聯合國專家：只有永續發展能創造「韌性」的地球

A panel of current and former heads of government, ministers and lawmakers Monday launched a plan for world leaders to propel an "ever-green" energy revolution that could wean the world off fossil fuels, when they meet in Brazil later this year.

The report of the High-level Panel on Global Sustainability links the United Nations' goals of reducing poverty and inequality to promoting the use of wind, solar and other renewable energy sources to power the economies of rich and poor nations alike.

The report, "Resilient People, Resilient Planet: A Future Worth Choosing," contains 56 recommendations to put sustainable development into practice quickly, moving it from a general concept to the core of mainstream economics.

The report says governments and international organizations "should work to create a new green revolution, an 'ever-green revolution' for the 21st century" by spending more on agricultural research, protecting imperiled plant and animal species, conserving land and water and fighting pollution.

It urges creation of regional oceans and coastal management bodies that protect world fisheries, which supply 170 million jobs and daily protein for about one in five people on the planet.

The panel advises governments to "enable young people's participation in and influence on decision-making processes at the local, national and international levels. In addition, consultation processes and dialogue should be encouraged to incorporate voices from non-conventional networks and youth communities, such as Internet forums and opinion-making blogs."

The report of the High-level Panel contributes to preparations for the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) in Brazil June 20-22, 2012.

Rio+20 will focus on two themes - a green economy in the context of sustainable development and poverty eradication; and the institutional framework for sustainable development. It will result in a focused political document.

This conference comes 20 years after the landmark Earth Summit in Rio in 1992 that attracted more than 100 heads of state and government and energized the global environmental movement, leading to the adoption of Agenda 21, a blueprint for action to achieve sustainable development worldwide. It was there that the world first agreed to accept voluntary controls on greenhouse gases under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.

But the High-level Panel warns in its new report that the world has not yet solved the "sustainable development dilemma."

"As the global population grows from 7 billion to almost 9 billion by 2040, and the number of middle-class consumers increases by 3 billion over the next 20 years, the demand for resources will rise exponentially," the panel writes.

"By 2030, the world will need at least 50 per cent more food, 45 per cent more energy and 30 per cent more water - all at a time when environmental boundaries are throwing up new limits to supply. This is true not least for climate change, which affects all aspects of human and planetary health."

One of the panel's most urgent recommendations is to create "a new nexus between food, water and energy rather than treating them in different 'silos.' All three need to be fully integrated, not treated separately if we are to deal with the global food security crisis."

The panel urges governments to "establish price signals that value sustainability to guide the consumption and investment decisions of households, businesses and the public sector."

Among these signals, the panel recommends that governments:

Establish natural resource and externality pricing instruments, including carbon pricing, through mechanisms such as taxation, regulation or emissions trading systems, by 2020

Reform national fiscal and credit systems to provide long-term incentives for sustainable practices, as well as disincentives for unsustainable behaviour

Develop and expand national and international schemes for payments for ecosystem services in such areas as water use, farming, fisheries and forestry systems

Phase out fossil fuel subsidies and reduce other "perverse or trade-distorting subsidies" by 2020. Among its 56 recommendations, the panel endorses the Secretary-General Ban's "Sustainable Energy for All" initiative, which it says should be implemented "without delay."

In its report, the panel notes that, "Recent years have seen renewable energy's share of power, heat and transport grow strongly, with renewables accounting for an estimated 16 per cent of global final energy consumption. Renewable energy accounted for about 50 per cent of total added power-generating capacity in 2010."

"Progress has been especially marked in the electricity sector," the panel said, "where renewables delivered close to 20 per cent of the world's electricity in 2010."

The panel's report underscores the importance of science as an essential guide for decision making on sustainability issues. It calls on the secretary-general to lead efforts to produce a regular Global Sustainable Development Outlook report that integrates knowledge across sectors and institutions, and to consider creating a science advisory board or scientific advisor.

Overall, the panel recommends that nations fully integrate the social and environmental costs of their commerce into the prices and measures of their economic goods and services.