League of Women Voters of Maryland

By Carole Conors “Business is the problem, business is the answer.” So said Paul Horwitz, deputy executive secretary of the United Nations Environmental Program, at September’s 60th annual conference of the UN’s Department of Public Information and Non-Governmental Organization. Speaking at the seventh of nine sessions at the conference, which dealt with “Climate Change: How It Impacts Us All,” Horwitz was a panelist exploring “Streamlining the System.” Illustrated were the huge array of UN-related agencies in twelve classifications…not to mention an even larger number of non-governmental organizations… all with the same goals of impeding global climate change. Also detailed were the duplications and failures of communication among agencies sometimes at odds with one another. Although thousands of agreements exist, Horvitz said progress is held up by a fear that taking action will damage the business world. While the business world, if it has laws and guidelines, nationally and internationally, could lead the way because there is money to be made in new energy schemes, crop production, water recycling and the like. “Business must have standards,” he said. Others participating in the discussion were: Maria Ivanova of Bulgaria, Alexey Kokori from Russia and Adnan Amin, from Kenya. Kiyotaka Akasaka , a United Nations Under Secretary General from Japan served as moderator. Six Maryland Leaguers attended the three-day conference amid an array of 1,752 delegates from 491 NGOs and 66 countries. The conference offered delegates a choice of morning and afternoon panel sessions, and mid-day workshops on topics ranging from the ethical dimensions of climate change, scientific evidence, water security, the impact on migrants, economics and biodiversity to minimizing extinction and what to expect going forward without remedial activity. “In 35 to 50 years, one-half of the species will be extinct. We don’t know the impact of this extinction,” said Dr. David Ulansey, a professor at Princeton. “We depend on biodiversity. We cannot live without (these species). We can’t just save one. There are interdependencies.” he said. According to Achim Steiner, executive director of the United Nations Environment Program, “only one-thousandth of the world’s gross domestic product would be necessary to deal with climate change. (For business), climate change is a challenge and an opportunity. Moving to an environmental economy has economic benefits,” he said. For more on the conference: http://www.un.org/dpi/ngosection/conference/Webcast.htm For information about future conferences, contact the writer, Carole Conors, conors@bcpl.net.