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Selected Key Themes Addressed in IPU Assemblies

Sustainable Development

The environment is one of the themes that are often on the agenda of IPU assemblies. Even if the economy is not strong, the environment remains a key issue. — Senator Dennis Dawson, 2012

The Canadian IPU Group has always taken a strong stand on the need to promote sustainable development. Several issues have been addressed over the years under this broad topic. Two are briefly presented below: the environment and fish stocks.

Environment

The Canadian Group participated in the first worldwide Inter-Parliamentary Conference on the Environment in 1984 (Nairobi). On that occasion, Charles L. Caccia, MP, was appointed to a committee mandated with reviewing progress made in implementing the conference’s recommendations.

In 1987 (Managua), Canada and the delegations of Czechoslovakia and Mexico jointly presented a draft resolution urging IPU members to draw their parliaments’ and governments’ attention to the conclusions and recommendations of the 1984 Conference, to promote their implementation, and to inform the Union of the steps taken.

In 1988 (Guatemala), Mr. Caccia was elected rapporteur on the topic of the environment. He drew attention to the growth of the world’s population, noting that it was concentrated in developing countries where many industries were highly polluting and heavily reliant on environmental resources, and where there was less capacity to minimize their damaging side-effects. The draft text he presented was approved unanimously by the drafting committee, adopted unanimously with a few amendments in the full committee and then adopted unanimously by the plenary. The resolution called on governments to cooperate in identifying and resolving international environmental problems.

In 1990, the Union established a Committee on Environment (which became the Committee on Sustainable Development in 1995). Its mandate was to study parliaments’ actions in relation to environmental matters and sustainable development, and to advise on the Union’s policy and action on North-South dialogue and development. Mr. Caccia was nominated to the committee in 1996 (Beijing) and elected as its Vice-President in 1997 (Cairo).

In 1992, a Canadian delegation participated in the Inter-Parliamentary Conference on Environment and Development held in Brasilia. In drafting the recommendations, the Canadian delegation was successful in introducing the concept of environmental impact assessments and in emphasizing the role of women in environment and development.

Solutions to climate and sustainable development issues are now more urgent than ever. In your parliaments, you can play valuable roles ... . Why, you may ask, why should parliamentarians be motivated to take strong political action? Because parliamentarians are present and future leaders. ... Here in Yaoundé, this IPU convention offers parliamentarians concerned with the present and future well-being of humanity on this planet, a unique opportunity for political action. — Charles L. Caccia, MP, 1992

In 1992 (Yaoundé), Canada submitted both a memorandum and a draft resolution on the topic of environment and development. Mr. Caccia was the Canadian Group’s representative on the drafting committee.

In 1994 (Paris), Canada submitted both a memorandum and a draft resolution on the topic of waste management for a healthy environment. The resolution adopted by the assembly called on states to ratify all conventions relating to the environment.

More recently, the environmental debate has focused on government accountability. For example, in 2006 (Nairobi), Senator Donald H. Oliver noted that the global environment on which humanity depends had been placed under unprecedented stress for decades, and that management of the environment and its resources would therefore become increasingly important. He remarked that Canada had a mixed record on the environment: most trends since the 1970s had been positive, but they had either levelled off or worsened in the past decade. He pointed out that one of parliament’s main tasks consisted therefore of holding the government to account on its environmental commitments.

In 2007 (Nusa Dua, Bali), Senator Oliver spoke about Canada’s efforts to improve its environmental accountability, including through government regulation, audits by the commissioner of the environment, and the creation of a citizen petitions process. Again, he emphasized that parliament must hold government to account for setting clear, concrete and reasonable plans and making progress towards achieving its goals – even though environmental improvement and sustainable development were not easy to measure.

Fish Stocks

During his years with the Canadian IPU Group, Senator Gerald J. Comeau often spoke about important trends in fish stocks, both as a global issue and as an indicator of long-term sustainability. In 1997 (Seoul), he reminded delegates that “[t]he social, economic and political repercussions of resource depletion are easy to understand.” In 1997 (Cairo), he spoke in the general debate on the bilateral dispute over the Pacific Salmon Treaty:

I would like to draw the attention of fellow parliamentarians to the need to protect trans-boundary fish stocks for present and future generations. Fishing fleets now have at their disposal technologies that make possible rates of exploitation such as the world has never seen. Competition to harvest stocks that migrate beyond national boundaries has depleted many species of fish.

In 1998 (Windhoek), he reminded the assembly that the UN had declared 1998 the International Year of the Ocean and commented: “While we often speak of ‘oceans,’ all nations share only one global common ocean whose waters are interconnected. We all have a stake in protecting it.”

Resource management of fish stocks has been an issue of concern for the whole Canadian delegation. For example, in 1996 (Istanbul), Canada submitted both a memorandum and a draft resolution on fish stocks. The text that the assembly adopted by consensus contained the priorities identified by the Canadian Group.

The Canadian delegation believes that all nations now know that what some only suspected in 1982 is a reality. Without proper resources management, wild fish stocks will disappear. Resources management in this context means responsible national actions and responsible international action. No one nation can resolve this problem on its own. — Peter Adams, MP, 1996