{"id":254697,"date":"2023-07-05T10:18:55","date_gmt":"2023-07-05T14:18:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/77\/?p=254697"},"modified":"2023-07-05T11:19:44","modified_gmt":"2023-07-05T15:19:44","slug":"pga-remarks-to-7th-ministerial-conference-on-environment-and-health","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/77\/2023\/07\/05\/pga-remarks-to-7th-ministerial-conference-on-environment-and-health\/","title":{"rendered":"PGA remarks to 7th Ministerial Conference on Environment and Health"},"content":{"rendered":"

[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”4.16″ global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.16″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”|||” global_colors_info=”{}” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.21.0″ _module_preset=”default” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” sticky_enabled=”0″]<\/p>\n

Csaba\u00a0K\u0151r\u00f6si<\/em>,<\/i>\u00a0President of the 77th<\/sup>\u00a0session of the General Assembly<\/b><\/b><\/p>\n

—-<\/b><\/b><\/p>\n

7th<\/sup>\u00a0Ministerial Conference on Environment and Health \u00a0<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

5 July 2023<\/a><\/b><\/b><\/p>\n

(As delivered)<\/b><\/b><\/p>\n

Honorable Ministers,<\/p>\n

Regional Directors,<\/p>\n

Chair of Taskforce,<\/p>\n

Executive Secretary,<\/p>\n

Excellencies,<\/p>\n

Ladies and Gentlemen,<\/p>\n

Let me express my sincere thanks to Hungary and the WHO for co-hosting the Seventh Ministerial Conference.<\/p>\n

It is an exceptional occasion to address a room full of experts who understand better than anyone how the complex dynamics between health and the environment are shaping our world today.<\/p>\n

When the COVID pandemic reached Europe, you were among the first to face the deadly onslaught, translating medical jargon to terrified people and scouring the world for supplies.<\/p>\n

COVID-19 was a postcard from the future.<\/p>\n

It was the prototype of the Anthropocene era crises.<\/p>\n

It made us acutely aware that\u00a0when anybody is at risk, everybody is at risk<\/span>.<\/p>\n

It has taught us that human impact on the biosphere inevitably involves counter-impacts on human health.<\/p>\n

It has proven that when human activities are the number one factor to reshape conditions of life on Earth, an array of our operations may become extremely vulnerable to shocks. Particularly if they have been developed to override or replace forces of nature.<\/p>\n

It has been one more proof that we are in an era of cascading crises which are placing our health, economies, societies and the strained multilateral system under relentless pressure.<\/p>\n

We are at an inflection point.<\/p>\n

Some roots of the crises we face today are rather traditional. They go back to geopolitical conflicts. The consequences are a division of the world into spheres of influence, wars, energy insecurity and the threat of nuclear weapon use, to name a few.<\/p>\n

The other source of crises is the non-sustainable way of our living and its consequences: climate change, biodiversity loss, water crisis, pollution, degradation of soils.<\/p>\n

What we have to understand now, how these two types of challenges interact and create a new reality.<\/p>\n

Marked by food insecurity, increased probability of pandemics, heavy debt burden on more than half of the member states of the ±¬ÁÏÍø, increased social and political insecurity, growing potential of mass migration and reduced incubation period of the upcoming, complex crises.<\/p>\n

But there are hopes as well. Rapidly evolving science and new technologies are overwriting our minds, our means and our systems.<\/p>\n

They offer a chance to better understand the nature of this new chapter of history.<\/p>\n

Ladies and Gentlemen,<\/p>\n

We are racing against the time. It means, that we are still in the race. Not everything has been lost.<\/p>\n

All these developments demand that we radically transform the way we think and act: how we produce, use, and preserve.<\/p>\n

Where are we now? We inherited<\/p>\n