2002 world summit on sustainable development : synthesis report for Asia and the Pacific

Abstract

Over the past decade since the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) held in Rio, there has been only modest progress in the Asia-Pacific Region towards sustainable development. Since 1992, environmental quality in the Region has deteriorated. In advance of the September, 2002, World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD), a number of agencies active in the Asia-Pacific Region, including ADB, ESCAP, UNDP, and UNEP, agreed to co-ordinate a series of subregional and regional preparatory meetings. The inter-agency Task Force undertook consultations with representatives of government and civil society organizations to formulate action plans for sustainable development in the five subregions of Asia-Pacific: Central Asia, Northeast Asia, South Asia, South Pacific, and Southeast Asia. This synthesis report summarizes the process adopted and the substantive results from the five subregional consultations and two subregional roundtables. The report is a companion document to the Asia-Pacific Regional Platform paper that will be discussed at the Asia Pacific Regional Meeting in Cambodia, Nov. 27-29, 2001, and at the WSSD in September, 2002. Future implementation of the subregional action plans is necessary to arrest widespread environmental degradation in the Region. In order to achieve sustainable development, additional efforts and practical solutions are required for major socio-economic problems, including the widespread poverty and the distributional inequalities that pervade the Asia-Pacific Region.