JOAN VEON
RESEARCH FOR WORLD SUMMIT FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT 9/02

At the closing of the historic 1992 Rio Earth Summit, Conference Secretary-General Maurice Strong , said this:

”Nothing less that the future of our planet as the home for our species and others has been the object of our work.  The World will not be the same after this Conference.  The prospects for our Earth cannot, must not, be the same.  We came here to alter those prospects—we cannot allow those prospects to have come through this process without having been decisively altered and changed to a more promising and sustainable future.”

He then enumerated their progress:

1.  Each of the conventions, on climate change and biodiversity have been signed by more than 150 nations

2.  We must advance from Agenda 21 to the Earth Charter. We hope there will be an Earth Charter on the 50th anniversary of the United Nations in 1995.

3.  Agenda 21 – still stands as the most comprehensive, mo0st far-reaching and if implemented, the most effective programme of international action ever sanctioned by the international community.  It is not a final and complete action programme, but one which must continue to evolve.

4.  On finance—we are a long way from meeting the needs for full implementation of Agenda 21.

5.  On technology transfer—we have made recommendations

6.  On conventions, climate change—we have taken a historic first step.  We must build quickly on climate change, biodiversity and desertification (forestry) conventions.

7.  On biodiversity—has not been accepted by at least one nation necessary for its full and effective implementation.

8.  There are prospects for change but the patterns of production and consumption that give rise to so many of the global risks we are dealing with have continued.  260,000 children have been born each day while we were here—mostly poor—born into a world of hunger and deprivation.

We have established a new global partnership.  You must translate Agenda 21 and the decisions that you have taken at the global level into your own national policies and practices.

We should consider new taxes, user chargers, emission permits, citizen funding all based on the polluter-pays principle.

The messages from the children delivered as we opened this session this morning, gathered during the 15,000 mile journey of Gaia.