In 1992, world leaders held an Earth Summit in Brazil to discuss the major environmental issues facing the planet. In 1997, the United Nations held a special session devoted to measuring the progress made after the Earth Summit. United States Vice President Al Gore gave a speech at this session describing the importance of solving environmental problems.
On behalf of President Clinton and the American people, welcome to New York and to this important session marking the fifth anniversary of the UN Conference on Environment and Development.
Five years ago, world leaders and concerned citizens from around the world gathered in Rio to chart a course called "sustainable development." This week, we measure our progress-asking how successful we have been and how to do better.
In the past five years, we have made much progress. We have negotiated international agreements to protect critical fish stocks, ban ocean dumping of nuclear wastes, and stem land-based sources of marine pollution.
We have forged a new global consensus on population and gender equality. We know that women's empowerment, education, health care, and economic opportunity-are essential to building a healthy future. We have fostered democracy and increased stability around the world.
We have witnessed a dramatic and inspiring rise in environmental awareness across the globe. Non-governmental organizations are active and involved-invigorating their democracies while protecting the environment.
Private capital flows are skyrocketing, bringing with them the promise of economic growth and better tomorrows. And increasingly, the private sector is becoming an active and welcome partner in sustainable development.
We have new and better tools to promote sustainable development. From the Internet to satellite imagery, technology is opening new vistas in our efforts to improve the lives of people around the world.
Yet enormous challenges remain. Many of the goals of Rio remain to be achieved. Take, for example, the critical issues of climate change and forests. Today, greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise at record rates. Unless we change course, during the lives of our grandchildren concentrations of these gases in the atmosphere will reach levels not seen on this planet for more than 50 million years.
Scientists warn of sea-level rise, more severe droughts and floods, loss of forest cover, and the spread of infectious disease.
Kyoto presents a critical opportunity for the world to forge an agreement with binding emissions limits, flexibility in meeting those targets, and the participation of all nations. We must act.
Forest loss is occurring at dramatic levels, only slightly below those witnessed during the 1980s. The consequences for human well-being, social stability, biodiversity, soil stability, water quality, and climate change are extremely serious. We must reverse these trends. In the words of the American President Theodore Roosevelt, we must safeguard our forests as we "keep a great or beautiful cathedral."
Today, more than 1 billion of the Earth's citizens live in abject poverty and more than 2 billion lack access to sanitation. In too many places, poverty breeds environmental degradation, and environmental degradation breeds poverty.
We have learned that there are no easy answers or quick fixes. The road to sustainable development requires sustained commitment and conviction. It needs imagination and ingenuity. It demands engagement and enterprise from us all.
Our task for the coming days must be to chart the course for the years to come. We must unite in our resolve to meet the challenge of climate change. We must work to protect the world's forests, by creating a follow-up mechanism to the Intergovernmental Panel on Forests that produces on-the-ground results, not new negotiations. We must capitalize on the upcoming Year of the Ocean to protect the marine environment. And we must establish a coordinated approach to addressing the problems plaguing freshwater resources around the globe. We must roll up our sleeves.
These are no small tasks. We must make sustainable development a guiding principle of the 21st century. Thank you.