DRAFT
UNITED NATIONS EDUCATIONAL,
SCIENTIFIC AND CULTURAL ORGANIZATION
World Summit on Sustainable Development
Address by
Mr Koïchiro Matsuura
Director-General
of the United Nations Educational,
Scientific and Cultural Organization
(UNESCO)
at the WSSD High Level Event :
“Uniting for the Oceans: Oceans, People and Stewardship”
Johannesburg, Water Dome, 2 September 2002 ,7.00 p.m.
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Ladies and Gentlemen,
I am pleased to have this opportunity to address you today. The
notion of an ‘Ocean Agenda’ is one which UNESCO, through its
Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC), has long been
promoting, and we have actively sought to bring together a coalition
of organizations in support of the ocean.
The importance of the ocean is paramount for all human beings
and, indeed, all living things. The ocean has played an essential role
in establishing the basis of the life-support system on Earth and it is
responsible for maintaining its long-term stability. Without the ocean,
in fact, there would no be life on the planet.
Through its ceaseless striving for development, humankind’s
ever-increasing use of natural resources is having such an impact on
the environment that it is affecting the very stability of the Earth’s
life-support system. This situation is unprecedented in human history.
Climate change is perhaps the best known of these effects but it
is not the only one. This year, the world is witnessing a series of
climatic “extreme events”, including floods and droughts affecting
Europe, Asia and North America. Extreme events are increasing in
frequency, an effect clearly related to global warming. It has been
forecast that an El Niño event, another type of extreme event, may
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develop and mature towards the end of the year. Summer floods in
northern Europe and increased rainfall at mid-latitudes may also be
precursor signals of the coming El Niño. The fact that we still are
uncertain points toward the limitations of our current understanding of
these complex phenomena, and to the insufficiency of our networks of
instruments observing the ocean today. We and our partners have
recognized that improved monitoring of the oceans is imperative if an
effective and benevolent stewardship of the oceans is to be achieved.
Through the IOC, UNESCO has a mandate as the UN focal
point for ocean science and ocean services.
UNESCO, in close
collaboration with WMO, UNEP, ICSU and many other partners, has
been endeavouring to build the Global Ocean Observing System
(GOOS). To illustrate the importance of strengthening this vital datagathering system, let me refer again to the El Niño phenomenon.
When an El Niño event starts, the first unequivocal signal is detected
under the surface of the ocean, specifically in the western equatorial
Pacific Ocean. This signal is picked up by a set of 70 buoys, anchored
to the sea-bed, truly an archipelago of small artificial floating islands
in the tropical Pacific. This array of buoys forms part of the Global
Ocean Observing System coordinated by IOC.
Gathering crucial information is one thing, disseminating it is
another. To bring the power of science and technology to bear on
promoting the sustainable development of oceans, coasts and islands,
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it is essential that the results of science are made widely available to
governments and to the different segments of society.
Recent scientific reports have been able to document that manmade disturbances of ocean ecosystems began in pre-historic times,
when our ancestors started to hunt and fish for the first time.
Agriculture, another key cultural achievement of humankind, is
responsible for the extensive transformation of the Earth’s landscape
that we see around us today. Ice ages and other climatic variations of
the past subjected the human species to severe demographic stress that
brought it to the brink of extinction. The ability of humankind to go
through these adverse periods is imprinted in our genetic code and
also contained in the traditional knowledge handed down and
transmitted through the world’s diverse cultures.
In these difficult times, when peace and human security are
menaced not only by climate change but also by poverty, other
inequities and a new wave of intolerance, science stands as one of
humanity’s richest cultural traditions. Through its ability to shed light
upon our common concerns and our uncertain path to the future,
science can help us to grapple with complex, long-term problems
which defy easy or rapid solution.
As a knowledge system, modern science is a product of
distinctive cultural processes. In this perspective, it is wrong to place
culture on one side of UNESCO’s mission and to situate the
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promotion and development of scientific knowledge and capacitybuilding on the other.
We believe that these are complementary
approaches to sustainability and should not be considered as mutually
exclusive.
To this end, and in the perspective of our long cultural evolution,
we must draw upon traditional knowledge and diverse cultural
understandings as well as scientific programmes.
Consequently,
UNESCO wishes to contribute to the sustainability of the oceans in
the framework of all of its programmes, not only in terms of science.
By addressing the sustainability of the oceans in this multi-faceted
way, UNESCO will seek to show that the oceans are vitally implicated
in many dimensions of our search for peace, security and development.
Thank you.