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Monitoring The UN > The UN and Sustainable Development Position of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean within the UN System The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) is a regional commission of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). ECLAC reports directly to ECOSOC and, through the Economic and Social Council, to the United Nations General Assembly. ECLAC is comprised of 41 regional states with full membership status (Canada has been a full member in good standing since inception in 1948) and 7 associate members. At it’s creation in 1948, the Economic Commission for Latin America (the Caribbean was added in 1984) was given the dual mandate of "raising the level of economic activity in Latin America and maintaining and strengthening the economic relations of Latin American countries both among themselves and with other countries of the world". To accomplish these broad goals, the ECLAC Secretariat has identified nine key areas of activity:
Associated Bodies/Programmes
Since it’s creation in 1948, the Economic Commission on Latin America (and later Latin America and the Caribbean) has become the regional partner of choice in economic, social and now sustainable development issues. How this came about is more a matter of shrewd strategic decisions made at the time in inception, built upon by successive ECLAC officials, than of fortunate circumstance. Prior to 1948, there was a serious lack of economic data and research concerning the past performance and future direction of the region. To rectify this situation, ECLAC instituted a system of standard methodology to be applied to a new programme of national assessments. After laying down the essential statistical groundwork, ECLAC began an ambitious research and publishing programme with the goal of providing practical policy advice to national governments concerning economic and social development. As a result, ECLAC is recognized today as the foremost authority on economic and developmental research and analysis in the region. On the implementation side, ECLAC has been very active in building partnerships and coordinating efforts between UN programmes and bodies and national governments in the region. Immediately prior to UNCED in Rio in 1992, ECLAC sponsored a regional preparatory meeting in Mexico City in March, 1991. At that time, ECLAC presented a document for the consideration of it’s members which recognized the desirability and necessity of approaching questions of social and economic development from a new angle. The report accepted the new approach of sustainable development and identified key regional and global characteristics which needed to be integrated into national and international policy making. The thematic principles of the report stated that: development and the environment can not be viewed as an "either/or" choice; developing countries, especially those in the LAC area, face a different set of constraints and circumstances in questions of sustainable development; no clear distinction can or should be drawn between local, national and global phenomena; sustainability has to be considered in its broadest context; incorporating environmental factors in development strategies requires systemic research; and that development or environmental initiatives cannot be viewed or implemented in isolation. All in all, this report would foreshadow conclusions drawn at the Earth Summit enunciated in the Agenda 21 document. Since Rio, ECLAC has stayed the course with its work in conducting/sponsoring economic and developmental research and in arranging project partnerships among regional actors, national governments and international institutes. ECLAC’s most recent issue priorities have included: the incorporation of technical progress in production enterprises, especially small and medium-sized firms; the development of environmentally suitable technologies for making use of the region’s natural resources; the generation of increasing levels of domestic savings and their guidance towards productive investments; the establishment of and institutional context favoring investment, growth and governance; investment in human resources, with improvements in the systems of educational and health services; support for the lowest-income strata through public spending and a more participatory approach to the decision-making process; and the consolidation of the institutions that serve as the foundations for pluralistic and participatory political systems. Those issue priorities have been translated by the ECLAC Secretariat into a work programme for ECLAC’s functional divisions and programme partners. for the 1998-1999 period, ECLAC’s attentions are focused on: linkages with the global economy, competitiveness and production; integration, open regionalism and regional cooperation; productive, technological and entrepreneurial development; economic and institutional reforms and policies; the social underpinnings of economic development; statistics and economic projections; sub-regional activities in Mexico and Central America; and, sub-regional activities in the Caribbean. Canadian Involvement with ECLAC Apart from being a full and active member in ECLAC, Canada’s present involvement with ECLAC is mainly through the International Development Research Council (IDRC). Drawing on past Canadian experience and areas of expertise, IDRC and ECLAC have struck several project partnership agreements. The first project is entitled "Industrial Restructuring, Innovation and International Competitiveness in Latin America". The second will result in a monograph dealing with economic, social and sustainable development entitled "The New Latin American Model". The third combines the accumulated knowledge and experiences of Latin American and Caribbean mineral producers with the Canadian know-how in a study to increase the productivity and profitability of LAC mining operations while ensuring the least amount of environmental damage. This report will be called "A Natural Resource Cluster Development Strategy: The Case of Mining". A fourth ECLAC/IDRC entitled "Minga: Alternative Approaches to Natural Resource Management for Latin American and the Caribbean", is also under way. Typically all ECLAC sponsored projects and studies have as their goal the identification of problems and areas of opportunity as well as the identification and fostering of best practices in areas of economic/social development and environmental protection. The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean operates a good general interest web site. Unfortunately for English language users, many of the detailed reports and ECLAC documents can only be viewed or downloaded in Spanish. The United Nations Economic and Social Council site offers a good overview of ECOSOC’s organisation including regional and functional commissions and hyperlinks directly to subsidiary body sites. To view the organisational breakdown of the various subsidiary bodies and secretariat services for ECOSOC see: http://www.un.org/esa/coordination/ecosoc/subsidiary.htm. For information on the mandate, organisation and activities of the IDRC, as well as research funding and employment opportunities see: http://www.idrc.ca. |
