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Svandís Svavarsdóttir,Minister for the Environment, Iceland:
Statement
at the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development
22 June 2012, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Madame President,
The future of Mother Earth the future and of mankind. It is no
small task we have in front of us, and I would like to thank the
Brazilian Presidency for opening their home as the venue for
this important work.
We may disagree on the path, but we have a common vision
on the destination: A future where society has embraced
sustainable development as the only way to ensure that future
generations will have better chances than their parents to lead
a happy, healthy and long life.
Sustainable development is a call for justice and inclusion, it is
a call for a better society. A society with equality between -
generations and a world with equality between countries. It is
a world where we have broader measures for our success than
GDP, and where we no longer have a large proportion of the
world population living in hunger and poverty.
Overall, we can be moderately pleased with the outcome of
Rio+20. This is not the end of the road, but only one of the
steps on our journey towards our ultimate goal of sustainable
development.
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Iceland succeeded in transcending from a small island
developing state to a small island state in the 20th century –
mainly by gaining control of its rich marine resources. The
importance of the oceans cannot be overstated for a country
like ours. The health of the ocean’s ecosystems and the
sustainable management of its resources are of vital
importance for Iceland.
But of course, the oceans are of vital importance to us all.
Let us not forget that the oceans cover 70% of the planet, and
host a large part of the planets biodiversity. The oceans are
essential sources of food. They play an important role in
mitigating the impact of climate change. Ocean acidification is
potentially one of the biggest environmental challenges we
face today.
We need clean, healthy and productive oceans. We need a
strong political commitment to the conservation of the marine
environment and sustainable management of its resources.
Oceans do not recognize any boundaries, a fact which the
framework for their protection must reflect.
Iceland welcomes the strong outcome on oceans in the final
document.
The Secretary-General’s “Sustainable Energy for All” initiative
is extremely important and it would have been preferable to
see a stronger support for the initiative in the outcome
document.
Iceland meets most of its energy needs from renewable
energy resources. These resources are underdeveloped across
the world, but this is a very important issue, when one fifth of
the world‘s population doesn‘t have access to electricity.
I am pleased to inform you that a compact has been concluded
between Iceland and the World Bank on geothermal
development in Africa, with focus on the African Rift Valley.
Madame President,
As has been noted by many, there is no sustainable
development without gender equality and women’s
empowerment.
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When looking at the document before us we have achieved
certain progress, especially by committing ourselves to
ensuring women’s full and effective participation in
sustainable development policies, programs and decisionmaking
at all levels.
We are, however, surprised and dismayed that in the context
of sustainable development our common vision does not
include reproductive rights. We must remind ourselves, that
these important rights have already been agreed upon by UN
member states in other fora.
Let me also specifically mention the lack of language on
gender and climate. We know that women and girls are the
most effected, and that their access to decision making, not
least on financial matters, has to be ensured.
We need to be vigilant and ensure that when implementing
our commitments from Rio+20 we do indeed mainstream
gender in accordance with our self-standing commitment to
do so.
Madame President,
Words matter. They are the first step towards concrete action,
they reflect our vision for the future. We must not tolerate
backsliding on important women’s rights, which are essential
to achieving the goals of sustainable development.
Iceland regrets the position on reproductive rights in the
outcome document, but reminds the conference of both the
Cairo Programme of Action and the Beijing Declaration and
Platform for Action.
We look forward to developing the Sustainable Development
Goals, and there we must all acknowledge that women are
part of the solution.
Thank you, Madame President.
