Helen Clark warned that governments will be forced to act sustainably soon, whether they want to or not
A lack of political will has meant the sustainable development ambitions of the Rio Earth summit two decades ago have not made enough progress, the head of the UN’s development programme has warned.
Speaking two months before Rio+20, the former New Zealand prime minister Helen Clark said sustainable development had not been made mainstream in policy because governments considered the short-term outcomes too politically risky.
But the urgency of the problem means people will have to act soon, she told an audience at a lecture at Cambridge university: “There is broad agreement that, without urgent action, the world will move beyond what scientists have termed its ‘planetary boundaries’.
“Beyond that point, there is risk of irreversible and abrupt environmental change – to climate, biodiversity, the supply of freshwater, and more. Governments will be forced to act.”
The future must be based on equity and justice, with people at its centre, she said, where the focus is not just on the environment but also economic and social development.
“For me, achieving sustainable development is not about trading economic, social, and environmental objectives off against each other. It is about seeing them as interconnected objectives … best pursued together.”
Clark stressed that green growth to develop industries such as renewable energy must also be inclusive, and engage the world’s 1.2 billion young people. And for the 1 billion living in extreme poverty it must “meet immediate needs for food, income, and services, while also engaging them in productive and practical work in ecosystem repair and building water infrastructure.”
What disturbs me about this is Clark’s
apparent belief in the primacy of
GOVERNMENT, and not people.
First, She overstates the assumption that immediate action is required to save the environment. This is NOT proven fact but comes from a position of an activist. Second, Her tenor reeks of authoritarian government control which has proven to be ineffective and inefficient. Sustainability will be a by-product of a lightly regulated free market with objects of high demand and low supply pricing themselves out of the market and being replaced. Industry, not governments will spear head sustainability out of a necessity to survive.
Did she say “short term solutions”?
What, since when does the UN engage in short-term solutions?
I thought their solutions were meant to save us for at least the next 40 years? They told us all would be well if we impoverished everyone, except themselves, during this time?
You mean to tell me, this was just “a short term solution”?
Ye, gads, I’m melting!!!!