MPs pledge action beyond the World Summit on Sustainable Development

Parliamentary meeting in Johannesburg. From left to right: Mr Valli Moosa, Minister for Environmental Affairs and Tourism of South Africa; Mrs Najma Heptulla, President of the IPU Council; Mrs Frene Ginwala, Speaker of the National Assembly of South Africa; Mrs Naledi Pandor, Chairperson of the National Council of Provinces of South Africa; Mr Nitin Desai, Secretary General of the World Summit on Sustainable Development and Mr Anders B. Johnsson, IPU Secretary General. Photo: Neeran Naidoo

The 312 MPs from 62 countries and several regional assemblies, gathered by the Inter-Parliamentary Union and the South African Parliament for two days in Johannesburg, pledged to "review in [their] respective parliaments the Plan of Implementation of the World Summit on Sustainable Development and to speedily implement, through legislation, including budgetary measures, the provisions of the Plan that come under [their] purview". (Final Declaration).

As members of parliament, they consider it their duty to work to strengthen governance by reforming government and its decision-making processes to better reflect the imperative of sustainable development. The MPs will work "to put in place new regulatory and administrative foundations to make the integrated approach of sustainable development permeate every act of government". They insist on "national strategies for sustainable development to provide a coherent policy framework and measurable targets, as well as additional requirements for environmental impact assessment".

For the President of the IPU Council, Dr. Najma Heptulla, "parliamentarians, in their law-making capacity, their budget-making authority, and their role as monitors of the Executive, are central to the implementation of what will be agreed in Johannesburg. We must voice the aspirations of our people at the negotiations so that the final document is comprehensive and is reflective of popular aspirations". She recalled that MPs and the people "aspire for a world in which individual interests would be subordinated to the common good".

The President of the IPU Council stated that the success of the World Summit (WSSD) will be measured in terms of actual implementation of the negotiated outcome. "A strong parliamentary follow-up mechanism to the Declaration and Plan of implementation is crucial for its success", she emphasised.

President of IPU Council addresses the WSSD Speaking at the World Summit on Sustainable Development, the President of the IPU Council, Dr. Najma Heptulla, informed the governmental delegations of the commitments of the MPs gathered in Johannesburg. In her concluding remarks, she said that "far too many governments and institutions in the position of power take decisions with only narrow interests in mind. More often than not, they do not represent fairly the will of the people and certainly do not pursue the common good. Only too often, decision-makers do not listen to the people, and especially to the poor, and are instead pursuing parochial interests, and, in the worst cases, are entirely corrupt".

"Parliamentarians have accepted that if there is no implementation now as there was very little after Rio, in many ways it will be our fault and we have to take that responsibility"

In an interview with The World of Parliaments, the Speaker of the National Assembly of South Africa, Dr. Frene Ginwala, explained the main result of the parliamentary meeting.

Q: What is the main result of this meeting ?
Dr. Frene Ginwala It allows parliamentarians to come together. It emphasizes that we have an important role to play. Parliamentarians have accepted that if there is no implementation now as there was very little after Rio, in many ways it will be our fault and we have to take that responsibility. That is the challenge for parliamentarians: we keep saying that we have a role to play, but now we have to play that role. We have to be seen to be playing that role and we have the agreement. None of us is working in isolation. That was recognized by everybody. So in a sense what comes out of this is that the success of implementation, the success of making it happen after the agreements will be dependent on the parliaments. That is the most important thing.

Q : Do you think that governments are today more ready to listen to your voice ?
F.G. It varies from country to country. And I think it also depends on parliaments. Speaking as South Africa, I think our Minister's briefing to the opening session showed the way the executive needs to relate by taking them into confidence and so on. Hopefully that should have been done in every country. And I think if parliaments did not have that kind of briefing before they came here, maybe they should find out why. There are many MPs here that are part of the government delegations and they are interacting and feeding into the negotiations themselves. That is very important as well. It needs to be taken further.

The Secretary General of the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD), Mr. Nitin Desai and the Minister for Environmental Affairs and Tourism of South Africa, Mr. Valli Moosa also took the floor at the parliamentary meeting. They explained to The World of Parliaments the reason why it is important that parliaments be involved in environmental issues.

Mr. Nitin Desai

The environmental actions will require legislation, will require the use of budgetary resources, and there are certainly things which the executive has to do. Parliaments have a role in all three areas. In addition parliaments are an expression of people's will and if you really want to mobilize people then we certainly have to see that the people's will is reflected in parliament. And I think increasingly parliaments play a very important role in being able to stand back and evaluate what is happening and what needs to be done.

Mr. Valli Moosa

You cannot talk about sustainable development unless all of society is involved. It is a cross-cutting issue and often sustainable development requires some very difficult decisions. That is the reason why you need parliaments to be applying their minds to it constantly so that we have a long view taken and not just short term decisions on matters which do not just affect us but also future generations.

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, and the United Nations Volunteers, with the support of the IPU held a Side Event Panel Discussion at the WSSD on community involvement and volunteering in sustainable development, with the participation, among other speakers, of the President of the IPU Council, Dr. Najma Heptulla and the President of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, Mr. Juan Manuel Suárez del Toro. Mr. Suárez del Toro explained to The World of Parliaments the importance of the role of parliaments in support of volunteering in sustainable development.

Mr. Juan Manuel Suárez Del Toro

In Johannesburg we said we wanted to avoid too much regulation which would deprive the volunteer movement of its spontaneity or restrict people's selfless wish to do something for others; nonetheless, we did stress the need to institute a worldwide framework which would advance the acceptance of volunteering in society. Parliaments could push for this kind of legislation, so as to help civil society to take shape, become more organized, and enjoy a certain degree of security in its benevolent work. It would help volunteers develop a sense of structure. People want to do something, but there is no normative framework within which volunteer groups can grow. The idea of the framework would not be to regulate or stage-manage volunteering, but simply to make it even more effective. I think all parliaments should take steps in this direction.