Energy and Natural Resources: Towards an Integrated United Nations Response.

In the wake of the Rio Summit, major United Nations conferences were held, whose unifying theme was a global vision of sustainable development that would ensure the compatibility of human activities and the healthy state of natural resources, some of which were the main sources of energy. It was also in the context of this vision of sustainable development that the World Solar Summit was convened in Harare, Zimbabwe, in September 1996, paving the way for the adoption by the United Nations General Assembly in October 1998 of the World Solar Programme 1996-2005.

Discussions on energy are ongoing in various inter-governmental and other stakeholder bodies. Policy discussions on energy and sustainable development, including the development of energy resources in developing countries, the development and use of renewable sources of energy, energy efficiency improvement, environmentally sound development and use of fossil fuels, the development and implementation of rural energy policies, energy and transportation, provision of safe water and sanitation, and integrated planning and management of land resources and agriculture, among other topics, take place in the United Nations Committee on Energy and Natural Resources for Development (CENRD).

Discussions on energy also take place among other inter-governmental bodies, such as the Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD), the Governing Council of the United Nations Environment Programme, the General Conference of the International Atomic Energy Agency, the Conference of the Parties of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the Executive Board of the United Nations Development Programme, the Statistical Commission and the World Bank.

In spite of all these activities, efforts appear to be dispersed and somewhat ad hoc. A focused approach on energy, with emphasis on energy in overall socioeconomic development, has not emerged. A common strategy for energy-related activities in the United Nations system, aimed at fostering partnerships for sustainable energy development with relevant actors outside the system, is regrettably lacking. But the role of coordination of energy activities within the United Nations system by the CENRD is provided for and already making significant progress.

The CENRD, at its first session in New York from 5 to 16 April 1999, took the initiative to constructively contribute to the preparatory process for the CSD's ninth session at the very initial stage. It identified what it considered to be the most critical issues requiring urgent attention in the preparatory process and adopted decisions on integrated planning and management of land resources and agriculture as a contribution to the preparation for the CSD's eighth session in 2000, which will be focusing on this theme, as well as on the overriding themes of poverty, consumption and production patterns.

Cooperation between the CENRD and other entities of the United Nations should be accelerated, and efforts should be made to promote wider participation and collaboration with non-governmental organizations, the private sector and other organizations specifically dealing with energy and sustainable development issues. Indeed, it was for this reason that the World Solar Programme identified the vital role of such distinct stakeholders in the process of promoting sustainable development.

The Inter-Agency Task Force on Energy should play a crucial role in ensuring such integration by providing a formal means for the exchange of information and the necessary coordination at the Secretariat level.

When dealing with energy and natural resources issues, the United Nations must always be mindful of the indivisibility of the two issues. Cognizance should be taken of the fact that a dose interrelationship exists between the consumption and production patterns of energy on the one hand and the impact thereof--in terms both of quantity and quality--of the state of the natural resource base on the other. Unsustainable patterns of consumption and production of energy in both industrialized and developing countries have led to the continued deterioration of the global environment, manifested in such adverse phenomena as global climate change due to greenhouse gas emissions and desertification as a result of land degradation.

Policy discussions on energy and sustainable development will therefore need to be better conducted so that there is an apparent integration of energy supply options, as well as measures to attenuate the adverse environmental impact of energy exploitation and utilization. The various United Nations organs dealing with energy and natural resources are, therefore, well placed to ensure that the recommendations that they make and the programmes of action that they support all reflect the inter-linkages which exist between energy, natural resources and sustainable development.

By Christian Katsande, Permanent Secretary for the Ministry of Transport and Energy of Zimbabwe and Chairman of the CENRD.