Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2002-05-16-Speech-4-018"
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"en.20020516.1.4-018"2
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"Mr President, I would like to thank the two rapporteurs for their excellent reports which draw attention to the problems and the solutions. The environment, social and cultural issues, development and governance are, of course, all intrinsically connected. This is shown by the fact that despite some advances since the Rio Summit, man-made climate change is still unabated. Vital resources are being further depleted and the gap between rich and poor becomes ever wider.
So many opportunities were presented in Rio, and as Mr Papayannakis' report states, so many expectations were raised with the Kyoto Protocol, the Cartagena Protocol and so on, but they failed to progress. It is not really any surprise that so many NGOs are already predicting negative outcomes for Johannesburg. But people expect us in the European Union to take a lead on these issues and we cannot shirk that responsibility. In another ten years, people will be asking what action we took in 2002 to address and to reverse the lack of progress in the past ten years.
Other colleagues have made very many important points relating to the summit. I would like to draw attention to one other aspect and that is the need to look at diversity in its widest sense, including the cultural aspects.
The future needs sustainable communities in the true definition of that concept. Today, about half of the 6 000 or so languages spoken in different parts of the world are under threat: that means that 3 000 languages are either seriously endangered or are dying. The need to protect and enhance the diversity of cultures in the world becomes even more urgent in the face of increasing globalisation. We need to ensure that an artificial polarisation between the needs of the environment and the needs of people is not allowed to develop any further.
So I welcome the positive and the constructive comments of the rapporteurs, as Mr Lannoye said, "this is a major challenge and we need to take a radical new approach"."@en1
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