Biodiversity: Vaclav Havel questions economic growth obsession[fr][de] 

Speaking at the opening session of the Commission's annual Green Week event, former Czech President Vaclav Havel said the way mankind was exploiting the earth's resources showed a lack of respect for nature.

"The world is a huge mystery, we should approach it with humility," he told a Brussels audience of eurocrats, industry lobbyists and NGO activists. He then openly questioned the foundations of economic growth. "It is not good to think that growth is something that can go on forever," he said, referring to an idea first aired by the Club of Rome in a 1972 report entitled "The Limits to growth ". 

"It is not just philosophical, it is very down to earth," he continued, making reference to urban sprawl, rising crime levels and the general feeling of alienation which comes with modern life.

He also questioned the very need for governments to establish environment ministries and asked why one particular minister should deal with "nature and decency". "My idea, he said, is that decency should be the overriding principle of all ministries". 

In a live video appearance, WTO chief and former trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy said there was "no doubt that more should and can be done" to improve the protection of biodiversity in international trade relations.

Referring to the UN Convention on Biodiversity (CBD), he said: "We both know that we have a slight problem in that WTO and CBD [rules and objectives] are not identical". He admitted that the current situation is one of division between nations who want an agreement on biodiversity and others who think WTO rules need not be changed.

Finding an international consensus on these issues is "no easy task" Lamy said, since WTO decisions have to be taken by unanimity. Examples of current tensions include pharmaceutical companies wishing to access and exploit plant and animal riches in some developing nations. Whatever the outcome of these discussions may be, Lamy said, intellectual property rules have to be used in a way that protects biodiversity. "Our charter makes sustainable development one of the ultimate aims of the WTO," he recalled. 

But he added that one had to be "fair, frank and lucid" about the ability of international organisations such as the EU or the WTO to confront environmental issues with national interests. Nation-states, he said, remain the top level of political legitimacy without which progress cannot be achieved.

Achim Steiner, the newly elected Executive Director of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), said biodiversity conservation is an environment issue which should not be dealt with as a trade issue.

Bernard Tramier, Director at Total Corporate Foundation for Biodiversity and the Sea, said the challenge for oil companies is to strike a balance between oil supply needs without disturbing plant and animal life. Tramier said Total was helping scientists increase their knowledge of deep sea fauna and flora by associating the IUCN to its deep offshore oil extraction and exploration scheme.

Alain Hubert, an explorer and co-founder of the International Polar Foundation, explained how climate change is putting biodiversity at risk in polar regions. He said fauna there - such as the polar bear - is heavily dependent on plankton which is at the base of the food pyramid. But the global rise in temperature is raising ocean acidification which puts a strain on plankton life.