Media Coverage December 15, 2005
 Eighth Sustainable Development Conference (7-9 December, 2005)
Fortnightly The World Trade Review, Islamabad
Dec. 01-15, 2005
The Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) is holding its Eighth Sustainable Development Conference (SDC) from 7-9 December 2005 in Islamabad, Pakistan. Each SDC is designed to be a forum for sharing and exchanging dialogues on sustainable development with practitioners, civil society and policy-makers. Some 150 panelists from 18 countries participated in the Seventh SDC held in December 2004.
The previous Conference covered issues such as globalization; migration and urbanization; food and water security; health; environment; energy; resource rights; gender issues; human trafficking; and, literature and development. Policy dialogues proved fruitful where speakers from Pakistan were able to share their ideas with counterparts from South Asia and other regions of the world.
The Sustainable Development Conference series has been established as a prime Conference in South Asia on development issues due to which it attracts leading intellectuals and policy-makers to come together. An anthology, based on reviewed, approved and edited SDC papers, is published and launched at the succeeding Conference. The published books form part of curricula on development of some of the educational institutions within Pakistan and are also quoted in research publications.
The proposed Eighth SDC will examine the multiple facets of sustainable development in the contexts of South Asia. The speakers will discuss how problems and issues in South Asia can be dealt effectively at various levels based on prior experience of successful policy interventions. The Conference seeks to bring together from South Asia and other regions of the world theorists, researchers, activists, policy-makers, and academicians to debate the issues of sustainable development in an era of globalization.
The following six major themes have been planned for this year's SDC:
I. Women's/Gender Issues
II. Livelihoods
III. WTO and Governance
IV. Health
V. Peace and People's Rights
VI. Child labor
Each theme will constitute one or more sub-themes and panels. Each panel will run for about two hours. Three to four presentations of 15-20 minutes each will be followed by a dialogue with the audience at the end. Details of the WTO and Governance theme are discussed below.
WTO and Governance
Global governance of trade under the World Trade Organization (WTO) made a quantum leap in 2005. Several WTO agreements are required to be implemented more strictly in developing countries. Liberalisation of trade in textiles and clothing, a major industry and major employer in the developing world, progressed manifold through the abolition of the system of country-wise import quotas.
The deadline for WTO member countries' suggestions for further opening of their services' sectors lapsed in May 2005. These developments may lead to economic growth for those who can tap the opportunities; however, they are still not able to reduce the gap between rich and poor. The Eighth SDC attempts to explore linkages of multi-trading system with sustainable development to make liberalization of trade and investment people-friendly.
1. Is Privatisation of Basic Services in Favor of Human Development in South Asia?
The World Trade Organisation (WTO) has embarked on a major liberalisation of trade in services in the context of the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS). WTO member countries are requested to submit their GATS offers, i.e. the suggestions for opening up of particular services sectors. In the latest statements, for example, the Government of Pakistan (GoP) has declared its intention to include the liberalization of basic services, such as the privatized provision of health care and education in its offer to the WTO.
No doubt, the provision of basic services in South Asia is woefully poor and a major obstacle to human development in the region. One-fifth of the Sub-continent's children are not even sent to primary school, and a third of the population does not access safe sanitation facilities. Expected benefits of liberalization of trade in services might address these problems. It is assumed that liberalization of services in trade leads to increased competition and thus to improved service quality, lower prices, technology transfer, less corruption, as well as employment creation.
However, developing countries' previous experiences of trade liberalization and privatization casts doubt on these hopes. Concerns are brought forward that the GATS threatens the principle of universal access to public services, the ability of the government to regulate, and that the negotiation process is heavily influenced by corporate interests and lack parliamentary and public scrutiny.
This sub-theme will bring together assessments of the human development impact of the GATS. Policy concepts to guarantee that services liberalization is in service of Pakistan's development will be at the core of the sub-theme.
2. South Asian Textile Trade in the Post-Quota Era: Human Development Implications of The Agreement on Textiles and Clothing (ATC)
In January 2005, the quota system for imports of textiles and clothing under the World Trade Organization's (WTO's) Agreement on Textiles and Clothing (ATC) was phased out and gave way to a more liberalized global trade in textiles and clothing. The labor-intensive textile and clothing sector has been the classical start-up industry for developing countries to export on their own account. It is the employment intensity of the textiles and clothing (T&C) industry in developing countries--in particular of female workers-that makes the running out of the quota regime in January 2005 a hotly debated issue for human development.
The T&C sector is the biggest exporter for several South Asian economies and a large industrial employer of those countries. The panel's objectives are to explore the impact of the ATC expiry on various dimensions of human development in South Asia, including exports, employment, and gender equality. Policy conclusions will be drawn regarding the distribution of cost and benefits of trade liberalization under the WTO regime.
3. Linkages of Trade with Development and Poverty Reduction
There are various dimensions to the linkages between trade, development and poverty reduction. Both theoretical and political economic dimensions are changing as well as unfolding (i.e. the emergence of new ones) in this new trade and investment regime. Some efforts are being made to look into the various dimensions of the issue, and making trade and investment liberalisation work for the poor. But, unfortunately, many such efforts do not attempt to look into the issue holistically, i.e. in both theoretical and political economic terms, supported by civil society's (Northern as well as Southern) understanding.
Furthermore, issues relating to the effects of trade and investment liberalisation on the poor need to be looked into in a positive manner, and an overarching purpose of all the activities would be to find out the conditions necessary for mainstreaming international trade into national development (poverty reduction) strategy (keeping in mind issues relating to policy coherence).
Realising this vacuum and pursuant to its mandate of building consensus on issues affecting the livelihoods of the poor, SDPI is organizing this panel to discuss linkages between trade, development and poverty in the present scenario.
4. Environmental/Green Accounting
Environmental accounting is an important tool for understanding the role played by the natural environment in the economy. Environmental accounts provide data, which highlight both the contribution of natural resources to economic well being, and the cost imposed by pollution of resource degradation.
To raise awareness of the economic value of environmental resources and the significant role they play in economic growth and poverty reduction, a panel on Environmental/Green Accounting is being organized during the Eighth SDC.
Sustainable Development Conference Series: A Background
Fortnightly The World Trade Review, Islamabad
December 01-15, 2005
SDPI's Sustainable Development Conference (SDC) series is another dimension of outreach to the general public as well as policy makers where emphasis is placed on emerging sustainable development issues in Pakistan. It is an important channel of policy advice where each session of the conference is followed by a panel discussion consisting of representatives from the government, community representatives, NGOs, and donor agencies.
The SDPI specifically tries to be gender sensitive while organizing the Conference and invites both women and men as speakers, chairs and discussants. Of the 116 speakers who participated in the previous SDC, there were 69 male speakers and 47 female and of the 1,340 people who attended the conference, some 818 were male and 522 female.
First SDC
The first SDC, titled The Green Economics Conference, was organized by SDPI in 1995. This Conference focused on the interaction between economics and the environment, and included research papers on trade, fiscal policy, EIAs, green accounting, forestry, energy, industry and the urban environment.
Second SDC
The second SDC, in 1996, addressed the broad theme of Sustainable Development including pollution abatement, resource management, conservation of biodiversity, the transfer and use of technology, trade and environment, human development and poverty alleviation, and social capital and governance. The conference was successful in highlighting key issues facing the country and bringing out the latest thinking and analysis to identify solutions.
Third SDC
The theme of the third conference was A Dialogue on Environment and Natural Resource Conservation. The Conference, held in 1998, focused on stimulating a dialogue on practical policy options for key environmental challenges facing Pakistan. The two broad thematic areas of Urban Environment and Natural Resources concentrated on urban pollution, water resource management, deforestation and sustainable agriculture with presentations by experts from within Pakistan and the South Asian region.
Fourth SDC
The Fourth Sustainable Development Conference titled Discourse on Human Security was organized in collaboration with RCSS, ActionAid, IPRI and SNPO in 2000. It focused on the changes and improvement in government policies and practice with regard to human security. The conference was designed to raise awareness of senior policy makers, key federal and provincial government officials and civil society groups like the media and NGOs on security issues. The immediate feedback from government, NGOs and media was extremely encouraging.
Fifth SDC
The fifth conference titled Sustainable Development and Southern Realities: Past and Future in South Asia held in 2002 critically re-examined the conceptualization and implementation of sustainable development in its multiple dimensions: economic, political, social, and moral. The conference scrutinized and consolidated some of the ideas presented at the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, and resituated debates in the South Asian context.
Sixth SDC
The overarching theme of the Sixth SDC was Sustainable Development: Bridging the Research/Policy Gaps in Southern Contexts. It was held in December 2003. The Conference focused on the problematique of knowledge production about southern contexts in the South. It explored policy/research gaps in two directions: in some places policy needs to be fed by better research while in others, policy needs to take better account of existing solid research. It focused on the ways and means for translating this knowledge into effective policy initiatives locally, nationally, regionally and internationally by identifying the multiple gaps between research and policies in different sectors.
The book titled "Sustainable Development: Bridging the Research/Policy Gaps in Southern Contexts", based on papers presented, reviewed and approved was launched at the Seventh SDC. SDPI and Oxford University Press have published it.
Seventh SDC
Troubled Times: Sustainable Development and Governance in the Age of Extremes was the overarching theme of the Seventh Sustainable Development Conference held in December 2004. The Conference tackled various questions such as whether there is sound governance around development and whether this is ensuring just development? Whether there is more sharing of resources including natural, and institutional? Is there a strengthening of regional and international institutions?
How much progress has been achieved in South Asia vis-à-vis governance? Is government more transparent today than it was a decade ago? Have governments kept their promises to the marginalized, whether the poor, women or minorities? How can we avoid repeating the mistakes of the past? What would be the effective strategies to do so? Or is it a world of extremes-a world that is extremely rich but with unparalleled inequalities of income and access to resources-with the marginalized becoming even more marginalized. It provided an opportunity to discuss the global economy, the new terms of trade, the transfer of resources from the developing world to the first world and whether such moves are benefiting a few only. The Conference brought together some 150 panelists from 18 countries. The gender ratio of the panelists was 64% (male) and 36% (female).
Acknowledgements
The Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) acknowledges the financial support of the following institutions for the Eighth Sustainable Development Conference: Department for International Development (DFID); the Delegation of the European Commission to Pakistan (EU Delegation); Heinrich Boll Foundation (HBF); Action Aid Pakistan (AAP); Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES) Gender Equality Project (GEP) managed by the British Council and funded by the DFID; South Asia Watch on Trade and Environment (SAWTEE) and PAK/UN-Trade Initiatives from Human Development Perspective (TIHP).
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