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International Mother Earth Day

Special Event

22 April 2009Address by Juanita CastañoDirector, UNEP/NYOToday we are celebrating the General Assembly’s proclamation of 22 April asInternational Mother Earth Day, the same date as the traditional observance of Earth Day inmany countries. For the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) this is a very specialdate since, during the first celebration of Earth Day in 1970, the idea of creating a UN programme on the environment began to take shape. It was formally mandated two years later in1972, as an outcome of the UN Conference on the Human Environment, in Stockholm, alongwith the recommendation to henceforth observe 5 June as World Environment Day. At that time,the developed countries had begun to realize that their models for development have an impacton the environment and that this would dictate limits to their future actions. In subsequent years,the UN General Assembly has called for a transformation in the patterns of production andconsumption in the developed world by convening the United Nations Conference onEnvironment and Development, also known as the Earth Summit, in Rio de Janeiro in June 1992.In Johannesburg, in September 2002, a ten year plan on the issue was launched, and theCommission on Sustainable Development would dedicate its next cycle of meetings in 2010-11to this subject. Many more milestones have emerged since then.It is not a coincidence that we seek to bring global attention to the importance that theenvironment, the earth, our Mother Earth, has on life in this world. In many cultures, the conceptof Mother Earth as the basis of their existence is integrated in their spiritual and cultural beliefs,and reflects the interdependence that exists between all living beings, humans, animals or plants.In Inca mythology, Pachamama is the goddess of fertility who presides over sowing andharvesting, that is, the basis of life. That is why she is still venerated today, as she has been for thousands of years.Celebrating this day seeks to focus attention on the ancestral wisdom that recognizes theholistic importance of the environment for life on this planet. No one can live without it, andthose who abuse it, who make excessive use of its resources, are harming not only the survival of future generations, but the existence of the present one.Ancient and wise cultures have been able to understand the relationships which existamong all living things on this earth, and the importance of respecting them in order to guaranteetheir existence, and therewith also that of the human beings in this world. Therefore, it is notsurprising that these cultures have historically rejected the so-called modern values, which in the

last 200 years or more have based human development on the extensive exploitation of nature’sresources, as if they were in infinite supply.So-called modern civilizations seem to view the earth the same way they saw it beforeColumbus proved that the planet is round. They seem to view it as a vast, limitless flat plain,where you only need to walk into the horizon to find more resources. Consumption isencouraged, for the good of the enterprises which transform those resources into the goods andservices we think are indispensable. We never take a moment to think that the bounty we all areusing, and our future generations will try to use, is not being tended to, is not being guarded, isnot being integrated into the most intimate fibers of our being. We are conscious of protectingour children, our patrimony, our skills, but somehow we have not integrated Mother Earth intothat protective scheme.If the present economic model prevails in a world that by the year 2050 will have over 9 billion inhabitants, and if the ecologic footprint of those 9 billion inhabitants follows the production and consumption patterns of the affluent countries, an ecological disequilibrium of unimaginable proportions and consequences will have been generated.In response, UNEP has called for a Global Green New Deal to transform the economyinto one truly conscious of the environmental circumstances of the planet. We feel this is anecessary path towards the solution of the current economic and climate problems. The UNEPPolicy Brief on the topic recently released is the fruitful collaboration of UNEP with other agencies and programmes of the United Nations system, the World Bank, the OECD, importanteconomists and NGOs. The goal is to invest 1% of GDP in five key sectors: sustainabletransport, energy efficiency, renewable energy, afforestation and reforestation, sustainableagriculture and biodiversity protection. This initiative includes a set of measures to assist poorer nations in attaining the MDGs, and make progress in their green development.The conscious, intelligent and respectful management of the planet’s resources are thefoundation for our existence, especially so now that the international community faces the dualcrises of climate change and the economy. Both of these are of enormous proportions.Especially as we need to give a positive impetus to the negotiations towards an agreement onclimate change in Copenhagen, eight months from now.The observance of days like these, as well as World Environment Day, six weeks hence,on 5 June, is a tool to raise awareness about the importance of this historic moment we are living.By the same token, it is one more way to remind our policy makers of the responsibility theyhave when making decisions, about leaving the bounty of Mother Earth for generations to come,to preserve that miracle of fertility, of sowing and harvesting. Let us hope we will harvest gooddecisions, with the support and actions of civil society and the private sector, by governmentstaken in the spirit of international solidarity in order to protect the resources of our Mother Earth.In closing, allow me to wish you a Happy Mother Earth day in Quechua:

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