"If we want sustainable development to become a reality, we have to create a true sustainable economy. Our economy is based on the relation with nature, and its essential elements are earth, water and climate. Of course, if they are exploited and irretrievably destroyed, there will be no sustainable economy. Therefore, interest in the environment must be understood by politicians as the basis of economy and human activity". This is a passage from the speech given yesterday, in front of the Second Committee of the 61st UN General Assembly, by the Permanent Observer of the Holy See, mgr. Celestino Migliore. The subject was point 53 of Agenda 21, about sustainable development. "The environmental issue has not only ethical and scientific implications he stated it is also a political and economic subject. The world needs an ecological conversion so as to critically look at the current models of thought, production and consumption". As he hailed with satisfaction the progress made by Agenda 21, mgr. Migliore invited the countries to do more in the area of "renewable energies and green technologies". The Observer of the Holy See made a special reference to the subject of water, as he called for "a governance of water resources based on subsidiarity, that demands that the local communities be involved in the decision-making processes".
