'The world needs you to
lead in safeguarding the global environment'
This is the prepared text of an
address by Kofi Annan, United Nations Secretary-General,
at the 109th Annual Commencement.
President [Gerhard]
Casper, Ladies and Gentlemen, Dear Students:
It is great to be here
this morning and to be with you, the Class of 2000 -- the
millennium generation. Congratulations on your big day.
And congratulations to all
the family and friends who helped you reach this
milestone.
For a United Nations
Secretary-General, a crowd this size [23,000] is usually
a sign that something has gone wrong. I tend to think of
massive flows of refugees, street protests against
repressive governments, an army massing for battle --- or
even a recent experience in Seattle! But you have
gathered for a celebration, one which you have richly
earned.
I have been here only a
few hours, but already I can tell that the Stanford
"farm" has produced yet another bumper crop:
engineers, educators, entrepreneurs and others who will
soon make their mark on the 21st century. I know you are
eager to get out into the world. But before you make your
exit, let us dwell for a moment on the place you are
about to leave behind and what it symbolizes.
For the past several
years, this campus has been your habitat. It has
sheltered you and nurtured your growth. It has watered
you with the rain of ideas, filled your lungs with the
fresh air of new experiences, and helped you plant roots
in the fertile soil of human knowledge and the world's
store of history and lore.
The species here have
formed an intricate web of coexistence. I don't mean the
birds and the squirrels, but rather the human types that
make up your community: a wonderfully diverse student
body; the professors and administrators; and of course
the locals and old-timers who, like California redwood
trees, see you come and see you go. Together, you make up
a living, breathing ecosystem.
Whatever your individual
experiences, yours has been a shared fate.
The Stanford community has
evolved, prospered and suffered as a single, integrated
environment. And chances are you would wish it to be
around for future generations -- perhaps your own
children -- to enjoy.
The same is true of the
larger human community. We thrive and survive on planet
earth as a single human family. As Benjamin Franklin said
at the signing of the Declaration of Independence,
"We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall
all hang separately." His words still resonate. In
an age of globalization, our interdependence deepens with
every passing day. And one of our main responsibilities
is to leave to successor generations a sustainable
future.
It is in that spirit that
I wish to use this occasion to make a special plea to you
-- and through you, to all your generation. The world
needs you to take the lead in safeguarding the global
environment.
I have spent a good part
of the past year analyzing the state of humankind and
preparing a report on the challenges that face us at the
dawn of the new millennium.
The report is called
"We the Peoples," and you can find it on the
United Nations website. It was an attempt to step back
from the press of daily crises and to reflect on the
broader, long-term direction in which we are headed. I
have, in a sense, submitted a term paper to the world's
people. I sincerely hope you will read it -- and please
don't hesitate to give me a grade and let me know what
you think!
The report finds that we
human beings do have much to be grateful for. Most people
today can expect to live longer than their parents. They
are better nourished, they enjoy better health, they are
better educated, and on the whole they face more
favorable economic prospects.
But there is also
widespread deprivation and despair. The century just
ended was disfigured, time and again, by ruthless
conflict. Grinding poverty and striking inequality
persist within and among countries even amidst
unprecedented wealth. Diseases, old and new, threaten to
undo years of progress.
Sad to say, much of this
picture was very familiar. But I was startled by what we
found when we looked at the global environment.
We have long been aware
that unsustainable practices remain deeply embedded in
the fabric of our daily lives. What was shocking was not
so much the state of the environment, as the state of the
debate on the environment. In a nutshell, the need for
sustainable development is failing to register on the
political radar screen.
That is something that
should concern us all, not least because half the world's
jobs depend directly on the sustainability of ecosystems.
Scientists and others who
study these matters may have disagreements here and
there; that is the nature of inquiry. But they are
unanimous in saying we face extraordinarily grave
challenges.
They say that if
freshwater consumption trends continue, by the year 2025
two out of every three people on earth will live in
"water stressed" countries. They say that if
population and land-use trends continue, the world will
face a real threat to global food security by
mid-century. And they say that if emissions and energy
trends continue, global warming will only accelerate.
Already, we can see
portents of a world that has failed to take climate
change seriously. As the warming trend has accelerated,
weather patterns have become more volatile and extreme.
Economic losses from natural disasters in 1999 alone
totaled approximately $100 billion -- more than the cost
of all such disasters in the 1980s.
We are in a race against
time. I don't want to sound like "chicken
little" nor do I want to "cry wolf." One
thing we have learned over the years is that
doom-and-gloom scenarios do not produce solutions.
Still, the inescapable
global reality is that we are plundering our children's
future. There have been some honorable exceptions.
Legally binding treaties
have been adopted covering climate change, biodiversity
and depletion of the ozone layer. Voluntary efforts by
valiant individuals and citizens groups have spread
public awareness.
But for the most part, our
responses have been too few and too little. And yet, the
debate languishes.
Let me give you an
example. This coming September, the world's leaders will
come to the United Nations in New York for the Millennium
Summit. I can guess what you are thinking: that this
summit will produce more hot air, and make global warming
even worse.
My concern is quite
different; I am not worried about there being too much
talk, but that on this subject there will be too little.
During the nearly 18 months of discussion in the General
Assembly about which subjects to include on the summit's
agenda, environmental concerns were hardly mentioned at
all.
Policy-makers seem to be
giving the environment frighteningly low priority.
Perhaps they are overwhelmed by other concerns. Perhaps
they are deliberately avoiding tough choices.
Perhaps they need to
listen to their own environment ministers. More than 100
of them just met in Sweden and agreed that we do have at
our disposal today the human and material resources we
need to achieve sustainable development.
Even so, all too often a
collective blindfold seems to descend on those in a
position to make a difference, obscuring the dangerous
path we are on. All too often, management of the
environment is viewed as a luxury, not a necessity. All
too often, the issue is framed as an intractable conflict
between economy and ecology, when in fact sustainable
development offers a road map for reconciling the two.
All too often, it is thought that safeguarding the
environment means giving up the fight against poverty or
setting aside other vital concerns.
But unless we find a way
to sustainably manage the environment, poverty will grow
more entrenched, and even peace may remain out of reach.
In many cases, we already
know what needs to be done. The Kyoto Protocol on climate
change can begin to control carbon emissions -- if it is
ratified and implemented, not least by the United States,
the world's largest producer of greenhouse gases. This
would be an enormous gift to the entire planet.
The idea of "green
accounting" is one whose time has come. Today, when
factories produce goods but in the process pump
pollutants into rivers or the atmosphere, national
accounts measure the value of the goods -- but not the
costs inflicted by the pollutants. Green accounting would
change this, and help enforce the "polluter
pays" principle.
We can provide more
funding for research into alternative energy sources such
as fuel cells. We can remove environmentally harmful
subsidies. We can improve the ability of governments
themselves to manage environmental issues.
This is just some of what
might be done now, based on current knowledge. And that
is where you come in. Yes, the world needs you to go down
the road and join the high-tech revolution and help
bridge the digital divide. Yes, the world needs you to
contribute and do your best, no matter what your chosen
field. But I would ask you all to consider what you can
do to help build a sustainable future for all this
planet's inhabitants in 50 or 100 years' time. Stanford
is renowned for its entrepreneurial spirit. Surely,
within this stadium, lies the potential for breakthroughs
that will take us beyond business as usual. Remember that
corporations have made lots of money polluting the
environment, but they can make much more cleaning it up.
That is the challenge I set for you -- the future
corporate leaders in our midst today.
The chemists and
biologists among you can provide sound information and
analysis to fill the knowledge gap. The business majors
among you can bring a stronger sense of global corporate
citizenship to the private sector. The teachers among you
can help promote public awareness. All of you, as
consumers, can help protect the environment through your
individual choices. And as citizens and voters, you can
put pressure on governments not only to reach
environmental agreements but also to enforce them.
Am I telling you to choose
a life of activism and engagement in public affairs? Yes,
I am! Your generation must improve upon my generation's
record. It will be up to you, ultimately, to build, and
to live by, the new ethic of global stewardship that is
so badly needed.
Fifty-five years ago,
world leaders gathered just down the road from here, in
San Francisco, for a crucially important conference at a
turning point in world affairs. They created a wonderful
machine, a versatile instrument for peace, justice and
human well-being. It falls to us -- the peoples and
nations of the world -- to make good on its promise.
The founders did not dwell
on the environmental threats. Back then, ecology was a
subject confined to biology. Back then, the word
cyberspace did not even appear in science fiction, and
the world's first computer had just been built. It filled
a large room, bristled with 18,000 electron tubes and had
to be rewired for each new task.
We know what changes have
occurred since then. Some of you may well be sending each
other e-mails with your Palm Pilots even as I speak!
Ours is a new world of
collapsing borders and connections among people. It can
be bewildering and intimidating. Some of you may be
apprehensive about moving out into it. But it is time for
you to blossom or take wing.
The great American poet
Robert Frost once wrote that "education is hanging
around until you've caught on." My friends, I have
no doubt that you have caught on -- to the nature of life
in the global village and to your own natures as well.
You have got a Stanford education, one of the greatest
gifts a young person in this world can have. Now take it
and make it work for all of us. Thank you very much, and
have a wonderful day. SR
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