Sustainable Development and the Role of the Media
Thank you Mr.
Chairman.
Greetings etc.
Today, I have been
asked to discuss the topic Sustainable Development and the Role of the
Media.
What is sustainable
development? How will it impact our daily
lives? How can we engage the media in promoting this vital objective?
Before, we discuss these
issues; I would like to define the term “Sustainable Development.”
Sustainable
Development is a process
of development which ensures that people have improved access to health,
knowledge and skills and the best utilization of these capabilities for a
better life through the active participation in political, economic and social
affairs. SD also ensures that
development does not proceed at the expense of the environment and that the
ability of future generations to enjoy the earth’s resources is not
compromised.
Mr.
Chairman, the ecological consequences of deforestation, climate change, soil
degradation, and the increasing pollution of air, our rivers and seas and land
threaten our common and sustainable future.
The urgency of these development and environmental concerns prompted the
UN Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) held in Rio de Janeiro,
Brazil in June 1992. At this
Conference, world leaders endorsed a global plan of Action known as Agenda 21.
Agenda 21 is a comprehensive programme providing a blueprint for action
in all areas relating to the sustainable development of the planet until the
twenty-first century, and specifically call for changes in the economic
development activities of all peoples. It recognized that development; poverty
eradication and environmental protection are inextricably linked.
Mr.
Chairman, UNDP feels that in seeking to achieve sustainable development,
countries should focus on people. The
quesiton must all be asked, What will be the benefit of this action to the
people do they have a role in the aciton being taken? Hence to focus on Sustainable
Human Development (SHD),
which is development that not only generates economic growth, but distributes
its benefits equitably; that regenerates the environment rather than destroys
it; that empowers people rather than marginalise them. It gives priority to the poor, enlarging their
choices and opportunities, and provides for their participation in the
decisions affecting them. It is
development that is pro-nature, pro-jobs, and pro-women.
The
concept of sustainable human development is an elaboration of the sustainable
development concept and evolved out of the of the original human development
strategy as elaborated in the Human Development Report commissioned by UNDP and
sustainable development concept as adopted at UNCED.
UNDP
focuses on four (4) critical elements of SHD: eliminating poverty, creating
jobs and sustaining livelihoods, protecting and regenerating the environment,
and promoting the advancement of women.
Developing the capacities for good governance underpins all these
objectives.
Fostering
partnerships with NGOs, building capacity for community action, and nurturing
open democratic institutions - essentially creating an enabling environment for
grassroots action - are perhaps UNDP’s most important role.
One
such program is the UNDP-led Local
Initiative Facility for Urban Environment, popularly known as LIFE, is a
project that truly recognizes and seeks to strengthen the power of local action
and community-based organizations. With
projects in more than 16 countries since its launch at the Earth Summit in Rio
de Janeiro in 1992, LIFE works in collaboration with local urban authorities,
NGOs, CBOs and the private sector to support small-scale projects that improve
the urban environment. In Jamaica, the
LIFE Programme has chosen to focus on water and sanitation, child survival and
settlement issues. Projects completed
so far include the making of playgrounds from waster, the provision of water
supply and the construction of latrines.
One community, Cave Island in Trelawny benefited from water supply being
provided by LIFE. UNDP=s LIFE projects around the world support the poor in their
efforts to improve living conditions for themselves, their families and their
communities.
Why is Sustainable Development important to Jamaica?
!
Jamaica is
part of the Small Island Developing States (SIDS). It is extremely vulnerable to a host of sustainable development
challenges including that of globalization.
! The
issue of susdev is of special interest to the Caribbean countries not only
because of the fragility of their eco-systems but because of the endemic
problems of socio-economic decline, growing cultural alienation and the
vulnerability of their dependent positions in relation to countries like the
USA.
! The
Global Conference on the Sustainable Development of Small Island Development
State, held in Barbados in 1994, was the first global conference on sustainable
development and the implementation of Agenda 21 for these countries. This Conference lead to the Programme of
Action for Sustainable Development of SIDS.
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The Programme
of Action for Sustainable Development of SIDS looks at 15 key areas. In particular Chapter 10
calls for the strengthening of
national institutions and administrative capacity, the integration of
environment and economic policies in national planning, and measures to ensure
the capacity to implement the decisions of UNCED. Measures should include heightened awareness and involvement of
NGOs and other organizations in public education, national planning and implementation
of sustainable development programmes, as well as the enactment of appropriate
legislation and the enforcement of existing environmental regulations to
promote the principle of sustainability.
Why
is the media an important partner in the strategy to achieve sustainability
development?
I have heard the
media referred to as one of the guiding institutions of society, on par with
religions/faith, corporations, government and families. That is to say, the media helps to shape and
influence peoples perception of the world around them and their attitude toward
it. In other words, the media is a
powerful public education tool.
The achievement of
SD requires partnership and the full participation of all citizens of all
ages. The extent to which people participate
in activities around them depends upon their knowledge of the issues at stake
and an understanding of how these issues affect their lives and livelihoods.
Here in Jamaica,
daily newspaper readership exceeds half a million.
Radio listenership
exceeds 1.8 million
and TV, over three
quarters of a million persons per day.
Add to that the
various new communication technologies, such as cable, the Internet, the World
Wide Web, interactive video and CD-ROM and we have a formidable array of tools
with which to inform, educate and improve public awareness. Community radio stations such as The Breath of Change, the station
operated by Bluefields community Association and newspapers such as the
Boulevard news can communicate specific messages related to the community.
The media has
therefore emerged as one of the single most powerful mechanisms by which
messages of critical importance can reach the widest cross section of persons.
Given the fact that SD is not yet an imperative legally or politically the
power of the media needs to be harnessed toward making SD not just a matter of
rhetoric, but of concrete policies and dynamic action.
What is required for this to occur?
C
Commitment on
the part of senior media personnel to engage people in discussions on the
meaning of sustainable development and their role in ensuring the future of our
world by providing them with relevant digestable information about what is
going on around them, in interesting and creative ways.
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There may be
need for a level of sensitization on SD issues for media personnel - from media
heads to the front-line journalists.
It is clear from the two local daily and
three Sunday newspapers that some measure of sensitization has already taken
place, particularly as it relates to environmental issues.
More needs to be done in other areas of
sustainable development.
Greater efforts
must be made to link the activities of governments, policy makers and citizens
to the sustainability of the island. A
link between the activities of the farmer in Yallahs and the absence of water
in Kingston; or the dumping of an empty carton on the streets and the blocked
gully which causes flooding in Riverton City, must be made. Unless we can make these linkages in simple
graphic form, then we are failing to engage the public in the issues and are
therefore denying them the right to play a role in preserving the physical and
social environment. . It is in the area
of public education that there needs to be a partnership between the media and
the agencies involved in sustainable
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Development practitioners and assistance agencies also have a vital
role to play. They have an obligation to explain the concept of SD in
understandable terms. In turn, in delivering its messages, the media must avoid
presenting the concept of SD as a generic term; rather it must explain the
relationship between particular events and themes. Further it must be explained in terms of its application to
policy, business and personal decision making.
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Notwithstanding
the fact that commercial media houses need to make money, there is also an
obligation to promote national development, and this is an obligation which
should be taken seriously.
Opportunities to make linkages with SD information networks such as the
(Jamaica Sustainable Development Network Programme) field activities to inform
on new policies to initiate and stimulate dialogue on issues of importance to
the present and future development of the country must be sought and taken up.
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UNDP
recognizes the importance of the role of the media in shaping public opinion
through creating awareness to reflecting needs of society and bringing them to
public attention. The capacity to
stimulate such debates on national priorities is an invaluable part of the
processes of participatory development. The existence of such a wide range of
quality print and audio-visual media in Jamaica is a major asset for national
development. As such the media is a
catalyst for action.
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We hope that
greater collaboration with UNDP will strengthen the quality of development
reporting by journalists for the benefit of newspapers, magazines, radio and
television programmes and ultimately the Jamaican public through increasing
their understanding and appreciation of such issues.
If possible, engage group in
a discussion on what can be done to strengthen relationship between the media
and development agencies such as UNDP.
Should
we host a workshop on Sustainable Development for the media?
Should
we hold annual press briefings on our projects, highlight activities?
Provide
media with articles for publication say once a month?
Invitations
to visit project sites.