WSSD Plenary Session – Health, 26 August 2002

Statement by the Norwegian Minister of the Environment, Børge Brende

Mr. Chairman,
Honourable Ministers

We are gathered at a Summit that could and should become the most important international meeting of this decade.

Since we met in Bali we have been reminded again why we cannot afford not to make it happen:

13 million people are threatened by drought and hunger in southern Africa. Millions have been struggling to fight the damaging consequences of extreme weather conditions in Asia, North America and Europe. A vast blanket of pollution threatens food security and human health in South Asia.

Since we met in Bali we have been reminded again why our natural resources are the very foundation on which human welfare and health depends.

Mr. Chairman,
Honourable Ministers

We know there are powerful linkages of the environment to health and we know there are powerful linkages of health to poverty.

Almost one-third of global diseases may be caused by environmental degradation. It is estimated that only one in five children of the poorest segments of society will live to reach the age of five, mainly because of polluted air and water. Action is needed to secure children’s rights to grow up in healthy environments.

Through simple environmental interventions we could prevent roughly 60 per cent of diseases from acute respiratory infections, 90 per cent from diarrhoea disease, 50 per cent from chronic respiratory conditions and 90 per cent from malaria.

We know that such interventions – in countries where these disease burdens often come on the top of an HIV/AIDS catastrophe – can save the lives of millions of people, people who if given the chance can contribute to building their societies, eradicating poverty and achieve sustainable development.

We know - But can we mobilise the political will here in Johannesburg to break the vicious circle between ill health, poverty and environmental degradation?

Can we agree on a time bound target on sanitation and undertake concrete actions to achieve the Millennium goal to halve by 2015 the proportion of people who are unable to reach, or to afford, safe drinking water? Will we have related commitments to meet the needs of the 2,5

billion people who lack basic sanitation?

One of my greatest concerns is the threat posed by hazardous chemicals to human health and ecosystems.

We know that even if the international community has achieved important progress in limiting use and releases of certain persistent organic chemicals, the total use of chemical substances and products is growing at an alarming rate. We will support programmes to combat the risks from hazardous chemicals, with a particular focus on old stocks of pesticides in Africa.

The question is whether we can now decide to commit and undertake concrete actions to make sure that by 2020 chemicals should not be used and produced in ways that have adverse effects on human health and the environment? And will there be an adequate international response to the threat caused by heavy metals?

Mr. Chairman,

We have the mandate to undertake ambitious actions and commit to ambitious goals to protect

human welfare and health from environmental degradation.

We have the mandate to deliver concrete results here in Johannesburg. We cannot afford to fail!