Kuchma speaks on the environment (06/29/97)

Kuchma speaks on the environment

Following is the text of remarks by President Leonid Kuchma at the 19th Special Session of the United Nations General Assembly on June 24.

The five years since the Rio de Janeiro Conference have proven the historic and practical value of its decisions. For the first time ever, the ecological dimension of ensuring peace and further economic development was upgraded to the level of the key problems facing the mankind.

May I recall in this respect that almost 10 years ago Ukraine was one of the initiators of elaborating the concept of international ecological security, which served as a starting point for drafting "Agenda 21."

Regrettably, we have not managed so far to attain the principal goal: to translate the words into resolute actions, to take concrete practical measures. The state of the environment on our planet is still a matter of serious concern.

The years after Rio have coincided with Ukraine's establishment as an independent nation, with the beginning of profound political, social and economic reforms. This process has become complicated by the ecological crisis in our country. Its roots derive from the Chornobyl disaster and an excessive technological burden on the environment.

This is why the ecological component of our national security is becoming a dominating factor of the domestic and foreign policies of the Ukrainian state.

From the former Soviet Union, we have inherited a resource- and energy-wasteful economy, as natural resources were considered to have no cost and to be practically inexhaustible.

It is worth mentioning that the resource-consumption of Ukrainian products is two to three times higher than the world standard, and its energy-wastefulness is six to nine times more than the world level. The technological pressure on Ukraine's territory exceeds by six to seven times the level of developed European countries.

Equally disturbing are the following figures: Ukraine's agricultural lands have undergone plowing up to 80 and in some regions even to 90 percent. More than 25 billion tons of accumulated wastes cover the territory of 130,000 hectares of the famous Ukrainian soils.

During the last five years the population of our country has dropped by almost 1 million. Naturally, ecology is not to be blamed for everything, but, unfortunately, its "contribution" is enormous.

That is why for Ukraine "Agenda 21" is not a simple abstract idea with an indefinite term for implementation, but the concept and strategy of our survival.

With this in mind, we are aiming our efforts at real integration of environmental protection policy into the strategy of social and economic development. To ensure ecological security and maintain ecological balance on the territory of our country is one of the priorities of state policy determined by the Constitution.

Legislation in the sphere of environmental protection and the rational use of natural resources has been radically reviewed. Based on the decisions of Rio '92, the concept and guidelines of state ecological policy have been drafted.

We have started the transition from administrative to market methods of managing the activities of environmental protection. Payment for special use of natural resources and for pollution of the environment, and a new system of funding and crediting for the protection of nature have been introduced.

The protection of nature has become one of our major priorities. Only during the last three years the size of the reserve areas has been increased by 1.5 times. This is a sort of "Golden Fund" of our nation.

Active measures are being taken to harmonize national legislation in the sphere of ecology with international measures. Today, Ukraine is party to 17 international conventions on environmental protection and 15 protocols to them.

The next step will be the practical implementation of the Concept of Sustainable Development of Ukraine to be approved by the government in the near future.

However, the implementation of these and other measures has been complicated by a number of factors. Apart from the difficulties related to the complex process of a market transformation of the economy, the problem of Chornobyl continues to be a substantial obstacle to attaining the sustainable development of our country.

To minimize the aftermath of the Chornobyl disaster, Ukraine spends about $1 billion (U.S.) a year. However, 11 years after the catastrophe, we still feel its threatening breathing - and not for us only.

Seeking to save mankind from this threat, we made the decision to decommission the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant by the year 2000. Shutting down the first reactor in 1996 was the first step in this direction.

We expect that the G-7 countries will live up to their commitments in accordance with the Memorandum of Understanding.

I would like to emphasize that Ukraine has radically reformed its state system for ensuring nuclear and radiation safety, taking into account broad international experience.

Today, we have every reason to state that in Ukraine we have laid down the foundations (structural, scientific and methodological, legal and economic) of a new state policy that is based on the principles of sustainable development typical for countries with market economies. It is economically unprofitable for the state to pollute the environment and to excessively consume natural resources. And this is the main result of our efforts.

This session proves that, on the eve of the third millenium, mankind is fully aware of the biospheric scale of its activities. More than 70 years ago, Volodymyr Vernadskyi, our great compatriot and the founder of the science devoted to the Earth's biosphere, said this: "The whole of mankind is turning into a powerful geological force. And they, their thoughts and labor are facing the task of rebuilding the biosphere in the interests of free-thinking mankind as a whole."

It took us a very long time to realize this truth. The future of our children depends on our ability to comprehend this truth and, first and foremost, to act adequately.

That is why the time has come for us to start drafting a universal international legal instrument aimed at guaranteeing global ecological security - an instrument that would establish the norms of permissible ecological behavior for every country in the interests of the survival and the prosperity of our civilization in the 21st century.

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