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IUCN 50th Anniversary Celebrations Fontainebleau, France 3 November 1998 Monsieur le Président de la République, Madame la présidente de l’IUCN, Excellences, merci beaucoups pour vos contributions importantes a notre reunion ce matin, Mesdames et messieurs, Je suis très heureuse de me joindre a vous pour marquer le cinquantième anniversaire de l’établissement de "l’union mondiale pour la nature ". En cette occasion historique, je vous transmets les chaleuresues félicitations d’un leader dont le soutien continu au mouvement écologiste est à l’origine du rôle précurseur de la jordanie dans notre région en matière de protection de l’environnement. Grâce à dieu, sa majesté réagit très bien au traitement qu’il poursuit aux états-unis, et c’est pourquoi je peux etre avec vous aujourd’hui tranquille et sans inquietude. Ladies and gentlemen, Fifty years ago, when in this magnificent setting, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) was born, it was then a very different world. Much of the globe was recovering from the worst conflict in human history, and many countries were still under colonial rule, suffering unrestrained economic and environmental exploitation of their natural resources. Environmental protection was essentially the vision of a few scientists and activists in the industrialized north; in most of the global south, wrestling with poverty and struggling to progress, the concept was not yet even a dream. The world over, ecology, nature conservation and sustainable development were largely unknown. Yet here in Fontainebleau, 50 years ago, the founders of IUCN had already seen the future. They had recognised the need to mobilise the world community to protect our living planet as the ultimate safeguard for our societies, our economies – our very survival. They had realised that conservation could not be a matter for governments alone: to be effective on the ground it needed the vital partnership of the non-governmental sector. This, in the context of the world at the time, was a revolutionary concept. Today we pay tribute to their vision . Not only because of their remarkable foresight in recognising the critical importance of nature conservation, but also because their persistence over the following decades expanded this concept into a global movement with over 25 million "members of members". IUCN has pioneered many fundamental elements of global nature conservation, from technical studies to capacity-building for NGOs to political coordination among states and civil society groups. But two IUCN concepts in particular now form the heart of environmental protection and economic development strategies in many countries: first, the idea that people cannot be denied access to the resources of their regions; their use is not only inevitable but also legitimate- so long as it is ecologically sound. And second, that conservation and development are inextricably linked. The synthesis of these two principles has yielded key developments in conservation, such as environmentally sustainable economic growth; and debt-for-nature swaps, whereby developing countries reduce their foreign debt burdens while also protecting their environments and stimulating new development. Perhaps IUCN’s most influential efforts have revolved around its pioneering World Conservation Strategy of 1980 - a bold and innovative approach to fuse economic development and environmental protection into a single dynamic. Jordan was among the many developing countries that benefited from IUCN’s technical assistance first in developing our national reserve networks in 1970s and later in formulating a long-term national environmental strategy in 1991 - the first in the Middle East. Our experience was a catalyst for establishing other programs among the Arab states and helped to promote the coordinated monitoring of regional environmental trends. Nature conservation as a route to national socio-economic development is proving effective throughout our country and in many others. At nature reserves in Dana and Wadi rum, in south Jordan, for example, conservation efforts have been linked with tourism and revitalized local production to increase employment and income. Once the inhabitants enjoy a better quality of life, they have a greater vested interest in preserving the natural beauty and bio-diversity of the reserve areas. Here, non-governmental organizations are taking the lead in protecting nature and promoting human development. Setting these local experiences in the context of what we’ve learned in IUCN’s first half- century provides a better understanding of the linkages between the environment and poverty. During their post-colonial burst of economic experimentation, most newly independent countries had neither the awareness nor the opportunity to focus on the early warning signals of environmental distress. By the 1980s, most of the developing south was suffering from a set of highly destructive symptoms – exhausted land and water resources, large-scale rural-to-urban flight, the birth of mega-cities, and fraying of the social fabric – a syndrome of national ills caused by and aggravating a stressed environment. For many nations today, security concerns center less on boundaries and external military might than on increasing conflicts stemming from poverty, displaced peoples, economic instability and competition over shared resources. These conflicts are major issues and all of them are environment related. These links between environment and security are all too apparent in the middle east. Water and arable land shortages, in particular, cause increasingly tense and sometimes violent confrontations among states, as well as within them. Although it would be too simplistic to view regional conflicts in the Middle East, essentially as conflicts over natural resources as some have suggested, there is little doubt that control over water and other natural resources is a key element in the search for regional peace. And even though the environment today is a cause of political tension around the globe and will very likely become a substantial source of conflict in the years ahead, there is also evidence that the equitable resolution of resource disputes can help promote wider peace among nations. The sharing of water in fact was a cornerstone of the 1994 Jordan/Israel peace accord; and last week both countries inaugurated a joint project to increase the captured flow of natural runoff from the Yarmouk river - the same place where decades ago Jordanian and Israeli troops exchanged gunfire over that very same water source. Just as our conservation programs have provided a model for others in the Middle East, we hope that this approach will also serve as a compelling example in our region, and globally. The potential seriousness of such conflicts over resources has prompted IUCN to launch a global initiative on environment and security, to begin in 1999. This initiative will help illuminate the causes of tension and conflict, and identify how resource degradation leads to wider national distress. It will also explore how jointly protecting and sharing natural resources can promote social stability, economic growth and peaceful coexistence. The links between environment and security may emerge as a new unifying theme around which IUCN activities would revolve, increasing the coherence and cost-effectiveness of IUCN activities, while also promoting greater coordination among the local, national, regional and global actions of IUCN's many members. The initiative also offers the promise of a new way of making the conservation of nature relevant to the lives of a wider public. By linking it to the social and economic security of people, and ultimately to a reduction in human suffering, it will hopefully be possible to gain greater grass-roots support for what, until now, has been perceived in many places as a largely elitist concern. What does this emerging reality mean for IUCN and its many partners around the world? I see this as a moment for both celebration and reflection, both hope and vigilance. We can justly applaud IUCN’s scientific, social and political achievements, but at the same time, we will use this occasion to analyze our successes and failures in those areas where our actions, however dynamic, have been less than effective or sustainable. We need to ask some serious questions. And also, we need to know the best balance to strike between heightening public awareness through the media and education, and influencing political decision-makers who control legislation and the public purse. We need to know how to address multinational corporations in their own terms, to persuade them that ecological preservation is more sustainably and fiscally sound? Our world has never before faced such serious ecological threats; but, thanks in a good part to IUCN’s global network of partners, it has also never before enjoyed such a vast range of expert knowledge on the challenges facing our natural environment; nor such extensive political activism for the sake of protecting that environment. Half a century ago, in this room, IUCN’s founders made a pledge to protect our earth. We reaffirm that pledge today, determined to learn from our past experience and to become more effective in our future activism. The problems we face are serious, but solvable – if we act now. We can bequeath to our children’s children a world of abundant resources, rich diversity and natural beauty. We are gathered here this week to rededicate ourselves to fulfill that dream. |
