18. The observer for Women’s Environment and Development Organization, a non-governmental organization in consultative status with the Economic and Social Council, and two observers for an environment caucus of non-governmental organizations also spoke. 19. The panellists responded to points raised. 20. At the 4th meeting, on 11 March, the Commission held a dialogue among Governments, in which the following delegations participated: Turkey, New Zealand, Viet Nam, Finland, Japan, Canada, United States of America, Zimbabwe, Republic of Korea, Argentina, Costa Rica, Sweden, Portugal, France, Mali, Islamic Republic of Iran, Kyrgyzstan, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Poland, Namibia, Brazil, Mexico, Zambia, Ecuador, Kenya, Tunisia, Bahamas and Indonesia. Moderator’s summary of the panel discussion and dialogue on women and the environment 21. The Beijing Platform for Action stressed that sustainable development would be an elusive goal unless women’s contribution to environmental management was recognized and supported. It called upon Governments and all other actors to promote an active and visible policy of mainstreaming a gender perspective in all policies and programmes and to ensure the necessary political and economic empowerment of women to enable them to participate fully along with men in environmental protection and conservation of natural resources. Mainstreaming a gender perspective in policies and programmes for sustainable development and in the implementation of Agenda 21 22. A holistic approach to sustainable development was crucial. Sustainable development could not be achieved without solving environmental problems, and environmental problems needed to be dealt with in the context of wider issues of human rights, gender and social equality, fair distribution of resources and empowerment of people. 23. Agreements reached at the recent United Nations conferences and summits represented an evolving understanding of the links between gender, environment, population, and economic and social development. A cross-sectoral approach was critical for addressing crucial interrelationships for achieving sustainable development. A further challenge was to infuse the development agenda with a human rights perspective. 24. The United Nations Conference on Environment and Development had represented a breakthrough in environmental awareness, including the drawing of attention to the important role women play in sustainable development. The subject of the inclusion of women as a major group in Agenda 21 needed, however, to be revisited in the light of subsequent international agreements. The concept of women as a special group had been rejected at Vienna, Cairo and Beijing in favour of mainstreaming a gender perspective into all aspects of development. The series of global United Nations conferences following the Rio Conference had reflected this important shift away from women as a special group to women as key actors in all sectors of sustainable development. 25. The special session of the General Assembly to review the implementation of Agenda 21 should take the results of other conferences fully into account and should employ a gender perspective in assessing the implementation of Agenda 21 in all sectors. -37-