Address by Irina Bokova, Director-General of UNESCO on the occasion of the Opening Ceremony UNESCO Youth Forum EXPO 2012 Yeosu

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Address by Irina Bokova, Director-General of UNESCO on the occasion of the Opening Ceremony UNESCO Youth Forum EXPO 2012 Yeosu Yeosu, Korea, 12 August 2012 Vice-Secretary General of the Organizing

1 Address by Irina Bokova, Director-General of UNESCO on the occasion of the Opening Ceremony UNESCO Youth Forum EXPO 2012 Yeosu Yeosu, Korea, 12 August 2012 Vice-Secretary General of the Organizing Committee for Expo 2012, Mr Park Young-Dae, Excellency Mr Taeck-soo Chun, Secretary-General of the Korean National Commission for UNESCO, Ladies and Gentlemen, The famous British writer, Arthur C. Clarke, once said: How inappropriate to call this planet Earth when it is quite clearly Ocean. We have gathered this morning to discuss Planet Ocean. It is a pleasure to have this opportunity to speak to you. It is auspicious that this Forum coincides with International youth Day. This year s theme is Building a Better World: Partnering with Youth. You will inherit the world tomorrow but you are already changing it today, through your ideas, aspirations and creativity. I am grateful to the Korean National Commission for UNESCO for this initiative. The ocean is essential to life on this planet and it lies at the heart of human wellbeing. And yet we still know so little about it. DG/2012/109 Original: English

2 Think of it this way. More than three thousand people have climbed Mount Everest, and twelve have walked on the moon. How many have explored the depths of the ocean? On 25 March, the American film director and ocean enthusiast, James Cameron set a record in descending the 11-kilometer-deep Mariana Trench. The director of Avatar and The Abyss reached the abyss in 90 minutes and surfaced four hours later, with a treasure trove of scientific data, imagery, and specimens. We recognize the importance of the ocean for the world economy and global development. We know its central place for the earth system and climate. We know also the special meaning carried by the ocean for human identity, for our history and future. We know all of this, but we do not know enough about how the ocean works. This is the core message I wish to make today the need for knowledge. We need to know our ocean -- in order to manage it, to protect its health and to ensure our future. Knowledge of the ocean and coasts has long been driven by the need to access and exploit their resources. This was knowledge for exploitation. We need a new knowledge for sustainability. This is why ocean science is so important. DG/2012/109 - Page 2

3 We need a more global science to understand and protect the ocean, to better manage its ecosystems and biodiversity. We need a more comprehensive, interdisciplinary and robust science. This must incorporate a better understanding of the ocean s role in climate change. It must forecast more accurately the magnitude and the intensity of change at multiple scales, and it must evaluate options for mitigation and adaptation. On this basis, we can design better public policy and build stronger international cooperation. Right now, we are not doing so. Seven billion people live on the planet. Each of them requires water, food, energy, and resources. We estimate the world s population today consumes the production equivalent to 1.5 planets. By 2050, we will be demanding the resources produced by two planets. But we have, my dear friends, only one planet. Human beings are now changing the ecosystems and functioning of essential processes on this planet. We are altering the world. Science has coined a term to define the new epoch in which we live -- the Anthropocene. The impact of human activity is so great today that we may have entered a new era, where human action is the dominant force of global change. We must manage this impact. This calls for raising awareness. DG/2012/109 - Page 3

4 The United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development held in Rio de Janeiro last June took a major step forward taken even further by the International Exposition Yeosu This calls also for deepening scientific research and for more global observing systems. It calls for helping those societies that are most vulnerable especially Developing Countries and Small Islands Developing States. We must act at all these levels, and UNESCO is doing so, through the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission. The IOC works to develop a full picture of the ocean, to educate scientists, policymakers and new generations. We need to make progress on many fronts at once -- to produce less greenhouse gases, to invent green technologies, to change our behaviours. This is why this Youth Forum is so important. Young people are 1.8 billion strong today. This represents 1.8 billion dreams, 1.8 billion ideas. The world needs your dreams and ideas. Real change starts with you. It starts on the benches of schools, in the auditoria of universities. Rio+20 was clear education for sustainable development is vital for building a more sustainable future. We need to educate and learn about the ocean and global change in ways that weave together disciplines, that join the scientific, social, gender, economic, cultural DG/2012/109 - Page 4

5 and ethical dimensions, that incorporate local, traditional and indigenous knowledge. We must no longer see the environment outside the economy, outside society, outside human security these must be integrated, and education is the way to bring them together. I am afraid this sounds like common sense to you. The fact is, for far too long, common sense has been ignored. The future we want for the ocean is more than a technical or scientific issue. It is about values, and it is about dreams -- the values and dreams you have written about in the essays you submitted to this competition. The famous Austrian writer, Herman Broch, once wrote: Those who live by the sea can hardly form a single thought of which the sea would not be part. The truth is we all live by the sea the 3 billion humans on coasts but the other 4 billion also. The sea is part of our every thought. It is not acceptable for sustainable development to remain a concept and not practice. Sustainability is not optional it is the only way forward. This is UNESCO s message this has been the message of the 2012 Yeosu EXPO over the last three months. I thank the Korean Government for its leadership and vision. I thank each of you for your engagement. DG/2012/109 - Page 5

6 At the end of his life, Isaac Newton spoke about how little he knew about Nature. What we know is a drop, he said, what we don t know is an ocean. This remains true today. Together, let s discover and explore this ocean The ocean takes care of us let us now take care of the ocean. DG/2012/109 - Page 6

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