Klaus Toepfer
Klaus Toepfer
Klaus Töpferis a German politicianand environmental politics expert. From 1998 to 2006 he was executive director of the United Nations Environment Programme...
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One area that the IOC might wish review is the issue of recycling of sporting infrastructure. Take bobsleigh for example. TOROC did a great job to try and mitigate its environmental impact. But the fact remains that constructing, operating and maintaining what is effectively a huge fridge in the mountains raises many fundamental questions of sustainability.
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There are encouraging examples of ecosystems being managed for the long-term to create wealth for poor communities, but there is still a huge job to do. Natural resources can be properly used to greatly reduce poverty. The time has come to reverse the course of worsening diseases, depleted natural resources, political instability, inequality, and the social corrosion of angry generations that have no means to rise out of poverty.
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You only have to look at the tropical forests, home to the great apes. Economists now calculate that they are worth US$60 billion a year as a result of their ability to remove and store global warming gases from the atmosphere alone,
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It is a moral issue of the highest importance. By conserving the habitats of the great apes, we are helping to overcome poverty and to conserve the natural wealth upon which current and future human generations depend. It seems a small price to pay.
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If nothing happens there's a very great probability the great apes will go out of this world.
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We are very aware that there are non-technology constraints.
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These facts are especially poignant when you factor in the impact of climate change which is triggering more extreme weather events like droughts.
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These are ... sites that have a history of contamination, all of which are linked to massive neglect.
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Putting tourism on a sustainable path is a major challenge, requiring partnership and cooperation within the tourism industry, and between the industry, governments and tourists themselves.
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On this special United Nations Day, let us take those adequate steps to stop the careless exploitation and destruction of the environment by making the necessary changes in our own lives, in our own attitudes, and in our own behavior. We don't have another thousand years,
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I've been asked whether we can justify trying to protect wildlife when there's so much human suffering on the planet but the two are actually not exclusive.
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Conserving sacred sites and their biological richness can play a major role in achieving the 2010 target and perhaps act as beacons from where good and sustainable management practices can be exported to nearby areas and beyond.
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Constructing, operating and maintaining what is effectively a huge fridge in the mountains raises many fundamental questions of sustainability.
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Wars, conflicts, instability and the poor environmental management of the previous regime have left their scars on the Iraqi people and the Iraqi environment,