2013 a path to a cleaner, productive future

In June 2012, world leaders gathered in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, for a summit on environment and development.

Bhutan convinced the UN to adopt a resolution on "Happiness: a holistic approach to development." This resolution commits nations to create "the necessary political, social and economic conditions to enable the pursuit of happiness by citizens within a stable environment."

I agree with the Buthanese leader when he said that promoting happiness and well-being is indeed an important objective.

But we also need to agree on a new approach for achieving a prosperous and sustainable future.

Sustainable development means development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

We must stop nations from destroying irreplaceable natural resources and polluting the planet! Human behavior must change in order to prevent more divided societies, increased poverty and worsened environmental damage!

About 3 billion people on the planet, many of them in Africa, lack access to electricity. They are forced to use wood, coal, or other unhealthy materials for cooking or heating homes.

We must develop green-energy programme to increase the production of energy from geotherman, wind and bio-fuel power.

African heads of state and ministers must meet more often and agree on a consensus response about sustainable development programme (increasing commitments to agricultural productivity, providing access to safe drinking water, manage hazardous wastes, climate change...).

African governments must pledge to make development work for all... governments must listen to the people, not the polluters...

In Africa, urban planning is slow and bureaucratic, and by the time it reaches implementation, things have already chnaged, growth has outstripped the plans!!!

Many urbans Africans currently are obliged to live in slums!

How can we change our political system? The only way to fight corruption is to improve our institutions. You and I can change this situation... the power of people can no longer be undermined...

My brothers and sisters, based on what history has taught us, it is up to our voices, voices of thoughtful concerned citizens, to stand up and resist corruption.

Enough is enough! We need a strong civil society across Africa!

Sustainable Development

Growing populations and industrialization have made environmental pollution a big problem around the world!

In this picture, you can see a "gohoto" woman who goes door-to-door buying plastic bottles and all kind of containers to recycle them. In Rep of Benin, we have thousands of women who do this recycling job.

Cleaning up the trash of a "throw away," consumer society, in addition to its industrial waste, is technologically challenging! 

As I told my students, environmental degradation is not unique to the 21st century. 

The Roman Empire, for example, deforested large expanses of Africa and western Asia, and later Westerners have decimated or eliminated countless animals and plant species! 

The Thames River, which intersects London, was used as the main sewage dump for one of the largest cities in the world! The stench from the river was so terrible that members of Parliament could smell the pollution from their open windows!

In the mid-twentieth century, the river emptying into Lake Erie from Cleveland, Ohio, was so polluted from industrial waste that it actually caught fire!!

Driven by poverty many poor countries in the poor South have accepted chemical and industries that have not been accepted in the rich northern nations.

We must call for stricter regulations or the outright banning of such operations! 

Risks of long-term health problems and pollution or starvation of our families....are these the only choices left..

A poor South which already struggles with rapid population growth, high unemployment, and the need for EDUCATION, people fleeing the countryside in search of a greener side, in search of better lives in urban areas, or emigrate,....often illegally to seek jobs...

We need to find solutions to our environmental problems. We need to adopt a national system of soil and water conservation!! 


We need to fight for environmental protection, poverty reduction and human development. We need to mobilize the students worldwide on issues of sustainable development.