Environment and Development Challenges:
The Imperative to Act― Executive Summary－

20 February 2012

The Blue Planet Prize laureates

Key Messages

We have a dream – a world without poverty – a world that is equitable – a world that respects
human rights – a world with increased and improved ethical behavior regarding poverty andnatural resources - a world that is environmentally, socially and economically sustainable,
where the challenges such as climate change, loss of biodiversity and social inequity havebeen successfully addressed. This is an achievable dream, but the current system is deeplyflawed and our current pathway will not realise it.

Population size and growth and related consumption patterns are critical elements in the
many forms of environmental degradation and social problems we currently face. The
population issue should be urgently addressed by education and empowerment of women,
including in the work-force and in rights, ownership and inheritance; by improving healthcare of children and the elderly; and by making modern contraception accessible to all.

There is an urgent need to break the link between production and consumption on the onehand and environmental destruction on the other. This can allow risking material living
standards for a period that would allow us to overcome world poverty.

Indefinite material

growth on a planet with finite and often fragile natural resources will however, eventually beunsustainable. Unsustainable growth is promoted by environmentally-damaging subsidies
in areas such as energy, transportation and agriculture and should be eliminated; external
environmental and social costs should be internalized; and the market and non-market valuesof ecosystem goods and services should be taken into account in decision-making.
The immense environmental, social and economic risks we face as a world from our current
path will be much harder to manage if we are unable to measure key aspects of the problem.
For example, governments should recognise the serious limitations of GDP as a measure of
economic activity and complement it with measures of the five forms of capital—built,financial, natural, human and social capital—i.e., a measure of wealth that integrates
economic, environmental and social dimensions.

Green taxes and the elimination ofsubsidies should ensure that the natural resources needed to protect poor people are madeavailable to them directly rather than via subsidies that often only benefit the better off.
The present energy system, which is heavily dependent on fossil fuels, underlies many of theproblems we face today: exhaustion of easily accessible physical resources, security of accessto fuels, and degradation of health and environmental conditions. Universal access to clean
energy services is vital for the poor, and a transition to a low carbon economy will require
rapid technological evolution in the efficiency of energy use, environmentally soundlow-carbon renewable energy sources and carbon capture and storage. The longer we wait totransition to a low carbon economy the more we are locked into a high carbon energy systemwith consequent environmental damage to ecological and socio-economic systems, including
infrastructure.
Emissions of GHG emissions are one of the greatest threats to our future prosperity. World emissions(flows) are currently around 50 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide-equivalent (CO2e) per annum and are
growing rapidly. As the terrestrial and oceanic ecosystems are unable to absorb all of the world’s annualemissions, concentrations (stocks) of GHG emissions in the atmosphere have increased, to around 445ppm
of CO2e today and increasing at a rate of around 2.5ppm per year. Thus we have a flow-stock problem.
Without strong action to reduce emissions, over the course of this century we would likely add at least 300
ppm CO2e, taking concentrations to around 750 ppm CO2e or higher at the end of the century or early in thenext. The world’s current commitments to reduce emissions are consistent with at least a 3oC rise (50-50chance) in temperature to a temperature not seen on the planet for around 3 million years, with serious risksof 5oC rise toa temperature not seen on the planet for around 30 million years. Given there are someuncertainties present in all steps of the scientific chain (flows to stocks to temperatures to climate changeand impacts), this is a problem of risk management and public action on a great scale.

Biodiversity has essential social, economic, cultural, spiritual and scientific values and itsprotection is hugely important for human survival. The rapid loss of biodiversity,
unprecedented in the last 65 million years, is jeopardising the provision of ecosystem services
that underpin human well-being. The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment concluded that 15of the 24 ecosystem services evaluated were in decline, 4 were improving, and 5 wereimproving in some regions of the world and in decline in other regions. Measures to conserve
biodiversity and make a sustainable society possible need to be greatly enhanced andintegrated with social, political and economic concerns. There is a need to value biodiversity
and ecosystem services, and to create markets that can make the value for these services
the basis for a ‘green’ economy.

There are serious short-comings in the decision-making systems at local, national and global
levels on which we rely in government, business and society. The rules and institutions for
decision-making are influenced by vested interests, with different interests having very
different influences on how decisions are made. Effective change in governance demands
action at many levels to establish transparent means for holding those in power to account. At
the local level, public hearings and social audits can bring the voices of marginalized groups
into the forefront. At national level, parliamentary and press oversight are key. Globally, wemust find better means of reaching agreement and implementing measures to achieve

collective goals. Governance failures also occur because decisions are being made in sectoralcompartments, with environmental, social and economic dimensions addressed by separate,competing structures; better communication and coordination of decision-making is needed.
Decision makers should learn from ongoing grass-root actions and knowledge in areas such asenergy, food, water, natural resources, finance and governance. This is key, not the least inrural communities with a view to their management, control and ownership of theseresources. There is a need to scale-up the grass roots actions by bringing together acomplementary top-down and bottom-up approach to addressing these issues.

Globalcooperation can be improved by building on on-going regional cooperation to deal with
common sustainable development issues.
Effective training programs should be implemented to multiply the number of competentdecision makers in business and government.

They must learn how to integrate

programmes and policies within sustainability constraints, to understand the business casethereof, and acquire the skills to strategically move towards such sustainability goals.
All of the problems mentioned above demand that we increase investments in education,
research and assessments of knowledge.

If we are to achieve our dream, the time to act is now, given the inertia in the socio-economicsystem, and given that the adverse effects of climate change and loss of biodiversity cannot bereversed for centuries or are irreversible (for example, species loss). The current—andinevitable—scientific uncertaintiesmean that we are facing a problem of risk management on
an immense scale, but we know enough to act. Failure to act will impoverish current andfuture generations.