During the afternoon session, three working groups were created to discuss the main challenges facing parliamentarians in three specific areas: Water; Climate Change and Energy and Trade for Sustainable Development.
Working group 1 was set up to consider the issue of water and to think broadly about the challenges, roles and opportunities facing parliamentarians in this field.

I. KEY ISSUES AND CHALLENGES FACING PARLIAMENTARIANS IN THE WATER SECTOR

The moderator identified, based on the discussions, the following issues and challenges as relevant to parliamentarians:

There is a need to better understand the linkages between water and other sectors such as energy, climate change, agriculture, health and biodiversity. There is also a need to deepen understanding of the concept of ecosystem services;
• How to provide water for people while ensuring that ecosystems receive enough of that resource to be able to continue providing ecosystem services. Access to water is increasingly regarded as a basic human right, and parliamentarians can help to promote this concept and entrench it as a constitutional right;

• As regards the issue of integrated water resources management, a key challenge is whether the 2005 integrated water resources planning target of the World Summit for Social Development (WSSD) will in fact be met. As well, it is critical that governance is improved in the water sector if indeed integrated water resources management is to become the norm;

• As regards the link between water and food, thirteenth session of the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD-13) emphasised the need to use efficient water technologies and to share such technologies. As well, farmers should be trained in ecologically sound agriculture and in efficient water use, and agriculture and aquaculture should be implemented with increased focus on the poor;

• The proportion of people living under water stress has increased from 34% in 1992 to 53% in 2005, and yet official development assistance (ODA) levels are not rising sufficiently to meet the demand;

• Water represents the “oil and gas” resource of the future. Therefore, how can parliamentarians of wealthy countries work to improve global water access, especially for the least developed countries (LDCs). If water is indeed to be considered as a global public good, who will provide access to that good, and how can increased financing be mobilised to ensure access for all?

• There is a need for a global fund for the promotion of technology related to sustainable water use and management. Education and public awareness also need to be stepped up. Public awareness is critical, and the burden lies on educational institutions, since parliaments are not equipped to address the public awareness challenge;

• Parliaments in developing countries are faced with a wide range of constraints, since democratic institutions in such countries are not as well developed as they are in the West. Therefore, the influence of parliaments in the developing world is relatively weak, especially as regards the promotion of sustainable development issues.

Parliamentarians highlighted the following roles and obstacles to their engagement:

• Given the increasing role of the private sector in the delivery of water resources, it is important that public authorities be strengthened to ensure that water resources policies are pro poor;

• Parliamentarians must play a higher-profile role in holding their governments accountable for ensuring the necessary levels of social spending, as well as in calling upon donor governments to honour ODA commitments;

• Parliamentarians should play a key role in elaborating what types of instruments might be needed at the national level to promote the concept of the human right to water and to promote the concept of water as a global public good;

• At the international level, parliamentarians should address how best to share experiences in the elaboration of the human right to water and in advancement of the approach to water as a public good. In this framework, that right must also reflect real economic and environmental costs;

• Parliamentarians must be better engaged in the various processes involved in the delivery of water resources and must address how best to improve access to water;

• Parliamentarians should play a role in ensuring that the necessary resources are mobilised to ensure access to water for the poor. At the same time, the right technology choices must be made in accordance with local needs and special considerations. The technology access question is an important issue, as it prevents local communities from ensuring adequate delivery of water resources. Parliamentarians must play a more active role in addressing the appropriate technology challenge.

The moderator, based on the debates, identified the following ideas to foster parliamentarians’ action and engagement:

• An ongoing platform is needed to ensure the exchange of experiences in promoting sustainable water use. Such a platform may build upon the Global Capacity-Building Initiative;

• The Global Capacity-Building Initiative should form seven regional groups of parliamentarians around the world to assess what individual countries need in terms of financial, technical resources and then identify key resources that must be mobilised;

• Parliamentarians need improved access to technical and scientific knowledge on the water issue in order to more effectively discharge their roles as legislators. This is a clear need that the Global Capacity-Building Initiative can help to address.

• Parliamentarians also need better education, training and awareness-raising on the issue of water, and especially on the human rights, ecological and security dimensions of the water issues;

• Parliamentarians need resources to enhance their involvement in the negotiation of multilateral environmental agreements, especially those dealing with water issues. Their involvement is critical to ensuring the accountability of national governments and for deepening their own understanding of the complexities of multilateral negotiations;

• Resources are needed to support parliamentarians in developing framework laws on water access and delivery, as well as the sharing of resources between different countries, either on a bilateral or regional basis.

During the afternoon session, three working groups were created to discuss the main challenges facing parliamentarians in three specific areas: Water; Energy and Climate Change and Trade for Sustainable Development.
Working group 2 was set up to consider the issue of Energy and Climate Change and to think broadly about the challenges, roles and opportunities facing parliamentarians in this field.

I. KEY ISSUES AND CHALLENGES IN THE FIELD OF ENERGY AND CLIMATE CHANGE

The moderator identified, based on the discussions, the following issues and challenges as relevant to parliamentarians:

• There are complex linkages/synergies/conflicts between energy, water, agriculture, and the conventions related to climate change, biodiversity and desertification;

• Renewable energy systems should be encouraged to the maximum extent in developing countries since, in addition to being climate-friendly, they have positive impacts on other environmental concerns, as well as on employment, industrial development and other factors;

• Climate change has negative impacts on poor countries and poor people, while the causes rest with people in the industrialized North.

• A number of adverse effects that can be connected with climate change are already visible in many countries: coral bleaching (Pacific islands), disappearance of rivers due to local climatic changes (Kenya), and reduced precipitation resulting in soil degradation (Sahel countries), etc.;

• There is an urgent need to implement existing agreements - for example the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD);

• What should be the role of nuclear energy, particularly in developing countries?

During the debates, parliamentarians highlighted the following roles:

• Include environmental issues in educational curricula;

• Set the standards which industrial units must meet to undertake production;

• Create awareness and disseminate information to the general public and different stakeholders;

• Ensure implementation of laws;

• Create economic incentives to make people adopt environmentally friendly policies;

• Strengthen international environmental governance;

• Quantify the benefits of action, not just the costs;

• Make the public understand that the costs of inaction today will be much higher than the costs of subsequent action;

• Adopt the following motto: “Take action within your country, clean up your own home (country). If you do that well, it may have an impact on others”;

• Learn lessons from best practices adopted by other countries and put them into use in accordance with local needs.

• Cooperate with different parliaments of the same region and make use of existing parliamentary networks;

• Parliamentarians should use simple language (stories) instead of scientific terminology in communicating with the public, and should encourage the scientists to do the same;

• More emphasis should be given to renewable energies, especially in rural areas;

• There is a possibility for the developing countries - with financial and technical support from the industrialized countries - to invest in climate-friendly technologies, and even to ensure that all the new technologies will be low- or no-carbon technologies. This, however, will not happen by itself, and parliamentarians can and should work for this goal.

The moderator, based on the debates, ascertained the following ideas to foster parliamentarians’ action and engagement:

• There should be interaction between the different committees of the parliament, and likewise between the different committees within the region and the sub region. This will ensure an integrated approach to development;

• Coordination between different stakeholders is needed, especially with civil society and academia;

• More power should rest with the legislature than with the executive. Therefore, capacity-building and information exchange are needed.

• There is a need to create regional inter-parliamentary groups;

• Parliamentarians should be part of negotiating delegations;

• Engage parliamentarians from countries representing different positions on selected issues, through direct communication;

• Develop better relations with civil society and the United Nations system.

• Inform parliamentarians to form networks to become national and then global pressure groups;

• Improve parliamentary oversight of international organizations;

• Parliamentarians should insist on the adoption of a national strategy with clear targets, and ensure consistent follow-up;

• Conventional parliamentary tools should be used, including inquiries, the establishment of commissions or committees, questions to the government;

• Environmental questions should be considered in view of economic and social questions.

During the afternoon session, three working groups were created to discuss the main challenges facing parliamentarians in three specific areas: Water; Climate Change and Energy and Trade for Sustainable Development.
Working group 3 was set up to consider the issue of Trade for Sustainable Development and to think broadly about the challenges, roles and opportunities facing parliamentarians in this field. More specifically, this working group explored the role of parliamentarians in ensuring that international trade supports their countries' national economic and social development and is consistent with sound management of natural resources and the environment.

I. KEY ISSUES OF TRADE AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

The moderator identified, based on the discussions, the following issues as relevant to parliamentarians:

• How can countries strengthen their economies, improve their exports, and earn foreign exchange while alleviating poverty, managing their natural resources, and conserving the environment?

• The Plan of Implementation of the World Summit for Social Development (WSSD) refers to trade as a means of implementing sustainable development. Trade can also contribute to achieving the Millennium Development Goals. Done poorly, however, liberalization may undermine these goals;

• Trade liberalization must consequently be undertaken in the right sectors, at the right pace, and supported by the right rules and institutions at the domestic and international levels. Parliamentarians play a role in securing these factors.

During the debates, parliamentarians highlighted the following roles:

• Parliamentarians have potential roles to play in identifying the goals of trade policy, helping to evaluate the impacts of past and potential future trade policies, and sequencing trade liberalization;

• Where trade-offs are required they can help to balance the need for growth, competitiveness and trade against environmental, social and other concerns; they can also identify opportunities for synergies;

• Parliamentarians can review government negotiating agendas and ensure that appropriate rules and institutions are implemented to manage liberalization. These include policies to share wealth, address labour issues and manage natural resources;

• They can also can also promote dialogue with civil society and business and weigh the interests of different groups, including future generations.

During the discussions, parliamentarians identified the following challenges:

• Independent analysis. Parliamentarians need to undertake their own analysis of key issues in order to make their own proposals and to respond effectively to those of government;

• Effective communication. Parliamentarians must be able not only to communicate the positions of governments, but also to develop and communicate their own perspectives on the public interest;

• Policy space. There is a need for flexibility or “policy space” to ensure that international rules can be implemented to secure domestic priorities;

• Building parliamentary influence. There are limits to what parliamentarians can do. The influence of the international community may in some cases overwhelm parliamentarian’s ability to influence policy.

The moderator, based on the debates, ascertained the following ideas to foster parliamentarians’ action and engagement:
At the national level

• Use existing domestic mechanisms to review policies. Support can be provided to parliamentary committees as a counterbalance and to ensure that proposed laws and policies are appropriate;

• Develop national committees on sustainable development and or trade. Parliaments that lack committees on sustainable development can consider developing new bodies. An institutionalized structure can help to channel discussion, promote capacity-building and enhance access to outside expertise;

• Build capacity for independent policy analysis and communication. It is a challenge to undertake analysis and build ownership by communicating with constituencies and others in government;

• Identification of experts. Parliamentarians may require expert input on specific issues; support can be provided to help identify experts with relevant skills and knowledge.

• Friendship arrangements. Bilateral arrangements between parliaments or specific parliamentary bodies (such as trade committees) can help to build capacity and understanding.

• Regional meetings. Regional meetings can help parliamentarians to meet and share national experiences. Efforts to support the integrated assessment of trade policy can support enhanced parliamentary engagement;

• Participation in national delegations. Participation in national delegations can help smooth the implementation of treaties later, as parliamentarians develop expertise on matters they may not normally be involved in;

• Networking with other parliamentarians. By networking, parliamentarians can learn more about other countries' experiences and can build on them;

• International meetings. Meetings devoted to major international negotiations can support parliamentarians' engagement in national delegations and promote networking and collaboration.

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