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THE SECRETARY- GENERAL
MESSAGE ON THE OCCASION OF WORLD ENVIRONMENT DAY
"Connect with the World Wide Web of Life"
The theme of this year's observance of World Environment Day is
"Connect with the World Wide Web of Life", a choice that reflects
the need for each and every one of us to recognize our role in preserving our
fragile planet and the ecosystems, resources and natural processes that bind
us all together. More than ever, life on earth requires of us a sense of
universal responsibility - nation to nation, person to person, human to all
other forms of life.
Albert Einstein once said that in crisis, imagination is better than
knowledge. We do need more knowledge about the world's major ecosystems and
about the complex interplay between environment and development, since it is
impossible to devise effective policy unless it is based on sound scientific
information. That is one reason why today marks the launch, by the United
Nations and the World Resources Institute, of the Millennium Ecosystem
Assessment, an international collaborative effort to fill important knowledge
gaps and to map the health of our planet.
At the same time, we know more than enough already to face the hard choices
ahead. We already have the technical skills to halt destructive trends and to
place our economies on a more sustainable footing. It is not knowledge and
scientific research, but political and economic factors, that will determine
whether or not the wisdom accumulating in our laboratories and libraries will
be put into practice. Challenges such as climate change, desertification, the
destruction of biological diversity and population growth are testing not only
our imagination, but also our will.
Sustainability is in everybody's interest, rich and poor alike. One in every
two jobs worldwide -- in agriculture, forestry and fisheries -- depends
directly on the sustainability of ecosystems. Yet unsustainable practices are
woven deeply into the fabric of modern life. And myths have taken hold
suggesting there is little alternative to these short-sighted and wasteful
patterns of consumption and development. So let us, on this World Environment
Day, connect with a new ethic of global stewardship and conservation, and most
of all with the imagination and courage to make it a reality.
Kofi A. Annan
Secretary-General of the United Nations
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