Ban Ki-Moon

Abridge Article as appeared in “A World of Ideas” : Project Syndicate Conference in Copenhagen

As a community of nations we are facing 3 grave crises. The first is global climate change and there is an urgent need to curb the global warming. We need a deal that will extend, deepen, and strengthen the Kyoto Protocols? We need a new treaty in the 21^st century that is balanced, inclusive, and comprehensive-one that all nations can embrace. The negotiations will be difficult. But we will have to face it because the future of planet is at the stake.

The second is economic. Clearly we need a global stimulus. Major economies have responded with ambitious fiscal monetary rescue plans. The emergence of G 20 summit in Washington showed that government are working together to coordinate policies. Those effects were broadened at the Doha meeting. But we need more. We need to think boldly and freshly. If we are to spend our way out of the financial crisis we should be smart about it. And that means these expenditures should be investments. They must be sustainable to lay foundations of a more stable and prosperous future.

China has shown leadership. Fully one third of its announced $586 billion economic stimulus program will be channelled into green growth and infrastructure. The Chinese have seized the opportunity to address several challenges at once- to create jobs, convey energy and combat climate change. The US plans to do the same. The policy makers know that investment in alternative fuels and eco-friendly. Technologies will deliver a massive future payoff in terms of a safer environment, energy independence and sustainable growth. But they also know that green investment can produce jobs and spur growth in the here and now. \other nations should follow that suit. We will never usher in an era of sustainable prosperity in the absence of a big, global push, with all nations moving in the same direction. If ever there were a time for bold and ambitious vision- a chart to chart a new and better path-it is now.

The third test is a matter of pragmatic principle. Climate change and global finance are not our only crises. Indeed they compound other threats food insecurity, volatile energy and commodity markets, and the terrible persistence of poverty. No nation has been spared. But it is the poorest nations that feel these blows most sharply. If not handled correctly, today’s financial crisis will become tomorrow’s human crisis. Social unrest and political instability will grow, exacerbating all other problems. The danger, ultimately, is cascading series of crisis, each building on the other, with potentially devastating consequences.

During the coming years therefore, we must act in a spirit of global solidarity. Measures we take to deal with the financial crisis must be in the interest of all nations-the poor as well as the rich and powerful. Aid programs for developing nations should be considered a part of any global stimulus and long term economic recovery plan. At the very least, that means not raising the financial crisis as an excuse to reduce international and development assistance. We must honour our commitments under the Millennium Development Goals as a pragmatic as well as a moral responsibility.

We stand on the threshold of a new multilateralism. The pendulum of history is swinging back towards the UN and collective action. The challenge we face as community of nations today are increasingly those of collaboration and cooperation, fighting climate change, rebuilding the global financially system, and promoting sustainable development.

In this interconnected world, the challenge is to see the nexus among these three sets of problems. With vision, we will find solution to each that are solutions to all. But it will take leadership to translate that vision into action, just as it will take leadership to balance our larger long-term interest against the fierce urgencies of now.

BD Conference photos