The change of course called for at Rio in 1992 requires radical changes in our current economic system. This will need to be led by those countries, mostly Western, which have dominated the world economy during the period in which our cumulative damage to the Earth’s life-support systems. Rio+20 must support the increase in the status of UNEP to that of a specialized agency. This could lead to the establishment of a World Environment Organization.
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Maurice Strong calls for the need to create much greater public interest and awareness in Rio+20 as an event in itself. This is what helped to attract unprecedented numbers of world leaders, media and non-governmental organizations to the Earth Summit in 1992. But time is short and the resources available to the Secretariat and others preparing for Rio+20 are meager.
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Maurice Strong, Senior Advisor to the 2012 Rio+20 Summit, was named as the first recipient of the inaugural World Green Tourism Award in recognition of his pivotal role in shaping the global sustainable development agenda, and in recognising the potential of Travel & Tourism to make a contribution to mainstream green growth transformation.
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Maurice Strong sends a message to Rio+20: "Time is not on our side.,,Now we are at a point when we simply have to start doing those things that are going to ensure the survival and sustainability of life on earth as we know it."
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Following the near collapse of the UN climate negotiations and the seeming paralysis of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), the whole idea of solving the world's environmental problems through multilateral negotiations seems to be in crisis. But, argue Maurice Strong and Felix Dodds, another recent development holds out the promise of reversing the trend.
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Guardian reporter, Alex Kirby contrast the first Rio Summit, with the one planned for next year. He says that Rio+20 faces problems more acute than Strong confronted. Sustainability may have caught on in some of the world's boardrooms, may fascinate pundits and commentators, but will need sharp elbows to get media attention.
Statement by Maurice Strong at High-level Symposium on the U.N. Conference on Sustainable Development, Beijing, China on September 8th-9th on "Assessing progress and gaps in 20 years of sustainable development".
First I want to commend Conference Secretary General Mr. Sha Zukang for his initiative in convening this Symposium and the Government of China for co-sponsoring and hosting it.
I view Rio+20 as another significant milestone on the road from Stockholm through the 1992 Earth Summit to a sustainable future for humanity.
Rio+20 takes place at a time when political priorities are focused on the immediate issues of economic and financial crises and accompanying political turbulence in much of the world. The resistance to change in patterns of production and consumption has deepened. The result is a significant decline in the priority being accorded to longer term issues, notably the environment and climate change. This does not augur well for the success of Rio+20. Prospects for the conference and preparations for it are constrained by limited finances, deeply entrenched political differences and perceptions of lack of progress in climate change negotiations.
Over all, conditions are not nearly as conducive to progress in renewal of the momentum generated by the Earth Summit in 1992 or in implementation of the agreements reached there and at subsequent fora.
This underscores the urgent need for decisive action at Rio+20 and the importance of the contribution which this Symposium must make to it.
There has been progress since 1992 in the understanding of and commitment to sustainable development and in the number of examples of positive progress in applying it. This has demonstrated the contributions which sustainable development makes to the transition to the green economy in which developing countries must participate fairly and fully and in accord with the UN’s Millennium Development Goals.
The private sector as the principal instrument of development must be guided by incentives and penalties set by government designed to foster sustainable development. Experience has shown that this produces both profits and environmental improvement. An important example is tourism and the broader concept of “travelism”, the world’s largest industry, which has a special role in achieving sustainability of the environment on which the industry depends.
The dynamic growth of major newly developing countries, of which our host country China is such a primary example, are lifting many of their people out of poverty and driving the growth of the world economy. China’s remarkable economic progress is accompanied by its strong commitment to sustainable, harmonious development guided by science. All this is encouraging but far from sufficient. Many in both these countries and the more traditional industrialized countries as well as most of the people of the least developed countries are being left behind. The gap between rich and poor in all countries is widening. The prospect of further increases in the prices of food and energy will further exacerbate the plight of the poor. Globally this is not sustainable.
The commitments that governments made at the Earth Summit and other fora remain largely unfulfilled in the progress they have made in their implementation. Particularly important is the failure of more industrialized countries to implement their commitment to provide significant new and additional financial resources to less developed countries as well as access to technologies and markets. Their full acceptance of the principle of common but differentiated responsibility must be re-enforced.
Rio+20 must agree on specific measures to make nations accountable for implementation of their commitments while introducing some innovative means of contributing to this.
Let me briefly mention some of the initiatives which could contribute to the success of Rio+20:
1. A parallel process in which civil society organizations in each country provide an objective assessment of their country’s performance in implementing past commitments and identifying targets for commitments at Rio+20. An initiative is already being launched with the leadership of the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) and the Stakeholders Forum to do this in parallel with and as a complement to official assessments.
2. Strengthening the institutional framework of sustainable development by elevating the status of the Commission on Sustainable Development and reinforcing its economic dimension by the commitments of governments to including high level participation by finance and economic ministries as well as participation of the World Bank and regional development banks. This will give concrete effect to the reality that it is through the economy that most decisions and policies which drive sustainability are made.
According to the United Nations Environment Program, the status of a specialized agency, as already proposed would be an important means of strengthening the environmental dimensions of sustainable development. It must treat UNEP’s role as systemic in nature, not sectoral;
3. Facilitating the establishment of a new financial mechanism designed to give people who have most of the world’s money a means to participate in financing of sustainable development. This could be done by the issuance of “Earth Bonds” which the investment community would market broadly. Governments would be urged to authorize and/or facilitate this by such means as offering tax deductions for their purchases. Capital realized through the sale of Earth Bonds would be used to finance sustainable development projects for which those in the least developed countries would have priority;
4. Experience has demonstrated, as notably in Japan, that economic efficiency is a key to sustainability – efficiency in the development, conservation and use of energy, water, soil, biodiversity and resources, the recycling and re-use of wastes. Focusing on the need to help less developed countries achieve these will contribute to more effective management of the urban-rural relationship which is critical to the achievement of sustainability.
5. Recognizing that implementation depends on motivation and that the ethical dimension provides a basis for the motivation of actions, both individual and collective, it would be important for Rio+20 to recognize and endorse the Earth Charter. The Earth Charter has been endorsed by people and organizations, including some governments, throughout the world.
These are some of the key issues on which I hope our discussions will focus.
Rio+20 must agree on specific measures to make nations accountable for implementation of their commitments while introducing some innovative means of contributing to this.
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Keynote speech of Maurice F. Strong at Inaugural Section of Delhi Ministerial Dialogue in preparation for Rio+20, New Delhi, India, on October 3rd-4th
Subject to change on delivery
Pathway to Rio+20 and the Green Economy
I am honored by the opportunity to speak to this eminent Forum and share with you some of my thoughts and concerns as to the prospects of Rio+20 and how this important Dialogue can contribute to them. I commend the Government of India and the United Nations under the leadership of Rio+20 Secretary-General Sha Zukang for convening this Dialogue and giving us the opportunity to participate in it.
I view these issues and the urgency, indeed imperative, of producing milestone results at Rio+20 in the context of the long association I have had with them beginning with the Stockholm Conference in 1972. The progress we have made since then in our understanding of the issues and our capacity to address them effectively is impressive. But lack of sufficient progress in implementation of the commitments made by governments at the Earth Summit in 1992 and related fora have left us on a course that is unsustainable and indeed threatens the very future of humankind. Yet current economic and political difficulties now pre-empt the attention of governments and the public undermining the prospects of effective action at Rio+20 to establish the green economy that is the key to sustainability.
Our host country, India, has had a uniquely influential role in dealing with these issues since Prime Minister Indira Gandhi came to Stockholm and delivered her message that “Poverty is the greatest polluter”. She made the case on behalf of all developing countries that the environment must contribute to and not distract from their priority need for development and relief of poverty. Since then India’s remarkable economic development has made it one of the world’s most rapidly growing economies while continuing to champion the cause of all developing countries.
The “green economy” is not just a slogan: Rio+20 must produce strong new impetus to its achievement at national, local and global levels.
The key to this is an immense increase in economic efficiency – efficiency in the production of goods and services, efficiency in the use of energy and in the development, use and re-use of resources. The experience of a number of nations, notably Japan, Germany and other European countries has demonstrated that this is not only feasible. It produces significant economic as well as environment benefits. The more developed countries which have contributed most to global environmental problems have a responsibility and an interest to fulfill the commitments they have made of to provide developing countries with access to the finances and technologies they require to green their economies. Rio+20 must give real and substantive effect to this concept which is at the heart of the relationship between more developed and less developed countries.
Rio+20 must go beyond the re-statement of past commitments which have not been implemented and new commitments without any means of accountability for them. It must, I contend, present governments with some radical and innovative challenges of which I offer some examples:
1) At the High-level Symposium in Beijing, there was broad support for the initiative led by IUCN and the Stakeholders Forum to have civil society organizations in each country assess the performance of their countries in implementation of the commitments they have made and what they should be expected to agree to at Rio+20. I propose that this Dialogue call for the establishment of a mechanism for continuing and objective evaluation of the performance of countries in implementing of their commitments. This would generate strong incentives for governments to do more to implement them;
2) The need for the new and additional financial resources has continued to be a primary requirement for less developed countries to make the transition to what we now call the Green Economy. However, under current economic and political conditions the prospects of obtaining substantial new financial commitments from governments are limited. We should now tap private sources giving them opportunities to invest in the green economy. This was introduced at the Beijing Symposium and is now being further developed;
3) Another means by which countries can make significant progress in the greening of their economy is to make much greater use of the legal system. This is not a new idea but one which deserves much greater attention and more universal application. Principle 21 agreed at the Stockholm Conference provides that “States have, ……, the sovereign right to exploit their own resources, ……, and the responsibility to ensure that activities within their jurisdiction or control do not cause damage to the environment of other States or of areas beyond the limits of national jurisdiction”. Principle 22 requires that “State shall cooperate to develop further the international law regarding liability and compensation for the victims of the pollution and other environmental damage caused by activities within the jurisdiction or control of such States to areas beyond their jurisdiction”.
This Principle has been invoked in a number of instances dating back to the famous Trail Smelter case in which pollution from a major project in Canada was causing damage in the United States. According victims of environment damage in one country access to the courts of the country in which such damage originated to obtain compensation for it would give practical effect to the Stockholm Principles. Special measures will be required to ensure that the poor who are often the main victims of such damage have full access to this recourse. It could be a powerful and effective tool for bringing the poor and the disadvantaged into the green economy and obtaining a fair share of its benefits.
I am impressed with the degree to which India has already taken pioneering steps to develop a body of “Green Environmental Law”, notably in passing its “National Green Tribunal Act” in 2010. This specifically refers to the decisions taken at Stockholm in 1992 as well as at Rio de Janeiro in 1992. Although my Indian friends tell me that its implementation is still a work in progress, the extensive consideration and dialogue accompanying it places India in a good position to take a lead in extending this concept internationally. Australia also has had a Land and Environment Court since 1979 and New Zealand since in 1991.
There is therefore already a substantial body of experience and knowledge to call upon in extending this concept internationally. Rio+20 could make a unique and important contribution to realization of the green economy and ensuring that its benefits are fully and fairly shared by the poor and disadvantaged by giving new impetus to this process. IUCN’s Commission on Environmental Law with its international network of legal experts could make an important contribution to it.
This Delhi Dialogue may wish to consider recommending the setting up a special Commission to develop this for presentation at Rio+20.
Cities are the centers of our civilization - the principal sources of environmental deterioration and the risks we face from it as well as the principal sources of solutions. The greening of our cities must be at the center of our priorities. Many countries have realized that the other measures we undertake must be systemically integrated into the greening of our cities and their impacts on the hinterlands with which they are so interdependent. Many countries are already responding to this challenge. China, where I spend so much my time, is giving high priority to the greening of its cities and the establishment of some 500 new green cities.
It is important that Rio+20 give strong impetus to the key role of cities as the center piece of the new economy.
Other events which would help to focus public attention on Rio+20 would be to hold an “Earth Gala” with some of the world’s leading artists to coincide with the Summit, and to present prestigious awards for outstanding contributions to sustainable development.
These are some examples of the kind of innovative measures which could make Rio+20 the important milestone on the pathway to the green economy which is the key to the future for all the Earth’s people.
I commend these thoughts for your consideration.
Rio+20 must go beyond the re-statement of past commitments which have not been implemented and new commitments without any means of accountability for them. It must present governments with some radical and innovative challenges.
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