Transcript Sustainable Development, Development Research, and the Role of

Sustainable Development,
Development Research,
and the Role of Canada
Ligia Noronha
The Energy and Resources Institute
New Delhi
October 19, 2007
Sustainable developmentwide acceptability of the concept
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As a goal and mission of countless
organizations
Fuzziness of the concept which interestingly
allows consensus building
Provides a common language
Unifying core - built around needs,
ecological limits, and social acceptability
Key Trends in Development
Research
Focus on Socio-ecological Systems
Mechanisms and Institutions that Mediate
this Relationship
Health of Ecosystems
Sustainable Livelihoods
Natural Resource and Environmental
Accounting
Trade and Sustainable Development
Multi-sector Partnerships
Tool Kits to Track Sustainability
Climate change risks
By the end of 21st century:
Global average surface
temperature is projected to
increase by 1.8 to 4oC:
similar in SE Asia, but higher
elsewhere in Asia
Could lead to rapid, large and
unexpected impacts on local,
regional and global scales.
The global mean sea level is
projected to rise by 0.18 to
0.59 meters; higher in Asia
Climate variability, including
extreme weather events, is
estimated to cause over 150,000
deaths annually.
Communicable Health Risks
International travel and
trade has vastly increased
the speed and ease of risk
transfer.
http://www.pandemicflu.gov/
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Newly described or recognized
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Expanding distributions
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Increased local incidence
(Source: Wilson, 2001)
Energy Security Risks
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Energy and Poverty –
leading to non traditional
security risks (environmental
health, burden on women, lack
of jobs)
http://europa.eu.int/comm/research/energy/pdf
/18_sayigh_en.pdf
Indoor Smoke from solid fuels
kills 1.6 million people a year
(WHO)
Source: WEO, 2003

Energy and growth –
leading to possible
competition over securing
resources and possible
traditional security conflicts,
increased carbon emissions
A greater sense of shared vulnerability
exists,
but
not entirely clear if this is leading to
• greater efforts at international collective
action, or
• to more nationalist jingoism, strategic
thinking, and over reactions that could
lead to instability and conflict.
Is Canada well placed to
address international
sustainable development
issues more strongly?
What lessons can it export to others, what
can it learn from others if it is to lead
international sustainable development
more effectively?
Canada’s engagement with
international sustainable development
Active engagement with the concept since it first
came into use, but a temporary slow-down in
2006
Committed to multilateralism
Being off-course on its carbon commitments
under the Kyoto Protocol suggests, however,
that it has a long way to go in terms of aligning
national interests with international needs
Public concern with climate change is perceived
as key driver for a renewed engagement today.
How is Canada placed relative to 21 other rich
counties in its commitments to international
sustainable development?
ODA has been increasing since 2003,
but an implementation gap remains
between international commitments
and capacity (0.3% rather than 0.7%
of GNI)
The ODA picture
1.4
1
0.8
1990
2003
0.6
0.4
Portugal
Spain
Source: HDR, 2005, Table 17, p 278
Greece
Germany
Italy
New Zealand
Austria
France
United Kingdom
Finland
Japan
Netherlands
United States
Ireland
Belgium
Switzerland
Canada
Sweden
Australia
Luxembourg
0
Denmark
0.2
Norway
Percent of GNI
1.2
Source:
http://www.cgdev.org/section/initiatives/_active/c
di
Support for International
Development Research
IDRC one of the top 10 supporters in the world
In research diplomacy, leads from the front
“IDRC is a venture capitalist of ideas”
Four areas of inquiry:
 Social and Economic Equity
 Environment and Natural Resource Management
 Information and Communication Technologies for
Development
 Innovation, Policy and Science
A glaring omission, however, is energy research.
Looking Ahead
To me “Our Common Future” seems but a
literary flourish, having survived without
the heart and political will required to
move beyond national borders, economic
and social differences, grotesque lifestyles
and limitless wants of elites across
villages, groups and nations that benefit
often at the expense of the less powerful
with no voice and limited ability to defend
their rights and space.
Needed - multi-actor frameworks
of international cooperation
Why?
A multi-actor
framework
The transnational nature of
problems
Beyond Borders
Facilitating role
Nation State
Redistribute
some
authority/role
Non-state actors
(business, civil society)
Local communities
19
Modified from Hempel, 1996
Why?
 Facilitate social learning
 Protect the social fabric of
technologically driven
societies
 Enable quicker, more
innovative, flexible and
appropriate responses to
complex issues
 Enable negotiation of interests
to accommodate multiple
identities
 Enable a shared view of risks
and precautions
 Help build resilience to
emerging risks & greater
justice
 Help financial resourcing
New Thinking
To understand and improve quality of
transnational collective action through better
institutions for cooperation which require political
will, mutual trust, shared objectives
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To build national capacity for regional
cooperation
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To understand the role of global public
private partnerships
New science and ways of doing science
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More integrated, transdisciplinary science
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A greater focus on intergenerational issues, risk
analysis
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Support for research on sustainable consumption
and production systems (SCP)
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Enhancing capacities to understand multidimensional risks from new technologies

Creating incentive for greater private effort in
socially valuable technologies
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Partnerships and dialogues for linking knowledge
with action
New funds and creative financing
Transregional & regional public goods
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Disaster early warning systems
Regional climate forecasting systems
Disease surveillance & monitoring systems
Tropical disease research
Health and environment learning networks
Flood Control
New financing
Local Level capacity building
 To access finance for risky,less proved
investments in more sustainable energy systems
 To respond to the greening of markets, especially
by SMEs
 To acquire information and
 To increase the effectiveness of government,
especially local, in addressing sustainable
development objectives
Innovative financing
National-level public
goods
Investment in improved
population health status
Investment in in environmental
health improvement
Strengthen weather-based
information generation, flood
forecasting, preparedness and
insurance,
Strengthen infrastructure
capable of greater exposure to
risks,
SLR sensitive coastal
development
Top up development aid
financing
To conclude
Canada has to be enlightened
(which it is), altruistic (it can
go further), and most of all,
more political within the
OECD and the G8 to address
the persistent power
asymmetries that constitute
the world order.
Thank You