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World locked in short-term thinking, says UN chief
(Gulf News Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)Dubai: Short-term thinking is destroying the world's environment and putting the future of humanity at risk, the UN chief said after accepting a major environment award in Dubai.
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan called on world leaders and businesses to promote sustainable development and alternative sources of energy.
He said the Middle East could pioneer efforts to reduce the world's dependence on fossil fuels, which contribute to global warming.
"The world remains locked into short-term thinking, from election cycles in politics to profit-taking in the business world. Sustainable development cries out for a long-term perspective," Annan said.
Annan accepted the 2005 Zayed Prize for Global Leadership for the Environment from His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, at Dubai International Convention Centre last night. He was accompanied by his wife Nane.
"Thank you for the honour of this prize. I am proud to accept it on behalf of the men and women of the United Nations, who are strongly dedicated to their mission of peace, tolerance and human dignity," he said.
Annan's award for environmental leadership was the first of three presented as part of the Zayed International Prize for the Environment initiative, which was inaugurated in 2001.
In the second category, for Scientific or Technical Achievement in Environment, the prize was given to a team of 1,360 experts of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment. This project has involved the cataloguing of the condition of the globe's ecosystems and their "life-giving services".
The third category prize, for Environmental Action Leading to Positive Change in Society, was given jointly to two recipients. Angela Cropper, Co-President of the Cropper Foundation of Trinidad and Tobago, shared the prize with Emil Salem, former Indonesian state minister for population and environment and the chair of the board of trustees for numerous Indonesian environmental organisations.
Annan added that efforts to safeguard the world's environment and work towards sustainable development "lag behind what is truly needed" and he added that people were inflicting "a terrible toll" on the world's resources.
Annan 'was chosen unanimously'
Klaus Toepfer, Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme, said Kofi Annan had been unanimously chosen for the 2005 Zayed Prize for Global Leadership for the Environment award because of his "lifelong dedication to fighting poverty, to sustainable development and to the environment".
He said he joined Shaikh Mohammad "in sorrow" following the death of Shaikh Maktoum Bin Rashid Al Maktoum before adding: "We also wish to recognise your vision in making Dubai a global cross-roads and meeting place."
He added that the vision of Shaikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan that the environment should be protected was "being heard by the people of the region and people of the world".
The first recipient of Zayed Prize for Global Leadership was former US president Jimmy Carter in 2001, while the second presentation in 2003 was made to the British Broadcasting Corp (BBC).
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