By Holy See Mission
Statement by H.E. Archbishop Celestino MiglioreApostolic Nuncio, Permanent Observer of the Holy
SeeBefore the Second Committee of the 60th Session of
the United Nations General Assemblyon item 52: Sustainable developmentNew York, 3 November 2005Mr. Chairman,
My delegation believes that
development plans and poverty reduction strategies must be integrated into
environmental sustainability. Without environmental stewardship, development
will have no sound foundation, and without development, there will be no means
of investment, rendering environmental protection impossible.
Responsibility and solidarity are
linked here in such a way that action in favour of the environment becomes an
affirmation of belief in the destiny of the human family gathered around a
common project crucial to everyone’s good. This echoes the first principle of
the Rio Declaration that “human beings are at the centre of concerns for
sustainable development”.
However, the numerous difficulties
encountered in confronting the problems of global environmental degradation such
as climate change, drinking water shortage, deforestation and desertification,
show the complexity of facing the problems of development in a coherent,
integrated way, and the need to replace fragmented sectoral approaches with a
holistic and multisectoral one.
Among the first cluster of threats
identified by the High Level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change were
economic and social threats, including poverty, infectious diseases and
environmental degradation. We agree that these three questions ultimately
threaten the security of present and future generations. The need to address
these challenges as an ensemble is indispensable to a collective security
system. They are not stand-alone threats.
In facing them and in promoting the
development of responsibility and solidarity, local communities will have to be
involved in evaluating and conserving nature, and receive a fair share of
benefits, if they are willingly to collaborate; costs to natural ecosystems need
to be taken into account in all economic decisions, since nature’s resources are
clearly finite; and protection of natural assets will have to gain a much higher
priority in governments’ planning, investment and budgeting if it is to be
successful.
Of particular concern are forests,
which remain essential in terms of food, shelter, fuel, fresh water and fibre to
90% of the world’s 1.2 billion extreme poor; yet forest loss is still evident in
too many places. The finalisation of an international treaty on the protection
of forests is much to be desired.
Nor should we forget the targets
contained in MDG 7 which aim to halve by 2015 the proportion of people without
access to clean drinking water and basic sanitation, as well as significantly
improve the lives of slum dwellers by 2020, as restated recently in the CSD 13
Decision. Unfortunately, many states will not meet the 2005 target for
establishing integrated water resources management programmes. It is
nevertheless in the interest of all countries to assist and invest in the
implementation of such schemes.
Another grave question is that of
climate change and energy, which the Secretary-General has rightly described as
one of the greatest challenges of the 21st century. The themes of next biennial
cycle of the CSD will have an impact on many related questions such as the
environment, economics, politics, ethics and social questions, as well as
national and international security. It will be an occasion for international
reflection on themes central to peace and human development, above all in the
poorest areas with the slimmest capacity to adapt, with scarce energy resources
and a greater exposure to the consequences of climate change.
Finally, it is encouraging to
witness the growing awareness of climate change demonstrated for example at the
G8 summit in Gleneagles. Serious discussions should follow, on the means by
which states can provide incentives for the further development of renewable
energy sources, begin to phase out environmentally harmful subsidies, especially
for fossil fuel use and development, and invest in the research and development
of a clean, efficient and cheap replacement for fossil fuels. The world is going
to need dramatically more, not less, energy in the next fifty years: we owe it
to future generations everywhere to start immediately on such a path.
Thank you, Mr Chairman.
Copyright © 2015-2021 The Permanent Observer Mission of the Holy See to the United Nations