Agenda 21 and the
Rio
Declaration on Environment and Development provide the fundamental
framework for policy discussion and action on matters related to industry
and sustainable development. Although the role of business and industry, as
a major group, is specifically addressed in chapter 30, issues related to
industry and economic development, consumption and production patterns,
social development and environmental protection cut across the entirety of
Agenda 21, including its section 4, Means of implementation.
Chapter II of the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation also calls for the
strengthening of industrial development in order to address poverty
eradication and sustainable natural resource management.
In order to achieve the objectives of sustainable development,
Governments need to integrate economic, social and environmental concerns in
their policy-making and to promote economic growth and international
competitiveness of industry through macroeconomic policies. In order to
stimulate domestic private enterprise, boost economy-wide competitiveness
and attract foreign direct investment, policy reforms should aim at creating
an enabling policy environment, through improvements in infrastructure and
education, encouragement of research and development, facilitation of
exports and liberalization of domestic markets. In this regard, the
development of small and medium-sized enterprises should receive special
attention.
Industry plays a critical role in technological innovations and research
and development activities, which are crucial for the economic and social
development of any country, as well as in the development, diffusion and
transfer of environmentally sound technologies and management techniques,
which constitute a key element of sustainable development.
There is a mutually reinforcing relationship between social and
industrial development, and industrialization has the potential to promote,
directly and indirectly, a variety of social objectives such as employment
creation, poverty eradication, gender equality, labour standards, and
greater access to education and health care. In this regard, the overriding
policy challenge is to promote the positive impacts while limiting or
eliminating the negative impacts of industrial activities on social
development.
As the world has become more industrialized, there have been increasing
environmental pressures such as harmful emissions and waste, which have had
global, regional or local impacts. These include, at the local level, urban
air pollution, contamination of soils and rivers and land degradation;
regionally, acid rain and water and coastal zone contamination; and
globally, climate change, ozone layer depletion, loss of biodiversity,
increased movement of hazardous waste and increased land-based marine
pollution.
The overriding task facing Governments is to maximize the positive
influence of industrial activities on economic and social development, while
minimizing the negative impact of production and consumption on the
environment. To this end, Governments should review their regulatory
policies and systems of economic incentives and disincentives and undertake
other actions such as capacity-building, environmental data collection and
enforcement that support the environmental protection efforts of industry
and civil society. Governments should encourage the wider dispersion and
implementation of industry’s voluntary initiatives and agreements and
sharing of best practices.
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