Second Committee: Economic and Financial
Hurricanes, Climate Change and Trade
Challenges Facing Development
Section coordinated by Namrita Talwar
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Juraj Koudelka, First Secretary of the Permanent Mission of the Czech Republic, Vice-Chairman of the Second Committee. © UN Chronicle photo
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With trade, development, debt relief and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) continuing as major issues, the 2005 World Summit in September set the stage for negotiations in the Second Committee during the sixtieth session of the General Assembly. Natural disasters were also at the centre of the debate, with a record-shattering $200 billion in damages from weather-related disasters in 2005, compared to $145 billion in 2004.
Many representatives from small island developing States (SIDS) made the link between global warming and devastating weather. Enele Sosene Sopoaga of Tuvalu said that recent hurricanes in the Caribbean, Central America and the United States were not simple acts of nature, and the impact of recent environmental calamities had shown that even the richest and most powerful country was not immune to the devastating effects of climate change. He called on the largest producers of greenhouse gases to reduce emissions “for the sake of humanity”.
Jagdish Koonjul of Mauritius, speaking on behalf of the Alliance of Small Island States, likened climate change to “second-hand smoke”, saying that although SIDS did not produce the greenhouse gases that blew over them, their fragile environments faced devastation due to rising sea levels, climate variability and susceptibility to natural disasters. He pointed out that the frequency, intensity and span of hurricanes and tropical storms had increased, creating unprecedented damage to these islands’ livelihoods. Ambassador Koonjul also said that because SIDS were least responsible for global emissions, they should receive financial and technical assistance to adapt to the impact of climate change. Noting that the recent spike in oil prices had hurt their economies, he expressed hope for greater investment in sources of renewable energy.
The Committee heard about efforts to address climate change, including the over 300 projects created under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by targeting renewable energy, energy efficiency, fuel switching, landfill, reforestation and afforestation in developing countries, such as India, Brazil and Honduras. A draft resolution on “Protection of global climate for the present and future generations of mankind” noted that the Kyoto Protocol had attracted 156 ratifications from States accounting for 61.6 per cent of global emissions. It called for the “widest possible cooperation” to support efforts to limit climate change and rising sea levels, especially considering that “the long-term effects of climate change may threaten the very existence of some small island developing States”.
A draft text on new and renewable sources of energy included a ten-year extension of the World Solar Programme, from 1996-2005 to 2006-2015. Rezlan Ishar Jenie of Indonesia said that the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) had pledged to increase by 10 per cent the region’s share of renewable energy in power generation by 2010 by promoting public-private partnerships that boost solar, wind, geothermal, hydro and biomass energy. Wang Qi of China voiced support for the Kyoto Protocol and highlighted his country’s law to create a more enabling environment for the commercialization and development of renewable energy, which would enter into force in 2006. Hjalmar Hannesson of Iceland said that only 20 per cent of his country’s feasible hydropower—a small portion of geothermal potential—had been harnessed and that the most promising option for clean energy was to make hydrogen as the primary energy carrier for ships and vehicles.
Natural disasters emphasized global economic inequalities, because a country’s chances of surviving natural disasters depended on its relative wealth, according to Yasoja Gunasekera of Sri Lanka. “The reality is that when a country doesn’t have a lot of resources, it is more difficult to get on its feet after a natural disaster. If you look at the national capacity for disaster management, which is fundamental in terms of how many lives can be saved, countries with large numbers of outstanding developmental needs may not be fully equipped in terms of national capacity for dealing with natural disasters. In wealthier countries, you tend to find more money to spend on the scientific aspects of disaster management and local authorities that are better equipped to deal with disasters”, Ms. Gunasekera told the Chronicle. She also said that building stronger government institutions across the board, including at the local level, would better prepare countries for natural disasters and help tackle poverty alleviation.
Eduardo Sevilla Somoza of Nicaragua, speaking on behalf of the Central American Integration System, said countries in his region had few possibilities of achieving the MDGs, because natural disasters, such as hurricanes, floods and volcanic eruptions, left thousands dead and hindered the region’s economic development. He called on the international community to institute an early warning system to prevent and mitigate natural disasters. Abdul Alim of Bangladesh, calling for unrestricted access to early warning information for disaster-prone countries, said that experts believed that tens of thousands of lives could have been saved during the December 2005 Indian Ocean tsunami if they had been alerted on time. A draft resolution on “Natural disasters and vulnerability,” which mentioned the importance of early warning systems, was adopted by consensus.
A draft text in support of the Mauritius Strategy, the outcome of the January 2005 conference, was adopted by consensus and welcomed by many delegates as a way to provide sustainable economic growth to SIDS. Isikia Savua of Fiji told the Committee that regional donor organizations, however, were claiming “prima donna” status with regards to development initiatives. Filimone Kau, also of Fiji, told the UN Chronicle that this meant that some donors were placing themselves far above recipients, dictating how things should be done at the national level. He hoped that both donor and recipient countries could work together with all State and non-State actors, including the private sector, in order to ensure community-level delivery. Enforcing the World Trade Organization’s rules was causing his country “a lot of misery”, referring to the preferential access to European Union markets for Fiji-produced sugar that had been lost. Mr. Kau said: “While we understand the need to liberalize, the pace should be friendly to allow small islands to adjust. We need better market access for our commodities and more responsive partners. Trade is the vehicle for achieving the MDGs and the Mauritius Strategy. Unless we can trade effectively, it is likely that we will live on aid—and we would like to fend for ourselves. Unless we get preferential access to markets, it is going to be very difficult times for small islands like us.” Similarly, Tirtha Raj Wagle of Nepal told the Committee of a 39-per-cent decrease in his country’s garment exports, a major source of foreign currency, because of the elimination of apparel quotas in January 2005, saying that 50,000 Nepalese workers had lost their jobs. He called on the global community to pay greater heed to trade-adjustment costs and help countries find ways to improve their global competitiveness.
Some delegates complained of slow progress on the five-year-old Brussels Programme—an action plan to reduce poverty in the world’s least developed countries. Helen Beck of the Solomon Islands said that new issues, including SARS and the avian flu, had diverted funds from the Programme. “There are gaps that come up that were not foreseen when the Programme was made up, and as we progress, least developed countries are not given equal attention. New and emerging issues will always come, but we need to address new issues and budget gaps equally”, she told the Chronicle.
Florence Chenoweth of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations pointed out the importance of the draft text on “Sustainable mountain development”, saying that the devastating earthquake in October 2005 in India and Pakistan had painfully demonstrated how precarious living in remote mountain areas could be. A disproportionate number of the world’s 840 million chronically malnourished people, she added, lived in mountain areas, where 245 million in developing and transition countries are threatened by hunger and food insecurity.
In his keynote address to the Second Committee, Harvard Profes-sor Dani Rodrik said that the “Washington Consensus”—a two-decade-old set of economic policy recommendations touted by developed countries and such institutions as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, which advocated economic liberalization, a stable macroeconomic environment marked by low inflation and increased privatization–was giving way to a realization that implementing across-the-board policy recommendations did not ensure economic growth. While Latin America, which had embraced the Washington Consensus, had shown disappointing economic growth, countries like China, India, and Viet Nam had increased exports and reduced poverty under policies that leaned toward protectionism, he added. Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury of Bangladesh echoed this sentiment, saying that many developing countries had suffered from opening and liberalizing their economies prematurely, increasing their vulnerability to external shocks. He said that many developed countries had attained higher rates of growth without opening their markets, or by opening them selectively.
Stafford Neil of Jamaica commented that it was important to recognize that there was “no single model of development” and that a variety of local conditions, plans and national priorities exists throughout the developing world. A report from the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development gave encouraging news, noting an unprecedented expansion of South-South trade (between developing countries), which now accounted for 43 per cent of all exports from the South. This was bolstered by a draft resolution urging international institutions to support initiatives between developing countries. Byron Blake of Jamaica, who spoke on behalf of the Group of 77 developing countries and China, pointed out that 49.7 per cent of the world’s workers and their families lived on less than $2 a day, less than the estimated $2.20 to $2.90 subsidy income earned by a cow in Europe or the United States. Anwarul K. Chowdhury, UN High Representative for the Least Developed countries (LDCs), Landlocked Developing Countries and SIDS, called for LDCs to be “freed from the crushing debt burden” and be given more external sources to generate employment.
The MDGs are “the core business of the Second Committee, cross-cut-ting through all of our work”, Juraj Koudelka of the Czech Republic, Committee Vice-Chairman, told the Chronicle. In a panel discussion on the United Nations system’s role in supporting country-level development strategies in the follow-up to the World Summit, Galetshajwe Rebagamang of Botswana said that his country, which was reclassified a few years ago as a middle-income one, is considered a “success story”, but this reclassification had led to other problems. “We have huge social costs; for example, we spend $150 million annually on HIV/AIDS. For us and other poor middle-income countries, funds for development, such as soft loans, are increasingly difficult to get, and donor countries remind us that we are middle-income countries. Many of these poor countries are in a ‘no man’s land’ and are at risk of slipping back into poverty.”
The Dominican Republic’s representative said that his country had been aggressively pursuing the MDGs and now has a needs-assessment report that includes a road map, showing that it needed $30 billion to meet these goals. He said it was “not sure” where it could find those funds, considering it was also a middle-income country, and pointed out the need for strategies to help the middle-income nations achieve the MDGs. A resolution on “External debt crisis and development” welcomed that “total debt services decreased from the period 2003 to 2004” and recognized the difficulties faced by some low- and middle-income developing countries that are not eligible for debt relief under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiative. Duong Hoai Nam of Viet Nam said that his country had reduced poverty by three fifths, compared to the 1993 levels, thereby halving poverty “ten years ahead of schedule”, referring the MDG target deadline of 2015. He added that 88 per cent of the poor had been provided with free medical care and 400,000 new houses had been built.
Federico Meyer of Brazil told the Chronicle that the draft resolution on migrant remittances had three goals. First, remittances should be cheaper since much of the money sent is lost in transfer costs. Second, “migrants sending money back home and people receiving the money should have easier access. Many migrants and recipients do not have bank accounts or access to banks”, he said. Mr. Meyer suggested that sending money via postal service might be a viable option, since it typically reached even remote places. Third, the resolution aims to promote the exchange of experiences concerning remittances. For example, in Mexico, programmes existed that matched funds sent from abroad three to one to encourage housing construction, he added, and the Philippine migrants often had cultural clubs abroad, which might pool resources for the construction of a hospital in a village.
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| A collapsed house in the Mansehra district of Pakistan.
UNHCR photo. |
The Second Committee also adopted draft resolutions that addressed the special needs of various countries and regions, including humanitarian assistance in Somalia, Ethiopia and Djibouti, as well as relief aid for El Salvador and Guatemala in the wake of tropical storm Stan in October 2005 and the rehabilitation of the Semipalatinsk region of Kazakhstan, where from 1949 to 1991 the Soviet Union conducted nearly 500 nuclear tests. |
Migration and Remittances
The United Nations Population Division estimated that 175 million people, 1 in 40 worldwide, were living outside of their country of birth or citizenship. The proportion of foreign-born residents in developed countries has increased in recent years, while in most developing countries the rate has remained stable or diminished. Wealthy countries have about 60 per cent of the world’s recorded migrants and 40 per cent are in developing nations. South-South migration, i.e. from one developing country to another, represents a growing trend.
In 2000, most migrants resided in Europe (50 million), Asia (50 million) and North America (41 million). The United States has more migrants than any other country (35 million in 2000, a 50-per-cent increase from 1990), followed by the Russian Federation (13 million).
Remittances worldwide are estimated at about $100 billion each year, with some 60 per cent going to developing countries. As a source of external finance to developing countries, remittances are second only to foreign direct investment (around $133 billion). In 2003, Latin America received $32 billion in remittances, six times what it received in official development assistance. Remittances have risen dramatically in recent years despite weak economies in host countries. For example, flows from the United States to Mexico and Central America grew from less than $1 billion in 1980 to $14 billion in 2002. Remittances usually go to poor people in small amounts and are most commonly used to buy necessities, such as food or clothing, and for housing, health care and education. Money transfer fees and poor exchange rate offerings take up to 20 per cent of the value of remittances, making them very inefficient.
Kathleen Newland, Executive Director of the Migration Policy Institute, observed that in the last few years “there has been a particular interest in remittances in particular, and migration in general, especially since 2003 when the World Bank came out with figures that showed the magnitude of remittance flows”. The United Nations could play an important role as a focal point for research on these issues and help get information to Member States, she said. “There is a lot of research going on at the local, national and global levels, from different points of view and perspective of countries of origin and receiving countries. There isn’t a location where all of those strands of dialogue come together. The UN could extract things from existing research that are of common interest and push forward on the policy front, provide a forum where Member States can explore policy issues, and meet with leading researchers and receive training. This is especially important for small countries that don’t have the resources to do it themselves.” —Jonas Hagen |
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