SPEAKING NOTES ON CCICED PHASE II

Mme. H. Labelle

Introduction

Last year the Council agreed in principle to the continuation of the CCICED for another 5-year period beginning in 1997 provided that it was modified to make it s advice as practical as possible in addressing China's priority needs in environment and development, Several suggestions were made as to how the future work o f the Council could be made more effective. Since the last Council meeting, Members of the Bureau and the Secretariats have reflected on the Council discussion and have had some discussion with potential donors. In summary, I can report that the Governments of China and Canada have decided to make a five-year financial commitment to support Phase II at a moderately increased level and have received some indications of probable support from Japan, Germany, Netherlands, Norway, United Kingdom and European Union but nothing specific enough to enable us to present you with a firm budget and work plan. Nevertheless, we are hopeful that financial support will firm up over the next few months and we will be able to continue the good work of this Council as a truly international forum. Today, I will suggest some proposed changes concerning the Council itself and the Working Groups and a very tentative budget for the next Phase.

The Council

I believe we should contemplate some changes in the Membership of the Council and in the way we use Members. We should try to retain a sizable number of the cur rent members in order to draw on their wisdom and experience but we should also leaven the Council with some new recruits. Some current members have indicated a wish to retire and others have been unable to attend regularly and will naturally drop out at the end of this year but over half of the membership have been diligent in attendance and wish to continue. All existing Members will be notified at the end of 1996 as to whether they will retire or be asked to stay on. Their second term might be for less than five years to permit a later phasing in of new members.

As far as new Members are concerned, we would like to recruit eminent experts with close links to either the business community (where we have been under-represented) or donor agencies (which might bring financial support). From now on, we will have to be more pragmatic not only in the advice we give China but in the way we recruit members so they will all be of direct use to us.

That brings me to my next point which derives from last year's Council discussion. One comment that emerged strongly was that the Council should try to make more use of its Members because, although they are very busy, they are inspired by a wish to help China. Thus, in Phase II we should try to recruit Members who can help the Council in at least one of three ways: as someone who can bring money from their Government or Foundation to support the Council or its demonstration projects; as someone who can bring expertise or practical assistance from their Institute, Foundation or Corporation; or as someone who can devote some personal time to preparing papers for the Council, chairing subgroups of the Council or representing the Council at international conferences.

Working Groups

The Working Groups have turned out to be a critical element in the success of the China Council. This is due primarily to the importance of their subject matter and to the professional excellence and diligence of the experts who have devote d their time to it. This success has been enhanced by the cooperation and even camaraderie which has been built up between the Chinese and international expert s of the Groups and interested Council Members. With this record of achievement behind us, it is important that we move carefully in deciding which Working Groups to retain and which to modify or replace in Phase II.

In all cases we need to revise the Terms of Reference of Working Groups in order to add some new directives to their existing tasks. The first directive should be that each Group strive to organize workshops and conferences to discuss recommended policies and their implications with Chinese end-users. Each Group should develop links with local Chinese decision-makers and key elements of the public and help them to recognize the critical role they can play in meeting China's environmental and developmental challenges. Lastly, the Working Groups should not be asked to find the financing for their demonstration projects but to outline the projects in a way which meets the eligibility criteria of major donors. These new directives may mean that some Working Groups will have to review their membership to ensure that they include experts who are able and willing to pursue these new practical objectives.

It will also be necessary to revise the current list of Working Groups. In order to facilitate Council discussion, I will outline our current thinking on how to proceed but I would stress that the Bureau will not make a final decision until later in the year when we have had time to reflect on the views expressed by Members at this meeting and on offers of support from donors. Bureau Members realize that meeting and on offers of support from donors. Bureau Members realize that there is no perfect solution; our decision will have to represent a compromise between the most urgent needs of China and the limited human and financial resources at the disposal of the Council.

In summary, I recommend that the Council take the following actions to create 7 working Groups.

A. Retain the same chairmanship and organization for three existing Groups:

1 Energy Strategies and Technologies;

2 Resource Accounting, Environmental Economics and Pricing Policies - but change the name to Environment and Economy Working Group; and

3 the new Trade and Sustainable Development Group.

B. Modify two existing Groups:

4 Combine into one Group the old Working Groups on Pollution Control and Minitoring & Data Collection;

5 Retain the old Group on Protection of Biodiversity but consider expanding its Terms of Reference to put more emphasis on protection of the ecology. This would help to address the concern in some quarters that the Working Groups as a whole over-stress the pollution control side and neglect preservation of the eco-systems.

C. Disband the old Group on Scientific Research, Technological Development & Training and substitute two new Groups which have been recommended by it:

6 Sustainable Agriculture; and

7 Cleaner Production.

The recommendation to endorse 7 Groups is contingent on finding lead donors for each of them. We hope that multi-year financial support and leadership for the Groups will be forthcoming as follows:

Rockefeller Foundation and Canada to give lead support for the Energy Group;

United Kingdom and Norway to give lead support for the Economy Group;

Canada to give lead support for the Trade Group;

Netherlands to give lead support for the Pollution Control Group;

European Union to give lead support for the Biodiversity Group;

Japan to give lead support for the Cleaner Production Group;

Canada to give lead support for the Agriculture Group.

I have mentioned the name of the potential international donors in each case but I want to stress three points about support for these Expert Working Groups. First, the support of China in terms of both expertise and money has been absolutely essential to the success of these Groups and will continue to be in Phase II. Second, additional international support from other sources would be welcome. There is nothing exclusive about the sponsorship of these Groups; the more supporters the better. Lastly, we realize that this list omits some very important subjects and we hope that it may be possible to add one or two new Groups later in Phase II, particularly if some of the older Groups finish their work ahead of schedule and if new donors appear who are willing to support new Groups.

Budget

We do not yet have enough information on the intentions of other donors to construct a realistic budget for the next five year period. It is relatively easy to devise an optimal budget which would consist of the following amounts in US $:

7 Working Groups at an average of $ 1 million each = 7,000,000

2 Secretariats = 2,000,000

5 Council Meetings = 1,700,000

Miscellaneous & Contingency = 300,000

Total = 11,000,000

That represents a sizable increase over the total of approximately $ 6.5 million expended in Phase I but it is a reasonable budget when one considers that there was very little spent in the first year of Phase I, there were fewer Working Groups and they had less demanding work plans and there has been cost escalation over the past 5 years.

At present we have commitments of approximately 4.7 million from Canada an 1.3 million from China and, on the basis of past contributions, might expect another 3.0 million from other sources. That would bring us to a 5 year total of $ 9.0 million. The gap between the optimal and realistic budgets is 2 million. Our current thinking is to split the difference and aim for a 5-year budget of $ 10 mill ion on the assumption that we can cut 1 million in expenses and find another 1 million in contributions form old and new donors. However, we will not try to produce a working budget until we hear more from other donors. We would greatly appreciate any assistance which Members can give us in the process of seeking budget support.

Other Matters

There are two other matters which I should mention briefly. First, the two Secretariats will have to make some adjustments to facilitate the Council's new more pragmatic phase. The greatest burden will fall on the Chinese Secretariat which, in addition to its current responsibilities, will have to develop a strategy for seeking out new donors and for effective coordination with other Chinese Minis tries and Provincial Governments to ensure the expanded operation of the Council in its new and more practical Phase. In all its endeavors, the Chinese Secretariat will be supported by its Canadian Secretariat colleagues.

Lastly, there will be need for improved liaison with other development agencies, like the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank and the UNDP, which are already actively involved in financing environment and development projects in China but are not formal members of our Council. I believe it would be timely to inform t hem about our Second Phase and seek their advice and support on how we can work more closely together to implement the practical aspects of our work, particularly the demonstration projects.

Thank you.