Prominent businessman and President of Pak-Afghan Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Senator Ilyas Ahmad Bilour has said that energy is crucial for sustainable development, poverty eradication and achieving the Millennium Development Goals.
This he said while addressing the second committee of 62th General Assembly session of United Nations (UN) in New York on behalf of the Group of 77 and China. According to speech of Senator Ilyas Bilour, delivered here on Wednesday, the agenda of the UN session was Sustainable Development.
Addressing the session, Senator Ilyas Bilour said that developing countries are faced with formidable task of meeting the increasing demand for energy to achieve the goals of sustainable development.
Substantial increase in the global share of renewable energy sources is an urgent imperative with the objective of increasing its contribution to total energy supply, he added.
Senator Bilour said at national and international levels, the economic social and environmental goals should be promoted in complementary and consistent ways and therefore progress in the environmental pillar of sustainable development should be matched by simultaneous progress on the economic and social pillars as well.
"In our endeavours to promote solutions to the challenge of sustainable development, we must ensure that the priority problems of poverty, hunger and under development remain the centre of our attention," he remarked.
He said human induced activities, particularly, in recent decades are putting unprecedented strain on ecosystem and the ability of the planet's ecosystem to sustain future generations must be ensured.
"The stakes are high for the entire world and it is important to involve all stakeholders in effort towards sustainable development", he observed. Bilour said the vulnerability and challenges faced by Small Island Developing States are increasing and without the support of the international community their sustainable development efforts will be placed in greater jeopardy.
He told the gathering that G-77 and China note with concern that natural disasters are increasing in terms of both frequency and severity. Due to rapid population growth, especially in urban areas, environmental degradation, growing poverty, the social and economic impacts of disasters have become greater. The adverse consequences on the affected population and the environment as well as social and economic development of affected countries are long lasting phenomena.
It is, he continued, encouraging to note that many developing countries are making efforts to build resilience of their communities and to reduce disasters. These efforts need to be supported by international community.
The Group of 77 and China urge our development partners to help developing countries through support the provision of resources and capacity building in order to be better prepared for forthcoming natural disasters.
About climate change, Ilyas Bilour said the challenge of environmental degradation and climate change is huge and clearly beyond the capacity of the developing countries to address it on their own.
He said human factors such as overgrazing, deforestation and over exploitation of land due to demographic pressure, compounded with climatic change are turning once fertile soils into unproductive and barren patches of lands. The affected developing countries need support in capacity building to gain more access to financial resources and technology transfer.
Bilour expressed the hope that the challenges of global sustainable development will be addressed in an integrated and co-ordinated manner and urged the UN to focus on eradication of poverty as an indispensable prerequisite for sustained economic growth and sustainable development in developing countries.