Calling for a climate cop: Hungarian president László Sólyom argues that a global environmental protection agency is needed.
Credit: AFP
BUDAPEST: The world urgently needs a new global environmental protection agency with widespread powers to address the “looming disaster” of climate change, a conference of scientists, political leaders and policy-makers has heard.
Speaking the World Science Forum on Thursday, Hungarian president László Sólyom proposed the creation of a new U.N. environment agency that would set and uphold strong international standards. "Globalisation can only benefit the world if powerful international environmental governance sets it on a path of sustainability," he said.
A preoccupation with economic growth today has to be balanced with the wellbeing of future generations, he added. To address this, the Hungarian parliament has recently appointed an Ombudsman for Future Generations, who reviews all government decisions.
Punishing climate
“Disaster is looming,” Greek president Karolos Papoulias told the 400 delegates from 60 nations. “Punishment will not distinguish between the guilty and the innocent. Let us try to save what can be saved while it still can be saved.”
Many of the most urgent environmental and developmental problems faced by humanity can be solved by science, if only we choose to spend enough, said Austrian president Heinz Fischer. “If we can afford to spend so much on weapons, we can surely afford to defend the future by spending more on science.”
Billing itself as a putative ‘Davos of science’ (in reference to the World Economic Forum held in Davos, Switzerland) the World Science Forum has been held every two years in the Hungarian capital since the inaugural event in 2003. Among the attendees are 17 ministers and 30 parliamentarians from various countries, as well as senior policy-makers and leading scientists, including a handful of Nobel laureates.
It is staged by the Hungarian Academy of Sciences and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO).
