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Statement
by
Professor Dr. HRH Princess Chulabhorn Mahidol
at the
United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development
22 June 2012, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
…………………………
Madam President,
Heads of States and Heads of Governments,
Distinguished Delegates:
I have the honor of representing my father, His
Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej and it gives me
great pleasure to lead the Thai delegation to the
United Nations Conference on Sustainable
Development (UNCSD).
I should like to express our appreciation to the
government of Brazil for hosting this landmark
event and to the Secretary-General of the UNCSD,
Mr. Sha Zukang, and his colleagues in the
secretariat for their contribution and for their
dedication to this event.
Since the United Nations Conference on
Environment and Development in 1992, and during
the past two decades, there have been major
systemic changes to the ecological, social,
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economic, financial and political systems.
Ominously, these changes are converging. It is
thus important that we are able to address global,
regional and national development from the social,
environmental and economic view points in a
balanced and integrated manner in order to ensure
that the development is sustainable.
In fact, sustainable development has been
practiced in Thailand over a long period, after the
Sufficiency Economy philosophy was first
proposed by His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej
as far back as 1974, in realization of the need to
change unsustainable practices towards
development. His Majesty had put his people and
their quality of life at the center of his development
agenda, addressing the needs of the people while
maintaining harmony with the environment. This
philosophy stresses moderation and adoption of
sustainable life styles as an over-riding principle
for appropriate conduct by the populace at all
levels. This philosophy is as relevant and pertinent
today as it was then and has been an important
basis for poverty eradication and sustainable
development for our country.
The environment has a significant impact on
development. The planetary boundaries of the
atmosphere, hydrosphere, lithosphere, biosphere
and geosphere are at risk of soon being breached,
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with dire consequences for human well being,
welfare and security.
Development can be accomplished only with
human resources. Thus, for development to be
sustainable, the maintenance and improvement of
the health of the people is of extreme importance,
otherwise the foundation for development is
weakened and cannot be sustained. While the
content and parameters for the SDGs will need
further discussion and elaboration, the critical
importance and central role of human health and
well being in sustainable development must be
included.
The UNCSD provides a generational
opportunity to forge international consensus to
urgently respond to the global changes, of which
climate change is a major, if not the main driving
force of the system changes. This Conference has
the opportunity to agree on bold decisions for
current and future generations.
We need to agree and support a green
economy and green economy policies towards
sustainable development and poverty eradication.
Capacity building in science, technology and
innovation, as well as transfer of environmentally
sound technology, are key instruments that can
help promote a green economy and sustainable
development. The United Nations and its
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subsidiary bodies can play an important role in
promoting such efforts within and among regions.
Thailand, through its centers of excellence is
willing to cooperate in this endeavor.
At the same time, we believe that there are
many paths to a green economy, which must
reflect differences between developed and
developing countries and with enough flexibility for
countries to develop their own policies.
Thailand re-affirms our commitment towards
sustainable development, and, indeed, we have
seen a significant shift in the development focus in
our country as issues related to the environment
and social pillars of sustainable development have
been increasingly recognized and mainstreamed
into the national development agenda.
I reiterate that, to underpin international
commitment to sustainable development, the SDG
process, which is receiving wide spread support,
including the dialogue mechanism, should be
adopted. Equally important, we should also adopt
a process that would enable the SDGs and the
MDGs to be aligned by 2015, to provide a more
robust set of goals that would address the major
changes that have taken place, and the emerging
opportunities and challenges coming to the fore.
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We have the responsibility to leave a
sustainable, resilient, inclusive and equitable
legacy for current and future generations.
We must not fail in our responsibility to the
future.
Thank you.
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