In Message for Sustainable Development Education Conference, Secretary-General Says ‘No Plan B’ for Protecting Planet as ‘There is No Planet B’

Following is the text of UN Secretary‑General Ban Ki‑moon’s video message for the World Conference on Education for Sustainable Development, held in Nagoya, Japan, 10-12 November:

Your Imperial Highness Crown Prince Naruhito, Your Royal Highness Princess Lalla Hasnaa, Your Excellency Hakubun Shimomura, Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen,

Minasama, youkoso!  Hello everyone, and welcome. I thank Japan and UNESCO [United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization] for organizing this important event.

Sustainability is the only way that we can protect our precious planet, today and tomorrow.  There is no Plan B, because there is no Planet B.

Sustainability must be built into everything we do, and education is the starting point.  Boys and girls must learn about global citizenship, to prepare them for the responsibility of safeguarding our common future.

The message is getting through.  We saw that in the climate change marches that took place all over the world in September, and in the summit I organized in New York.  This momentum must carry through to the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Climate Change in Lima next month and in Paris next year.

This World Conference is an important opportunity to look to the future, to shape an ambitious Global Action Programme, and to ensure that education figures prominently in the post-2015 sustainable development agenda.  I wish you great success.  Thank you.  Doumo arigato gozaimashita.