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UNU Update | |
The newsletter of United Nations
University and its network of research and training centres and programmes |
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Issue 20: October 2002 |
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Statement by
The
obvious decline in the condition of the natural environment, combined with
persistent levels of extreme poverty in many parts of the world, have
given rise to the global appreciation of the urgency with which we gather
here in Johannesburg. They point to the core imperative that sustainable
development must be mainstreamed within the broader global political
agenda and approached in a more comprehensive, strategic and integrated
manner. That is what we
are doing here today in Johannesburg. These goals can only be achieved if we strengthen international
cooperation and work together in a coherent and mutually supportive manner
to develop and implement the right policies that bear on sustainable
development.
The crises confronting us have been extensively detailed. The realization of the urgency of the situation - coupled with the
willingness to come together to discuss solutions - is evidenced by the
Declarations associated with Monterey, the launching of the Doha
Development Round and our presence here in Johannesburg. We must not lose
sight, however, that at the end of the day Declarations are a means to an
end.
Few
deny that improving developing countries' access to the markets of the
rich (particularly in agriculture) is necessary for the successful pursuit
of sustainable development. It
is equally true that modifying or interpreting trade rules to integrate
developing countries more fully into the world economy while promoting the
flow of financial resources to the poorest are also essential.
HUMAN
AND INSTITUTIONAL CAPACITY
However,
too frequently we lose sight that these sustainable development
prerequisites are by themselves insufficient. As one who has devoted an
entire career to advancing education at all levels, I firmly believe that
to be truly effective, the most critical condition for successful
implementation of policies to promote sustainable development is the
requisite human and institutional infrastructure. Only with these in place can developing countries take advantage of
the benefits that may come in the form of improved market access, modified
trade rules and increased financial flows. Sadly we are far from having in place even the minimal human and
institutional infrastructure to secure these benefits.
Desperately
needed at the local, regional and global levels is coordinated action to
train and educate the vast number of students, teachers, government
officials and others that comprise the key actors in the severely
"time-bound" race for sustainable development. Simply put, how
can interests be advanced if there is not a full knowledge of all the
relevant issues and the information to address them successfully at the
national, regional and global level?
How
can NEPAD possibly achieve its goal of good governance without a fully
educated and well-informed society? How can developing countries negotiate
and implement the extraordinarily sophisticated legal agreements of the
Doha Development Round if they are not fully aware of the national,
regional and global implications? How can enhanced financial flows be
effectively used to promote sustainable development?
This
vision has led the UNU to devote a substantial part of its resources to
the subject of strengthening the institutional framework for sustainable
development. Sustainable
development is not a one-day tutorial. Integrating
sustainable development into the curriculum at all education levels and
sectors is needed to ensure that students from primary to post-secondary
are aware of its imperatives and respect its principles and values in
their professions and as habits of everyday life. We have been active at our Tokyo headquarters as well as in our
fourteen regional institutes in training technicians, future diplomats and
other young people in the substance and importance of the multilateral and
regional agreements crucial to attaining sustainable development.
We
have long experience in disseminating critical information to developing
countries to assist in creating well-informed negotiating strategies at
regional and global conferences. The
UNU Press is one of our flagships in this respect and I invite you to
witness this for yourselves by visiting the UNU publication display.
Neither
last, nor least in this respect, we are well down the track of finalizing
our ambitious project for a virtual university focusing on sustainable
development to achieve the same goals of training and educating at all
levels of schooling.
POPULATION
There
is a further necessary condition to achieve sustainable development to
which we attach pivotal importance. Policies
to build human and institutional capacity must be complemented with the
right population policies. . The road from Rio to Johannesburg runs
through Cairo.
Sustainable
development aims at improving human well-being, particularly through
alleviating poverty, increasing gender equity, and improving health, human
resources and stewardship of the natural environment. Because demographic factors are closely linked to these
goals, it is essential that international strategies take population into
account. Any consideration of sustainable-development policies must
include population growth and distribution, mobility, the health impacts
of environmental change, differential vulnerability, and the empowerment
of people, especially of women.
Only
with a voluntary decline in population growth can we derive the critical
economic benefits that come through a reduction in the number of children
relative to the working age population. Slower population growth and strengthened human and institutional
capacity go hand in glove. We
must follow consistent and mutually supportive policies in these areas and
greatly increase investment in health, education infrastructure, training
and education. If we do not put the human population centre stage our
efforts to improve human well being and improve the quality of the
environment will fail.
THE
RELEVANT RESEARCH OF THE UNU
Education,
science and technology are all stressed in the WSDD Draft Plan of
Implementation. They
have great potential to improve the well–being of society at large, but
have yet to be fully harnessed or mainstreamed into sustainable
development efforts. The Ubuntu Declaration, an initiative led by UNU,
will call on the science and education communities to join forces and
mobilize themselves to work for sustainable development.
UNU’s
reports to this conference, which I am proud to present today, examines
how changes in international institutions – and better interlinkages
between them – can improve environmental quality and promote
development. They provide a
careful assessment of existing proposals and past attempts to reform the
existing governance system. They also describe other critical research in all
the target areas of the WSSD and many others.
My
UNU colleagues have come to this conference with three important
objectives:
This world summit
has the potential to serve as a turning point in our efforts to pursue the
agreed goal of sustainable human development. We do not have the right to let this unique possibility pass us by.
0I can assure you that the United Nations University will indeed
play its part.
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