[sustran] Re: ESCAP Committee on Transport and Communications

[Dr. V. S. Pendakur]

Thanks, Ralph.  Appreciate your comments.

I would appreciate it if Priyanthi can prepare a one or two page memo to
Assistant Secretary General UN/ESCAP,  I will make copies and request like
minded people read and possibly sign it. Later on we can figure out how to
send it to them.  However, we cannot do this as TRB, unless we go through
the entire committee/council ladder and even then, it may be considered as
too political!!.  We can take this up as Sustarns, as ITDP, as IFP and
other organizations.  Dont forget, ESCAP has cofunding in the
infrastructure area from UNCHS, UNDP and the ADB in several of their
efforts.

I would appreciate a quick feedback on this as we don not have time. I
would particularly like comments from those who are going to attend TRB.
Best wishes.  Setty.
****************************************************
Dr. V. Setty Pendakur
School of Community and Regional Planning
University of British Columbia
Vancouver, BC, Canada  V6T 1Z2
1-604-822-3394-office, 1-604-263-3576-home
1-604-822-3787-fax
Email : pendakur at unixg.ubc.ca
***************************************************

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> From: Ralph B. Hirsch <hirsch at igc.org>
> To: sustran-discuss at jca.ax.apc.org
> Subject: [sustran] Re: ESCAP Committee on Transport and Communications 
> Date: Wednesday, January 07, 1998 5:44 PM
> 
> On 7 January, Priyanthi Fernando of IFRTD (International Forum for Rural
> Transport and Development) wrote about a December 1997 meeting in Bangkok
> organized by ESCAP, the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for
> Asia and the Pacific: 
> >Unfortunately, the content of the meeting included 
> >hardly anything about non-motorised transport modes, 
> >about environmental issues (limited to the transportation 
> >of hazardous goods), about poverty issues or gender issues. 
>                                 
> and asked:
> > Should we attempt to influence our government 
> >delegations to include in the discussion issues that 
> >should be of greater concern to a region that is home to
> >a large number of poor people?
> 
> V. Setty Pendakur of the University of British Columbia commented:
> > It is extra-ordinary that ESCAP, which is the regional 
> >organization for Asia where non-motorized transport is 
> >predominant, has not included the concerns expressed 
> >by your memo.  We may have to device strategies to make 
> >presentations to national delegations as well as their 
> >Committees on Social and Economic Affairs.  Perhaps, some 
> >one more familiar with the structure of UN can advise us.
> 
> Perhaps the following comments can be helpful. They are based on the
> experience of my organization, the International Federation of
Pedestrians
> (FIP), which has been in consultative status with the UN Economic and
Social
> Council (ECOSOC) for about 25 years. During that period we have been
active
> with ECOSOC's Economic Commission for Europe (ECE), and more recently
also
> with the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA). There are similar bodies
for
> Western Asia (ESCWA), for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), and --
as
> mentioned by Priyanthi Fernando --  for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP). Due
to
> lack of resources FIP has not yet become active in the work of any of the
> last three commissions named, although in principle we could become
involved
> in their activities relating to transport, environment and urban
development
> issues. 
> 
> On the basis of FIP's long years at the UN, I'll contradict my esteemed
> colleague, Setty Pendakur. No, it is NOT extraordinary that the concerns
in
> Priyanthi Fernando's memo were left out of the discussions at ESCAP. It
is
> amazing, it is deplorable. But it is unfortunately commonplace rather
than
> extraordinary. Such concerns -- in order to be part of the agenda of the
> UN's regional commissions -- must be brought up either by a member
country
> in the region, by an NGO in consultative status, or by the commission's
> secretariat. If the concerns are not among the priority issues of a
country
> in the region, or if they are not championed by one of the NGOs, they are
> unlikely to be raised. 
> 
> An open discussion list such as SUSTRANS may not be the ideal medium to
> develop a detailed strategy for overcoming this deficiency, but it can
> provide an excellent starting point. For now let me say, on the basis of
our
> experience, that for an NGO to work effectively with the regional
> commissions requires a dedicated, well-qualified, and versatile staff
(most
> such staffs are paid, though a few are volunteers), enough money for
travel
> to the meetings called by the commissions, and a tremendous amount of
> staying power. 
> 
> Presentations and other forms of contact with the delegations of
individual
> countries can be a valuable complement to work with the regional
commissions
> and its specialized bodies. Contacts made at one level are likely to
> reinforce those made at the other. 
> 
> A number of people, among them Setty Pendakur, who share the concerns
listed
> by  Priyanthi Fernando, will be in Washington, DC next week for the
annual
> meeting of the Transportation Research Board (TRB).  I hope that there we
> may move the matter a little further along in face-to-face discussions. I
do
> see the Internet -- and this splendid discussion list SUSTRAN -- as
> potentially crucial tools for overcoming some of the handicaps that
> disadvantaged groups and NGOs with small financial resources have long
> labored under. 
> 
> Ralph B. Hirsch,  Secretary General
> International Federation of Pedestrians (FIP)
> 3500 Race Street
> Philadelphia PA 19104-4925
> USA
> telephone/fax +1.215.386.1270
> e-mail <hirsch at igc.org>