SPEECH BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC AT THE EU-LATIN AMERICAN COUNTRIES SUMMIT IN RIO DE JANEIRO ON 28-29.6.1999

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT - ENVIRONMENTAL STRATEGIES AND POLICIES

The UN Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro in 1992 produced the Rio Declaration and Agenda 21, an action programme for sustainable development. The aim in both of these documents is to make sustainable development an integral dimension of various sectors and functions of society and economic endeavour. This is to be done on every level. The fact that the EU-Latin America summit is taking place in the same city as the Earth Summit seven years ago obliges us all to assess how well we have met the ambitious goals that we set ourselves then.

The 1997 Treaty of Amsterdam enshrines sustainable development as one of the European Union’s main goals. The principle that environmental protection and sustainable development should permeate our every action presents all member states with major challenges.

I am, however, convinced that citizens expect political decision-makers to take determined action to ensure that development is economically, socially and ecologically sustainable. This will be an important goal for Finland also during our Presidency of the EU, which we shall be assuming in a couple of days’ time.

In June 1998 the Government of Finland adopted a decision-in-principle to promote ecological sustainability. This was the first programme of its kind to be approved at cabinet level. It stakes out the basic policy lines to be followed in creating the economic, social and cultural conditions that are necessary to ensure ecological sustainability.

Ecological sustainability can be guaranteed only by maintaining the ability of ecosystems to function and ensuring that, over the long term, economic policies and other human activities are attuned to the carrying capacity of the environment. Through our efforts to combat the effects of climate change, preserve biodiversity and prevent the spread of deserts we can build a global foundation on which to ensure that also future generations will enjoy the conditions essential for life.

The UN Global Climate Change Treaty and the Kyoto Protocol that complements it have the fundamental aim of stabilising concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere at a level that will prevent detrimental effects on the global climate system. They initially require the industrial countries to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases and enhance sinks that remove these gases from the atmosphere. As time goes on, they should be able to achieve a further lowering of emissions to considerably below present levels. The EU is aiming to achieve a long-term international strategy to reduce emissions. We have been very pleased to note the responsible, cooperation-oriented role that the Latin American countries - such as Argentina, Brazil and Mexico, to mention only a few - have played in the development of a world-wide climate policy. That is something that can be achieved only by combining our efforts in a spirit of solidarity. For its part, the EU is making a determined effort to help bring about implementation of the Buenos Aires Action Plan, thereby meeting the preconditions for ratification of the Kyoto Protocol.

As a source of renewable fuel and environment-friendly raw materials, forests offer a significant share of the world’s population an economic, social and cultural growth substrate. They are also of crucial importance in maintaining the planet’s ecological balance. By binding and storing carbon dioxide, they act as a brake on climate change. They are a vast reservoir of species diversity. They prevent the spread of deserts and erosion in areas threatened by drought. If ecological sustainability is to be achieved, sustainable forestry is essential and global cooperation to bring this about will have to be continued and deepened. That is why the EU has taken the view that a binding framework for the ongoing intergovernmental dialogue must be guaranteed. Such a framework would also ensure implementation on the highest level of the measures confirmed at the follow-up conference in Rio in 1997.

The biggest challenges that we must overcome in our efforts to promote sustainable development relate to the adoption of new production methods and consumption habits. The goal is a balanced and constant rise in standards of living, one that does not depend on over-exploitation of natural resources nor non-renewable sources of energy. A reorientation of production and consumption towards products whose impacts on the environment are as low as possible throughout their life cycle will ensure that natural resources can be exploited indefinitely. It will also maximise the benefits derived from these resources in a way that is good for the whole planet.

Prospects for sustainable development depend on society and the communities and individuals of which it consists. No efforts to promote ecological sustainability or to realign production methods and consumption habits can succeed unless they meet two requirements: they must gain the support of people and establish themselves as part of the way we do things and as a component of our society’s system of values. The private sector also has its share of responsibility and its role in promoting the goals of sustainable development.

Sustainable development has been promoted in several sectors since the Rio conference. National and regional environmental administrations have been created and strengthened, and several forms of international cooperation have been developed to help us deal with the challenges we face. Strengthening the capacity of developing countries to manage ecological affairs is one of the most challenging goals in the European Union’s development cooperation work as we make the transition to the 21^st century.

Promoting sustainable development is a common challenge for the whole world, but the means, the contents of policies and the way these policies are applied vary from country to country. In developing countries the essential question concerns possibilities of economic growth and raising standards of living. What is expected of the industrial countries is that they bring the principles of sustainable development into the mainstream and integrate various segments of politics to promote implementation of these principles. Through local, regional and international cooperation we can build a world with benefits that also posterity will be able to enjoy.