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A New Alliance for UNIDO?
Plenary Speech at the XVIth Session of the by Troy Davis, Executive Director, Main Secretariat, Thank you, Mr Chairman, I am honoured to have the opportunity to address this XVIth session of the IDB, and thank UNIDO on behalf of the 5000 companies member of our non-profit network around the
world. Allow me to say a few words about the International Network for Environmental Management and its activities before finishing by making a proposal to UNIDO for increased co-operation with private sector NGOs. INEM is an
international business-based NGO which federates Environmental Management (EM) associations, Cleaner Production (CP) centres and similar business associations in over 30 countries represented on all 5 continents, with half of our
members outside OECD countries. Our goals are to help business and industry improve their environmental - and hence economic - performance, through the application of an integrated approach which we define as Environmental
Management (EM). One could say we try to democratize the access to higher environmental performance for companies of all sizes, all sectors and all countries, by developing, adapting and spreading practical tools.
We seek to destroy two myths: first, that Environmental Protection always costs money, and second, that Environmental Protection is only a luxury for big companies or companies in rich countries.
Given that 75 to 80% of our ultimate members are SMEs, our policy is to create and spread tools adapted to small and medium sized companies, and to companies in developing countries and countries in transition. We have for example
applied those principles very actively in our work within the ISO during the last 5 years, as the international EM standards known under the name of the ISO 14000 series have been developed. We are already seeing that these new
international voluntary standards are becoming a major driving force within the business world, just as ISO 9000 has been for Quality Management. INEM is recognized as an organization which acts at the forefront of the business
world when it comes to environmental matters. This is in spite of the fact that we are not an exclusive club of green companies, but also have the greatest polluters among our membership. This reputation is one of
the reasons why we have had the privilege to have been elected two years in a row by the business groups accredited to the UN Commission on Sustainable Development, including the ICC, the world business organization, to represent
business and industry as one of the Major Groups of the Agenda 21, on the Steering Committee of NGO/Major Groups. In some respects, UNIDO and INEM act in similar ways, e.g. acting as an honest broker. UNIDO does it with between
buyers and technologies in general, and INEM does it between companies wishing to improve their environmental performance and their peers and stakeholders. We have worked with and alongside UNIDO ever since our birth 5 years ago
when we contributed to the Copenhagen conference on ESID; Ecologically Sustainable Industrial Development. We are also closely linked to UNIDO through the Cleaner Production Centres which are in great majority affiliated to
INEM, and we have worked together e.g. at the World Business Forum of Habitat 2, or the NGO Forum on Cleaner Production. In general, we share the goal of UNIDO to promote the harmonious industrial development of developing
and transition countries. But in spite of the web of co-operation built up over 5 years, we still see a large potential of unused synergies. We therefore believe that it is time, 5 years after Rio, to enter into a
new era of intensified and deepened cooperation. We suggest to enter into a strategic alliance with UNIDO, to better leverage our respective strengths, and to better achieve our common goals in the most cost-effective
manner. Such a decision could be part of the more general drive of UNIDO to increase the direct interaction with the private sector, as shown by the creation of various types of Business Councils. It would also strengthen the
efforts of UNIDO in favour of SMEs. UNIDO and INEM have complementary strengths. INEM's roots in the business world, the well of experience going back nearly 25 years from which we spring, and our expertise in the practical
aspects of convincing business that an environmentally-performing company is a healthier and richer company, means that we are able to promote the UNIDO policy of Ecologically Sustainable Industrial Development (ESID). What are
the advantages of calling a strategic alliance by its name, rather than just continue at the present low profile level of activity ? One reason is the power of example which can only work if others know about the alliance;
another is the need to send a clear message to donors, businesses, NGOs and inter-governmental organizations, and of course to respective staff, as such an alliance may imply cultural changes. Such an alliance could become a
model for other UN agencies, and show to the world that the youngest UN agency is also at the forefront of creating added value from win-win partnerships. Such an alliance would send a message to next year's Special Session of
the General Assembly which will discuss the follow-up of the Earth Summit. It would put into practice elements of Agenda 21 which calls for new and innovative partnerships to be forged, especially with NGOs and the private
sector. It would also increase the pressure on business to get involved in the implementation of the Agenda 21, as Ambassador Ismail Razali who will chair the Special Session recently reminded us. Finally, it would send an
important message to the donor community, and would help to answer the requirement to leverage private efforts and know-how: efforts and know-how which are absolutely necessary for the sustainability of many programmes. We are
looking forward to increasing our cooperation with UNIDO in a mutually beneficial manner. Thank you, Mr Chairman.
International Development Board,
UNIDO, Vienna
22 November 1996
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