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Prof. Klaus Toepfer, former Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and Germany’s former Federal Minister of the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety gave the keynote address at the 10th anniversary meeting of the Bellagio Forum which took place from April 27-29th in Bellagio, Italy on the shores of Lake Como. 
Opening the second day of the meeting on April 28th, Toepfer implored 60 members and guests to consider the way the world would look in 50 years given current trends. He expressed his concern about the current trade-offs of immediate GDP growth for environmental integrity, especially in the growing giants of China and India. “China’s GDP,” said Toepfer, “may well be overestimated when one accounts for the enourmous depletion of their environmental capital”. Toepfer reflected on how the debate and perceptions about the role of sustainable development and environmental services had changed over the past several decades. In an anecdote regarding a conversation with an African leader about the relative merits of building a damn, or restoring wetlands in Topfer made the point that, “what was needed was not more water for the environment, but rather more environment for water.” Turning to some of the philosophical tenets of the very practical requirements for implementation, Prof. Toepfer took inspiration from to Immanuel Kant’s Categorical Imperative - Act only according to that maxim by which you can at the same time will that it would become a universal law. Toepfer related this to the role that individuals and organizations must play, “The role of a foundation is a reflection of a certain understanding in society.” He noted that nations with very large public sectors, especially former communist countries, have few if any foundations. Those nations which are more focused on individual freedoms tend to have a greater number of foundations. With a specific focus on sustainable development, He then found agreement with the ‘new categorical imperative’ postulated by Han Jonas to “Act so that the effects of your action are compatible with the permanence of genuine human life.” Which, in effect, means that the common ‘good’ is preserved through the wisdom and moderation of the present, the present policies of preservation, which have been found to hold value carried forward for future generations. “I believe”, said Toepfer, “we are [at the point of] change where sustainable development is, without any doubt, understood as the necessary basis for economic development. You cannot fight poverty with out. It is not an add on . . . it is the most important interest of poor people.” Reinforcing the message of fellow keynote speaker, Mary Robinson, Toepfer touched on the absolute necessity of including humans rights in the sustainable development equation. An environment in which there is clean air to breath and safe water to drink are human rights. They are no more or less, than freedom to speak and worship as well as the other universally recognized rights. “Human rights are unquestionable beneficial to us all,” said Toepfer. It is tremendously important that we understand the correlation and overlap between the sustainable development and human rights community. |
