"Our children will thank us for it"
Article by Chancellor Gerhard Schröder on the UN summit in Johannesburg

(Translation)

The participants in the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg bear a tremendous responsibility: safeguarding our planet's future.

The devastating floods in Europe, as well as the flood disaster in China, are not just terrible forces of nature which, quite literally overnight, cost lives, wiped out livelihoods and wrecked the reconstruction of entire towns. They are also indicators or, rather, glaring warning signals from nature to the people who inhabit this planet and have to ensure that it remains worth living in.

Before we become absorbed in a debate among experts on the actual extent to which humanity is responsible for these disasters – due to global warming, the straightening of rivers or the concreting over of natural areas - we should remember that we only have this one planet: our survival, as well as that of our children and grandchildren, will depend on how carefully we treat its finite resources; how successful we are in safeguarding and equitably distributing the natural bases of life for everyone, as well as earth's riches and development chances; how we ensure that our common environment remains viable and habitable. In short, how we can bring the right to development and prosperity into accord with our responsibility to overcome hunger and to preserve earth for ourselves and our children.

These ideas were the focus of the Rio Earth Summit ten years ago. At that time, the participating states agreed on ambitious goals: the vision of a world beyond war and conflicts, poverty and environmental destruction, seemed to have moved closer following the end of the Cold War and bloc confrontation.

Ten years later, the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg is about much more than taking stock and examining together how far we have advanced along the path we agreed and embarked upon then. There is no question that we must do that; the Rio goals have lost none of their urgency.

However, new challenges have arisen and known risks have grown into acute dangers. Individual and collective security has become a valuable commodity – threatened by regional conflicts, crime, terrorism, epidemics and global environmental risks. What we have achieved on the one hand – for example the Europe-wide decontamination of the River Elbe – was washed away within a few days by the floods. Impressive progress in the field of environmental protection in the industrialized countries, as well as in the development of individual economies in the newly industrialized countries, are counterbalanced by sobering setbacks: global climate changes have become a tangible reality for many people; poverty has continued to increase worldwide – more than two billion people, almost half of humanity, lives off less than two euro per day, while one and a half billion men, women and children never drink a glass of clean water.

The shock of the attacks of 11 September 2001 made governments and societies all over the world move closer together in order to stand up to the threat of terrorism. At the same time, however, it has become clear that peace and security cannot be achieved and maintained with military and police resources alone. Even if there is no direct link between a globalized economy and international terrorism, there can be no global security without an agenda for global equity.

We need a new concept of security which encompasses economic, ecological and social aspects. We are working on this and in Johannesburg we will have to map out a course for this, too.

Naturally, globalization has become the defining feature of our world economy. However, it is not a phenomenon of nature on which we have no influence but, rather, a network of economic, trading and communications ties which we must shape politically.

We must therefore elaborate rules and codes of conduct which will help us to ensure that the greatest possible number of people can share in the unquestionable advantages of globalization and that undesirable developments for us and future generations are averted. The markets cannot achieve this on their own.

We know, for example, that people's prosperity has not sunk but, on the contrary, has risen in those countries which are completely open to world trade. Those who summarily dismiss the opening up of world markets are not helping developing countries but, rather, are blocking their way out of poverty. "Trade is aid" has proved to be a good maxim of development policy – fair trade, mark you.

However, this means that the prosperous countries of the developed world bear a special responsibility. The industrialized nations must truly open up their markets to products from developing countries – even when, at first sight, it would be detrimental to their own privileges, for instance the agricultural subsidies in the USA and Europe. In the long term, we will all be able to benefit from truly open markets.

Eliminating, or at least greatly reducing, the gap between rich and poor in the world, is also in the best interests of a country such as Germany which lives more than other countries from the export of its goods and services. We want to expand and foster trade and exchange with the world's less developed countries. Protective tariffs and other trade barriers have no place in this day and age.

On the other hand, national strategies, for example on reducing greenhouse gases, are of limited use. If only a few countries fulfil the goals we have set together while the release of carbon dioxide continues to rise steadily worldwide, the result will remain disastrous: global warming simply does not stop at national borders.

Nevertheless, Germany will remain a trailblazer in climate protection. However, we urge the other member states of the United Nations to do everything they can to join us in ratifying the Kyoto Protocol as quickly as possible and in reaching the targets laid down in it. In particular, I call upon the United States of America to live up to its responsibility for climate protection and to make a contribution of equal value to reducing greenhouse gases. It remains our intention to encourage the United States in a second step to participate fully once more in the international agreements on climate protection.

This applies in particular to the continued increase in energy efficiency. Germany is already top of the league among industrialized countries in this field. Improved efficiency in power stations, a reduction in waste, clean-exhaust vehicles on our roads and appliances which use considerably less energy than in our parents' age are investments in our children's future. Not only because we are phasing out obsolete forms of energy such as nuclear energy, whose risks represent an irresponsible burden for many generations, but also because, in their place, we are developing new, renewable sources of energy which not only save considerable costs but will also lend a boost to industrial innovation. Even today, it is foreseeable that new energy technology in the industrialized countries could create an abundance of new jobs.

I am convinced that in future resource and energy efficiency will become a trademark of market economies with lasting success. We are thus also setting an example for countries with a less developed economy: a sustainable energy policy allows us to combine saving natural resources with successful economic development.

We know that the developing countries cannot carry out such an ambitious energy program by their own efforts. Together with other European states, we are therefore providing funding for a replenishment of the central mechanism for global environmental protection.

With an additional 2.7 billion dollars, the European states want to ensure that the developing countries receive the means they need to develop a sustainable energy supply.

What is more, I will be putting forward three concrete proposals in Johannesburg on how we can advance the use of renewable energies worldwide. First of all, taking the successful International Conference on Freshwater held in Bonn as a model, Germany will be hosting an international conference on renewable energies. Its aim will be to develop an international strategy on promoting these forms of energy. Secondly, I will propose that a UN organization be given a clear mandate to help developing countries in particular develop an energy supply which protects the climate and conserves resources. Renewable sources of energy should be one focus of this. Thirdly, Germany will form strategic partnerships with developing and newly industrialized countries and conclude concrete targets in keeping with conditions in the partner country in question which we intend to achieve together. As well as developing renewable sources of energy, our task will be to modernize existing power stations and to identify areas where energy can be saved.

These proposals fit in seamlessly with our National Strategy for Sustainable Development which I will also be presenting in Johannesburg – not as a model which must be copied but as a possible path to growth which can offer others orientation. Our strategy is based on four guiding principles:

Equity among generations: We want to shape our economic activities in such a way that the justified interests of our children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren accord with the needs of today's generation. We therefore intend to reduce our national debt in order to safeguard the coming generation's scope for action. At the same time, we want to ensure that the natural bases of life are preserved by using natural resources with care.

Quality of life: This goal is about much more than preserving an intact nature and countryside. Satisfying work, good health and adequate housing are as much a part of this as personal and social security. The best possible vocational training, attractive and safe cities with a vibrant cultural scene, as well as the fostering of people and their diverse talents to enable them to shape their own lives in their families and surroundings are what makes an environment worth living in. We are therefore in favor of the principle of an active, indeed of a proactive state.

Cohesion within our society: The rapid structural changes in our economy with all its consequences for jobs and the necessary adjustment to changed circumstances are regarded with fear by many people. Social reforms which both challenge and encourage people to take part in society will prevent a rift emerging between winners and losers.

International responsibility: Our future development is embedded in a European and international context. We know that no nation in the world can guarantee the welfare and security of its citizens on its own.

The same goes for the conservation of the resources on which life depends. During the ten years since Rio, the European Union has assumed an exemplary role in reconciling the interests of the industrialized states and those of the developing countries. We will continue to support the United Nations in its goals as we have done in the past and will strongly back its programs. And I expressly welcome the fact that the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund have recognized the sign of the times and have linked their assistance less to dogmatic ideas relating to market liberalization and more to the goals of sustainable development.

Admittedly, in view of the considerable material and technical resources which such a summit requires, many people are wondering whether we are not wasting time, energy and material in Johannesburg in the name of saving resources. I would like to respond by saying that it would be so if we did not take advantage of our opportunities to share learning processes with one another and to achieve effective and visible progress. We have another task. Today humanity has the knowledge, wealth, technical possibilities, as well as the joint sense of responsibility, to solve our planet's problems. We must assume this responsibility – our children will thank us for it.

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