| Key messages: 1. The successful 2012 IUCN World Conservation Forum in Jeju set a high standard for cooperation on nature conservation and brought forth many important initiatives. 2. As this gathering of the World Leaders’ Conservation Forum demonstrates, the IUCN World Conservation Congress does not end when the doors are closed and delegates fly home. 3. Human progress and nature conservation are complementary, and our actions must reflect this. We are gathered here because there is a short window of opportunity to ensure that the two thrive together, not consume each other. |
1. The 2012 IUCN World Conservation Congress in Jeju set a high standard for cooperation on nature conservation and brought forth many important initiatives.
I am delighted to be in the Republic of Korea today and at this important event. I would like to express my appreciation of the country’s remarkable contribution to sustainable development during the last decade.
In the six months that I have been at IUCN, I have heard frequently, and everywhere, excellent references to the success of the 2012 IUCN World conservation Congress.
So I am especially pleased to be here on Jeju Island, host to the 2012 IUCN Congress. The Republic of Korea and Jeju Province showed exemplary leadership in hosting the Congress, which gave birth to this Forum. Both continue to be a leading light in the global sustainability movement.
The 2012 Congress wasan outstanding event. Some 10,000 people from 157 countries attended. The Forum boasted more than 550 sessions and 60 side events. With over 100 business representatives, the private sector’s participation was unprecedented for an IUCN Congress.
And of course, the Jeju Declaration, which gave birth to this Forum, was signed at the Congress.
Indeed, the bar is set high for Hawai‘i.
2. As this gathering of the World Leaders’ Conservation Forum demonstrates, the IUCN World Conservation Congress does not end when the doors are closed and delegates fly home.
The IUCN Wold Conservation Congress is in no way a stand-alone event. Rather, it is a milestone on an ongoing journey. It is a place to gather thoughts and ideas, as well as people, to replenish and to check our direction. It is an event that boosts our momentum and pushes us with ever greater force towards our goal of a just world that values and conserves nature.
Today, I am honoured to be in the company of so many distinguished conservation leaders. What more evidence do we need of the success of the 2012 IUCN World Conservation Congress, and the momentum it built, than this meeting of the World Leaders’ Forum?
3. Human progress and nature are complementary, and our actions must reflect this. We are gathered here because there is a short window of opportunity to ensure that the two thrive together, not consume each other.
The theme under which we gather for these three days is “Nature: a path to peace and coexistence.”
For the next few days, we will be talking about how to place nature conservation at the foundation of sustainable development; how to promote co-existence between humans and nature; how to build resilient ecosystems that can continue to support us.
We know that nature conservation and human progress are not a zero-sum proposition but, rather, partners that can bolster one another. There are credible and accessible political, economic, and technological approaches that can promote general welfare in ways that support and even enhance our planet’s natural assets.
But our planet is at a crossroads and we have a limited window of opportunity in which to act to ensure this peace and coexistence.
Global sustainability must combine economic prosperity, environmental health and social justice. To achieve this, we need new partnerships between governments, NGOs, scientists, consumers, producers, planners, entrepreneurs, indigenous organisations, financial backers, and more.
We need a place where the diverse interests of government, civil society and business can come together around the same table to thrash out contentious issues openly and objectively, where all those affected by the issue can have a say in the decisions. This is exactly what the events like the World Leaders’ Forum and IUCN Congress offer.
Each of us here has a duty to do all in our power to mobilise the knowledge, the tools, the resources and above all, the political will to change humanity’s trajectory.
Let’s together make these a very successful three days.