
Assessment (EIA), Mountain Risk Engineering, Tourism Impact Assessment is
recommended to restore and increase the resilience of the mountainous regions
in the HKH region and to reduce the vulnerability of the communities therein.
26.
There is need for a monitoring, and verification
system to indicate and measure sustainability with respect to the GDP of the
economy.
27.
Industries need to use clean and green technologies
to increases their carbon credits and decrease their emissions to provide
increasing employment opportunities through green jobs.
28.
Life-cycle analysis should be mandatory for every
industrial product. Implementation of 5Rs (reduce, reuse, recycle, recover, residual management) is another tool for
waste management. Cradle to grave approach should be adopted.
29.
Techniques like organic farming should be used to
ensure healthy and productive agriculture to address issues of food security
and also micro financing should be introduced for the welfare of local people.
30.
Trainings and workshops to be conducted for local
people, tourists and corporate is further recommended to aware them of the
guidelines as well as their individual responsibilities to protect the
environment.
31.
Youth involvement needs to be initiated in the
policy formulation processes to get better policy reforms what impacts the
youth in future.
32. There is a need to
establish a youth network to share the problems and good practices.
33.
Regional and global cooperation is needed for
knowledge and technology transfer taking into consideration the intellectual
property rights.
34.
Establishing
indicators to check
country development need to be incorporated such as Genuine Progress Index and
Gross National Happiness (GNH).
35. Entrepreneurship and
skill development of the local community should be promoted to build the capacity
of local communities.
36. Seed funding should be
made available to carry out R&D activities for developing low carbon
technologies and in turn generating more green jobs.
Energy
for Low Carbon Future
Introduction
37.
This section of the position paper
presents the collective vision of the Asia Pacific youth on measures to be
adopted to drive a low carbon future.
38.
The Asia Pacific youth envisions a
low carbon future as one in which
38
i) sustainable energy management is practiced;
38
iii) access and affordability of energy are enhanced thus ensuring the
well-being of all; and
38
iii) emissions of greenhouse gases and other air pollutants are minimized to
combat adverse effects of climate change.
Key
Issues
39.
The use of fossil fuels and other
conventional sources of energy is contributing to global warming.
40.
In recent years the Asia Pacific region
has gradually increased energy consumption and production due to several
factors such as economic growth and/or population growth.
41.
Due to lack of affordable and
accessible green energy, people are more and more dependent on the
unsustainable traditional sources to fulfill their increasing demand of energy.
42.
The Asia Pacific countries are
dependent on certain other nations for energy sources. This leaves the region
highly vulnerable to volatile oil prices which can be dictated by strong
industry players in the energy market.
43.
Emissions from fossil fuel and some
of traditional energy sources such as firewood combustion lead to many
diseases. Such health impacts have tremendously increased the medical cost
burden to the people and contributed to a reduction in labour productivity.
Key Barriers
44.
There is a lack of definitive
policies and strong legislation promoting the development of low carbon energy.
The existing policies and regulations are not implemented effectively due to
weak and ineffective institutional mechanisms. In particular, there are
significant lacking in the aspects below:
Ineffective
collaboration & partnership
45.
There is a lack of effective
collaboration between: public and private sectors, governmental bodies and the
community, national and regional-level. In addition, there is low concern of
government for youth activities. Without effective collaboration, it is
impossible to coordinate a concerted effort towards achieving a low carbon
future between institutions.
Financial
Barriers
46.
There is a lack of financial aid (support)
system to support the production of low carbon energy. While it requires high
start-up and operational costs, long payback periods associated with investment
in low carbon technologies, this posed a financial barrier to potential
investors.
47.
In addition, there is a lack of
seed funding for youth driven entrepreneurial initiatives in the area of low
carbon energy for instance, innovations in energy efficient appliances.
Barriers
to social change
48. People are lacking awareness and knowledge of
fossil fuel and greenhouse effect and there is a big gap in climate education
for community.
49. In addition, people seem unwilling to change due to
the difficulties in both accessing renewable energy resources and changing
their own daily lifestyle.
Technological
Barriers
50.
In most Asia Pacific countries,
research and development (R&D) is quite insufficient due to limited
attention and funding. In addition, we are lacking with skilled human
resources. Due to these reasons, low carbon energies have shortages and
limitations that hinder them from large-scale adoption.
Unsustainable
Urban Development
51.
While lacking of institutional and
policy frameworks, the rate of urbanization in Asia Pacific cities are growing
fast. As a result, cities in the Asia Pacific region have to deal with rising
motorization and energy consumption.
Recommendations
52.
The legislative framework needs to
be strengthened in a way that would promote a low carbon future, enhance
compliance monitoring and accountability and establish an index for the
measurement of energy sustain.
53.
To address Ineffective
collaboration & partnership
For
national and regional level:
·
National-level governmental bodies
should communicate with regional-level governmental bodies in a timely manner
and transparent way for community to see.
·
Enhancing civil society’s role,
especially the youth’s role and having an open channel of communication with
the government, allowing civil society to have a say in the policy making
process.
·
Provide platform for communication
and collaboration between the government and different stakeholders.
For international level:
54.
Governments should actively
participate in international frameworks and intergovernmental Collaborations.
Such collaborative processes should be transparent, fair, and inclusive and
demand driven. Further, it is important to ensure that these commitments are
sustained and the words are translated into effective action.
To
address Financial Barriers
55.
In order to lower the high
financial costs associated with alternative energy setups, there is necessity
of:
·
Fund raising for alternative energy
research and project implementation and from international organizations and
different financial mechanism (in a transparent manner).
·
It is imperative for governments to
provide greater funding (and) incentives to encourage the production of
alternative energy by the private sector.
·
Potential measures include tax
concessions or exemptions, feed-in tariffs, subsidies (“Subsidies” should
change to “incentive”), grants, and easy credit availability for improving
green energy production.
To
Address Barriers to social change
56.
We need to improve education on low
carbon technologies, sustainability, sufficiency and efficiency in using
energy. This can be implemented via:
·
Capacity building program, advocacy
via social networking platforms, environmental oriented competitions.
·
Innovative and interactive
educational initiatives on environment and energy should be encouraged and
institutionalized as well.
·
Implementation of carbon footprint
labeling.
·
Implementation of policies that
encourage reduction in consumption of energy and accept embodied energy in
formulating policy.
57.
There should be integration among education
and sustainable development and green job. Youth can encourage a higher
willingness to pay for green products.
To
Address Technological Barriers
58.
There needs to be enhanced
diffusion of low carbon technologies from technologically advanced nations to
other nations. It is proposed that efforts be made to establish an attractive investment
climate for foreign clean energy companies and thus make technology transfer mutually
beneficial to both the donor and recipient parties. Knowledge transfer through educational
scholarships and student exchange programs should go hand-in-hand with technology
transfer. There needs to be more research & development into alternative
energy technologies to enhance their viability.
To
Address Unstainable Urban Development
59.
Cities should focus more on an
integrated view of urban development including environment protection, setting
low carbon footprint as one of its strategic objectives. Consider the local
context as the critical point for determining the policies and programs,
cities’ government have to:
59
a) Encourage the development and use of public transport systems and the
decrease in the use of personal vehicles; promote the use of non-motorized
transport i.e. walking and cycling;
59
b) Promote integrated and collaborative energy demand management initiatives;
59
c) Promote the development of energy efficient and energy conserving buildings,
industries and districts.
59
d) Increase and connecting green spaces and wildlife corridors
Lack of enforcement
60.
The legislative framework needs to
be strengthened in a way that would promote a low carbon future, enhance
compliance monitoring and accountability and establish an index for the measurement
of energy sustainability.
Institutional
Framework for Sustainable Development
Background:
61.
The Asia Pacific youth recognize the following key ideas
would strongly encompass the concept of sustainable development.
62.
Public awareness & engagement allows the community
to identify the problems, while capacity building ensures a good and effective
deliverance of policy implementation for sustainable governance. In addition,
as policies are the tools towards better governance, the use of the right
policies is mandatory to ensure authoritative and operative governance in
setting the values towards sustainability. Finally, good governance is necessary
for effective implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the policies.
Issues &
Challenges in:
Governance
63.
Although most Asia Pacific countries have introduced a
number of globally accepted principles on natural resources and sustainable
environmental management in their legislative systems- ineffective
implementation, lack of monitoring and evaluation systems, and corruption
hinders sustainable development so that it results in a lack of accountability
weakening the implementation and rationalization of environmental policies.
Absence of evaluation also means the youth fail to learn from past initiatives.
Therefore their capacity is compromised.
64.
Corruption, vested political and business interests
across countries in the Asia Pacific contribute to massive exploitation of
natural resources that impacts sustainable development stifles innovations and
obstructs the access to information and justice and en-curtailment of the
freedom of speech. Voice of youth is nullified.
65.
There are a number of issues during the design and
implementation of equitable policies such as the chain of corruption, poor
compliance, and poor due process, lack of accountability, transparency and
ineffective monitoring processes within the communities. These issues
exacerbate environmental degradation.
Policy
66.
The existence of several Multilateral Environmental
Agreements (MEAs), conventions, and organizations with no proper coordination,
lack of effective implementation and authority hinders progress regarding
solving environment and sustainable development issues.
67.
There is a lack of youth participation in policy making
processes which in turn neglects the voice, opinions, and ideas of the future
generation that could be vital in the formulation of comprehensive
environmental policies.
68.
Lack of incorporation of environmental issues into
socio-economic development policies and plans make it difficult to address
sustainable development goal. Also, weak implementation of existing laws,
rules, and regulations regarding environmental conservation is a major issue in
most Asian countries.
69.
There is a lack of awareness of potential revenue and
economic growth from other resources that do not damage the environment, such
as REDD (Reduces Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation) projects,
if necessary safeguards are taken.
70.
The lack of advanced scientific expertise along with
inconsistencies in research methodologies creates a barrier to the formulation
of effective environmental policies.
Capacity Building
71.
There is an absence of by-laws, a lack of full
understanding of technical regulations, and also unclear regulations and
mechanisms for enforcement, which have left government and voluntary
authorities relatively free to interpret them. They are also limited by their
own knowledge and capacities, leading to difficulties with proper
implementation of policies.
72.
Low technical capacity, knowledge, experience and the
high cost of training hamper their ability to incorporate environmental issues
with the civil society and local community to have their sustainable works for
their areas done effectively. In addition, they lack awareness of available
funding for environmentally friendly projects.
Public Awareness
and Engagement
73.
There is a lack of public awareness and sense of individual
responsibility and civic engagement in the change of national and international
environmental laws. The basic definitions and the importance of environmental
laws, conservation and sustainable development are not understood. Due to this
lack of awareness, the public becomes less open to positive environmental
change.
74.
The access to the information and the political will and
accountability regarding the issue of Climate Change is still limited. The
public, especially youth, does not receive adequate impactful education on the
participatory processes that enable effective engagement with the government or
government agencies on sustainable development. Though youth are willing to
engage to the process of environmental protection, the sufficient effective platforms
for the youth to convey their messages, initiatives and innovation are hardly
found. On the government side, there is a lack of political will to engage
different stakeholders and the public in these participatory processes.
Recommendations
Governance
75.
Comprehensive environmental governance must be a top
priority and all sectors must cooperate towards it.
76.
A general regulatory framework for the development and
enforcement of environmental rules and regulations should be strengthened
77.
The chain of corruption can be broken by increased
accountability, transparency and responsiveness on a local, district level or a
federal system through the involvement of community governance.
78.
There should be an international environmental
assessment tool to annually measure how well countries are moving towards their
commitments to sustainable development under practical Local Agenda 21 and it
has to be binding upon signatories. In this regard, youth organisations can
produce a shadow report to complement the official government report.
Policy
79.
An effective development policy strategy should involve
innovative and creative thinking with non-price based policy instruments
supported by the youth while taking into account each country’s unique
situation. This will be important in ensuring sustainable economic growth
without compromising the environment and standard of living.
80.
International, national, and local governments and key
stakeholders need to recognize the importance of environment services equitably
under the existing development plans and the legal concepts of sustainable
development carried out by communities. This could be carried out by using
mechanisms that facilitate payment for environmental services. Furthermore,
countries could raise awareness and facilitate the implementation of mechanism
among the youth and public.
81.
More funds should be allocated towards environmental conservation
such as research and development for environmental initiatives. More importance
should be given to other policies than it is being given right now so as to
increase the facilitation of sustainable development.
82.
Minimum environmental standards for areas such as energy
consumption can be set to encourage use of green technologies. In addition, the
“value-added” system should be revised to include direct and indirect
environmental benefits encouraging businesses to implement green practices.
83.
The design and formulation of environmental policies
need to accommodate environmental, social and political aspects. To promote
environmental policy innovations, it is recommended that environmental
innovation policy centers and pilot projects be established. The innovation
policy centre can be set up based on a partnership approach, spearheaded by a
governmental interagency committee with collaboration with academic
institutions, private associations (environment friendly traders), CBOs, NGOs
and youth groups.
Capacity Building
84.
Government officials involved in the policy making
process must be selected through a stringent selection process based on merits,
experiences, academic achievement and technical knowledge. A review on the
countries’ environmental regulations must be carried out and timelines must be
set and kept through proper monitoring and evaluation and the youth should be
an integral part of this process.
85.
Governments should address low capacity of their
officers to handle partnership collaborations with all stakeholders especially
the youth through training and building up skills in community development.
86.
Governments should form collaborations with
international organizations so that knowledge, expertise and external help are
available to the country to actively tackle environmental issues. Governments
must maintain an open channel of communication with the grassroots so that feedback
from the public can be worked out between the youth, other communities and the
government, and partnership practices, for example participatory dialogues set
in place. This builds a cohesive relationship between the people and the
government.
87.
Environmental studies can be introduced as a compulsory
subject in pre-tertiary education institutions. Civil society and private
sectors should establish an active collaboration with local communities,
especially the youth, to educate the community and act as an avenue where
members of the community can turn to for environmental advice and help. Annual
events that promote awareness such as ‘Earth Day’ can be adopted and actively
participated in across Asia Pacific. These actions will enable better
understanding and keep the people updated on environmental know-how.
Capacity-building should be carried out by all stakeholders to enable the youth
to take the lead in organising such events.
88.
Civil society, academia, and the government should
exchange ideas, information, and scientific expertise regarding environmental
research and development through dialogue sessions and public seminars.
Governments should also take steps to collaborate with the youth in
environmental projects which could lead to better understanding of
environmental issues.
Public Awareness
and Engagement
89.
Impactful environmental initiatives from the youth,
Civil Society Organisations (CSO), nongovernmental organisations (NGO),
academia and the private sector should be encouraged to create a focused and
targeted approach in order to raise public awareness and engagement in
environmental issues. The government and relevant stakeholders should cooperate
and coordinate in order to support these initiatives.
90.
The youth should have access to official and
professional platforms to voice out their concerns at every level of the
decision making process, in regards to issues such as environmental policies.
There should be structural mechanisms in place to facilitate their voice, such
as setting up youth councils, giving proper consideration to their
recommendations, and implementing them at the local, national, and
international level. Therefore, assistance must be provided to help youth to
build awareness and capacity to take on such a role and be able to impact
sustainable development in their respective countries and the world. And the
participation must be made compulsory in legal documents.
91.
Governments should also prioritize and allocate proper
funding for mechanisms which are designed to increase public awareness and
engagement regarding environmental policies and issues through education.
Note:
Asia-Pacific
Youth Forum on Climate Actions and Mountain Issues, 8-12 August, which was
attended by 43 youth from 17 countries
in the Asia Pacific region region (Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia,
China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Kazakhstan, Korea, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan,
Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam) representing diverse geography,
rich cultural background and variety of issues, concluded with the launch of
two important documents prepared in the context of ongoing debates on ‘Climate
Change Adaption’ and ‘Rio +20’ preparation. The ‘Asia Pacific Youth Declaration
on Climate Change and Sustainable Development’ and the ‘Asia Pacific Youth
Position paper on Rio +20’ both were launched on 12 August in a special
function organised to mark the International Youth Day (IYD), conclusion of the
International Year of Youth (IYY 2010/2011) and ‘key message communication’
session of the Youth Forum.
Organised
by the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD)
through its Asia Pacific Mountain Network (APMN), the event was technically
supported by more than a dozen global and Asia Pacific regional initiatives
promoting climate and sustainability actions including Rio+Twenties, Road to Rio +20, UN CSD Youth
Caucus, 350.0rg, Activating Talent in Sustainability (ACTIS), Adaptation
Knowledge Platform (AKP), Asia and the Pacific Adaptation Network (APAN),
Eco-Singapore, Peace Child International, Schumacher College UK, Systainability
Asia and UNEP TUNZA.
For more
information, write to Mr. Tek Jung Mahat, Initiator and team leader – Youth for Sustainable Mountain Development Initiative, ICIMOD, Nepal at tmahat@icimod.org.
Event page: http://www.icimod.org/apyf2011
