Csaba Kőrösi, President of the 77th session of the General Assembly
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7th Ministerial Conference on Environment and Health
(As delivered)
Honorable Ministers,
Regional Directors,
Chair of Taskforce,
Executive Secretary,
Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Let me express my sincere thanks to Hungary and the WHO for co-hosting the Seventh Ministerial Conference.
It is an exceptional occasion to address a room full of experts who understand better than anyone how the complex dynamics between health and the environment are shaping our world today.
When the COVID pandemic reached Europe, you were among the first to face the deadly onslaught, translating medical jargon to terrified people and scouring the world for supplies.
COVID-19 was a postcard from the future.
It was the prototype of the Anthropocene era crises.
It made us acutely aware that when anybody is at risk, everybody is at risk.
It has taught us that human impact on the biosphere inevitably involves counter-impacts on human health.
It has proven that when human activities are the number one factor to reshape conditions of life on Earth, an array of our operations may become extremely vulnerable to shocks. Particularly if they have been developed to override or replace forces of nature.
It has been one more proof that we are in an era of cascading crises which are placing our health, economies, societies and the strained multilateral system under relentless pressure.
We are at an inflection point.
Some roots of the crises we face today are rather traditional. They go back to geopolitical conflicts. The consequences are a division of the world into spheres of influence, wars, energy insecurity and the threat of nuclear weapon use, to name a few.
The other source of crises is the non-sustainable way of our living and its consequences: climate change, biodiversity loss, water crisis, pollution, degradation of soils.
What we have to understand now, how these two types of challenges interact and create a new reality.
Marked by food insecurity, increased probability of pandemics, heavy debt burden on more than half of the member states of the UN, increased social and political insecurity, growing potential of mass migration and reduced incubation period of the upcoming, complex crises.
But there are hopes as well. Rapidly evolving science and new technologies are overwriting our minds, our means and our systems.
They offer a chance to better understand the nature of this new chapter of history.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
We are racing against the time. It means, that we are still in the race. Not everything has been lost.
All these developments demand that we radically transform the way we think and act: how we produce, use, and preserve.
Where are we now? We inherited
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- accumulated risk factors,
- transformative goals,
- mostly old-fashioned policies,
- mostly old-fashioned market regulations,
- mostly old-fashioned institutions, and
- rapidly changing science and technologies.
We expect transformation from this combination of these components. But so far, changes to bring about transformation have evolved much slower than challenges.
We have less than 10 years to put on track key elements of a transformation.
What happens within these 10 years, will have direct consequences on well-being, stability, and peace.
Albert Einstein once said: “The measure of intelligence is the ability to change.”
Recognizing this, the 17 Sustainable Development Goals offer a shared blueprint for global transformation.
But we are profoundly off track on reaching them.
At the midpoint of our drive to the 2030 deadline, and at the level of 15-19 per cent of the implementation, we are lagging behind our schedule, and we are running out of time.
To make things worse, in these cases we cannot measure the real price or validate the real impact of our actions.
The problems we face in the future will be more extreme versions of those we are struggling with today.
We know this because just last year, we exceeded the fifth planetary boundary: chemical pollution.
We simply must reverse these trends.
How do we shift gears?
And how do we do so in this era of deep mistrust playing out across battlefields, airwaves and negotiation tables, from East to West, North to South?
In the General Assembly, we are using science and data to recharge our ambition and validate what we do.
The SDG Summit in September will be the pivotal moment to locate the gaps and drive a quantum leap in our efforts to fulfil the 2030 Agenda.
It will have to be a non-conventional summit.
The key challenge we have to face is credibility. To prove that the second half of the time allotted for the implementation of the SDGs would be more transformative than the first one.
It is achievable if we understand the reasons for the slow progress.
If we disclose what is missing from our approach and actions.
If we are bold enough to identify, what should be changed or added.
Indeed, we need high impact changes, or in other words, real game-changers.
So, it is not enough for us to change gear – we have to change the game.
We simply cannot afford the luxury to let this opportunity slip through our fingers.
The achievement of SDG 3 (good health and well-being) is indivisible from the rest of our Goals.
In the General Assembly, three health-related processes are underway to bring results. All are connected.
In September, the high-level meetings on Pandemic Preparation, Preparedness and Response, Universal Health Coverage and Tuberculosis will be our chances to strengthen political support for holistic action on health issues.
We should make clear that investment in health is not throwing money into a pit: it is an investment in sustainable development.
We have entered a new era. A new chapter of history.
Facing unprecedented crises that require us to change our institutions, our systems, and our personal habits.
The planet and our societies on it are being radically reshaped.
We can still choose to be the masterminds, the architects of this transformation.
Or we can meekly accept the other option: to become the victims of what befalls us.
The choice is ours.
And we should bear in mind the ancient wisdom of Lao Tsu: “If you do not change direction, you may end up where you are heading.”
Thank you very much.
