PRESS CONFERENCE BY REPUBLIC OF KOREA

Press Briefing

PRESS CONFERENCE BY REPUBLIC OF KOREA

At a Headquarters press conference held yesterday afternoon, the Minister of Environment for the Republic of Korea, Hyon-Wook Kang, introduced the Seoul Declaration on Environmental Ethics. He was accompanied by the Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Elizabeth Dowdeswell.

The Declaration was a framework which complemented current global efforts directed to preserve the planet, Mr. Kang said. It was a collection of ideas and values which reached the core being of humankind and "our relationship with Earth's environment and all living beings", he said. In fact, what South Korea had presented was an evolving set of principles and guidelines so that people throughout the world could re-examine the ethical approach to life.

It had been launched as a key feature of the 1997 World Environment Day festivities held recently in the Republic of Korea. The World Environment Day had been hosted to commemorate the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Stockholm Declaration and the birth of UNEP. On the occasion, the Seoul Declaration had been launched in close collaboration with UNEP.

Due to current unsustainable lifestyles and cultures, the global environment was being continuously damaged, he said. Beneath the "crust of degradation" lay the current value system based on greed and materialism. Based on that realization, "we are left with no choice but to formulate a new approach to life based on a new system of values and ethics in order to sustain the Earth's environment", he added.

The new ethical paradigm stressed that nature was humankind's partner for life and not an object of exploitation, he said. In that context, it was important to re-evaluate priorities by fostering a spiritual culture and a reverence for life by lessening materialism. Moreover, equity and cooperation should be encouraged through such an ethical paradigm. That new perspective must also provide momentum for environmentally sound science and technology, since those would play a critical role in resolving environmental problems.

The Republic of Korea hoped that the principles and guidelines set forth in the Declaration could be spread and recognized throughout the world, he said.

A correspondent asked if the Declaration was purely a South Korean Declaration or whether it would count as a declaration of UNEP. Mr. Kang said that in each step of the preparation of the Declaration there had been close communication with UNEP. The final version had been released only after agreement with UNEP on the text.

Republic of Korea Press Conference - 2 - 26 June 1997

Ms. Dowdeswell added that although it was not a UNEP initiative, UNEP had been very pleased to help facilitate and cooperate with the Korean Government in the preparation of the document. In fact, it was similar to other initiatives it had undertaken with other governments around the world.

What did South Korea hope to achieve by the Declaration? a correspondent asked. Mr. Kang said one of the goals of the Declaration was to promote a deeper understanding of the need to accept and apply the concepts of sustainable development. A change in awareness which would promote love and care for all humankind and nature was required. The Declaration suggested equity, sharing of responsibility and international cooperation as major truths in solving environmental questions.

A correspondent wanted to know Ms. Dowdeswell's views on the idea of enshrining sustainable development in the United Nations Charter. Governments had said loud and clear that the world needed a strong environmental voice, she said. They had indicated that UNEP, created 25 years ago, had some remarkable accomplishments but was perhaps not the kind of organization that was needed for the next 25 years. She stressed that if what was wanted was an organization of the stature of the strong economic institutions, then there was a need to look at what was required to bring that about. Things such as a clear global mandate for the setting of norms, adequate and predictable funding and a real political will to prevent fragmentation of institutions were required.

It seemed that the will to make that happen was present, she said. The ministers of environment had declared themselves on the issue. In that context, given the tools to do the job, UNEP was most capable of taking on that task for the next 25 years.

Asked to comment on the underwater explorer and film-maker Jacques Cousteau, Ms. Dowdeswell said it was a great sadness to hear the news of his death. He had been a strong supporter of the United Nations environment and sustainable development programme. The world needed those kind of heroes, those kind of people who really dedicated their lives not only through their professional work but also in the way they lived their lives. Jacques Cousteau was certainly one of those men who practised what he preached. He was a symbol and a hero for many and his work on marine environment was very much the underpinning for UNEP's programmes.

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