By Kemal Dervis
Tuesday was World Environment Day - an observance that must be
more than a 24-hour, once-a-year event.
We need to take stock of the condition of the natural world,
with its singular importance in the lives and livelihoods of all
people, at every stage of development. Protecting the environment,
our common resource and responsibility, is one of the UN's most
important concerns.
Through the mutually reinforcing work of the United Nations
Development Program (UNDP), the UN Environment Program, the Food
and Agriculture Organization, the spectrum of environmental
conventions as well as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change and other UN entities, the United Nations works to protect
the environment, ensure sustainable use of its wealth, and support
countries addressing environmental challenges.
For many, this year's World Environment Day with its focus on
melting polar ice carries particular significance. Now there is
broad international scientific consensus that climate change is
happening and that greenhouse gas emissions resulting from human
activity are probably the dominant cause.
We see the immediate effects of climate change not just in the
far northern reaches of the planet but also in developing
countries. They are the nations least responsible for global
warming and least equipped to cope with its devastating
consequences. They are the most vulnerable to more extreme weather,
drought, flooding, disruption and destruction of plant and animal
species, and the spread of vector-borne diseases.
Indeed, for many of the world's poorest, climate change is a
life-and-death matter. It is both a major environmental challenge
and one of the greatest threats to human development.
How we as a global community adapt to it, mitigate its advance,
and account for its risks in development strategies will be a
critical factor in making development progress. Our actions are key
to achieving the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
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Despite these challenges, there are some grounds for optimism. The
worldwide realization that we cannot afford to wait any longer to
respond to climate change sets the stage for coordinated action. In
Berlin, UNDP is highlighting two areas where it is already taking
steps to support developing countries in addressing climate change
and other environmental challenges.
The first is in the conservation and sustainable use of
biodiversity. Biodiversity is an essential resource not only in
responding to climate change but also in reducing poverty.
Environments that are richly diverse in plant and animal life
provide communities with a range of options with which to sustain
livelihoods. Sensitive and highly biodiverse ecosystems, such as
forests, bogs and coral reefs, contain massive carbon reservoirs
that contribute to regulating the global climate.
We honor the winners of this year's Equator Prize, which rewards
local communities for their work in helping reduce poverty through
the sound management of biodiversity.
We take this opportunity to remind leaders at the G8 Summit
meeting in Helilgendamm, Germany that protecting biodiversity is
vital in any response to the changes affecting our planet,
especially for the poorest people.
The second area we are highlighting is the tremendous untapped
resource carbon finance represents for developing countries. While
the financial benefits of the rapidly expanding, billion-dollar
international market for carbon credits has rewarded some, many
more have missed out.
We are launching the UNDP MDG Carbon Facility's new partnership
with a major financial institution. This facility aims to deliver
more of the benefits of the carbon market to a larger share of the
world's population through projects that promote long-term
sustainable development.
Through these and others activities, UNDP reaffirms its
commitment to working in partnership with others to help protect
the global environment and promote sustainable human development
for all.
The author is Statement Administrator of the UNDP.
(China Daily June 6, 2007)
