New York, Aug 10 (DPA) The presidents of Finland and South Africa will lead a high-level panel on global sustainability aimed at working out a ‘new vision’ for the world’s economic growth and prosperity, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said Monday.
In setting up the new 21-member panel, Ban said that the world’s leading policy-makers and thinkers should ‘formulate a new blueprint for sustainable growth and low-carbon prosperity for all on a planet under increasing strain, not least from climate change.’
‘I have asked the panel to think big,’ Ban said in announcing the panel. ‘The time for narrow agendas and a narrow thinking is over.’
The panel is called to address the question of ending poverty around the world while trying to preserve the climate and natural system that sustain planet earth.
It is called to address the ‘inter-linked global challenges of poverty, hunger, water, energy security and sanitation.’
‘In short, we need a blueprint for a more liveable, prosperous, and sustainable future for all,’ Ban said.
Presidents Tarja Halonen of Finland and Jacob Zuma of South Africa will co-chair the panel. The other 19 members are from all regions in the world, including Gro Harlem Brundtland, a former Norwegian prime minister, a leader in sustainable development and author of the study Our Common Future that set the tone for many UN programmes on the environment and economic development.
The panel would present its first report by the end of 2011 in advance of the UN Conference on Sustainable Development scheduled in Rio de Janeiro and meetings on climate change in 2012.
