Opening statement by President of the Republic Tarja Halonen at the Helsinki Process +10 Conference on 13 February 2012 in Hanasaari, Espoo

In recent years the world has been experiencing increasing uncertainty. We can see it in our economies which look more and more fragile. We see it in growing inequality between and within nations. And we can see it the deterioration of our global environment and its consequences.

The fundamental idea of the Helsinki Process was to knit new and larger coalitions for action in global problem-solving.

Bringing various stakeholders – governments, business community, and civil society organizations – to work together in partnerships has been recognized growingly expedient.
This recognition has been sped by up the severity and complexity of recent global challenges. Among those most threatening are climate change, financial crisis, debt crisis, food crisis, jobs crisis and governance crisis.

In its final report the Helsinki Process highlighted three areas where multi-stakeholder cooperation can bring added value: confidence-building by bridging established fault lines, innovation and implementation.

These areas were found relevant for sustainable development by the UN Secretary-General’s High-level Panel on Global Sustainability, which started its deliberations 18 months ago and handed over its report two weeks ago.

In the High-level Panel we attached a lot of attention to implementation. The concept of sustainable development is as valid as it was 20 years ago. What has been missing after the original Earth Summit, is implementation.

The Secretary-General, who mandated the High-level Panel, has felt that a new paradigm was needed to boost implementation of sustainable development.

Our Panel, a group of independent experts, tried its best to deliver on its mandate. We formulated a vision based on a trinity of economic growth, social justice and environmental sustainability. We argue that they are one and the same sustainable development agenda. Progress must be balanced across this agenda.

People are at the center of this agenda – both as targets of actions and actors. Sustainable development is about people’s opportunities to influence their future, claim their rights and voice their concerns. It is about the economy which serves people’s needs while respecting long-term sustainability instead of the prevailing short-termism.

As regards mechanisms for achieving this sustainability vision, action is needed to enable and encourage people, markets and governments to make sustainable choices. Naturally, governments are on a driver’s seat, they have the power to use incentives and regulations for market actors and consumers.

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What then should be done to make sustainable development practical reality?
Obviously, governments and non-governmental actors must seek for answers from various directions.

First, people must be enabled to make sustainable choices.

Second, the concept sustainable development must be incorporated into the mainstream economic policy debate and practice.

Third, governance practices and institutions must be improved.

Let me briefly elaborate on each of the three. Here I am reflecting on the main conclusions of the High-Level Panel. Empowering people must be based on the trinity of dimension of sustainable development, and on the implementation of global commitments, in particular the commitment to Millennium Development Goals.

Education, not only primary but secondary and vocational, is crucial for ensuring that everybody can contribute to addressing today’s challenges and seize opportunities.
Creating employment opportunities, decent and green jobs, especially for women and youth help to drive sustainable growth.

The current global economic crisis offers an opportunity to start to transform the global economy more sustainable.

One key area for action here is incorporating social and environmental costs in regulating and pricing of goods and services. We have also to change the way we measure progress by creating an index or set of indicators of sustainable development.

For investment and financial transactions new incentives for long-term sustainability are needed.

Increased finance for sustainable development will be needed, from public and private sources, including their partnerships.

To achieve sustainable development, an effective framework of institutions and decision-making processes at all levels is needed.

But more important than institutions is good governance, coherence and accountability at the national and global level. They connect the circle back to people and their democratic rights.
In the High-Level Panel we made some recommendations in this field. We felt that a global sustainable development outlook report would help to assess our world in an integrated way.
We also recommend considering the creation of a global sustainable development council.
Last and certainly not least, we recommend that governments should agree to develop a set of key universal sustainable development goals, covering economic, social and environmental dimensions of sustainable development.

Sustainable development goals should galvanize action and complement the MDG’s when their time span will end in 2015.

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When I look at the call of the Helsinki Process for new coalitions through the prism of the Global Sustainability Panel, I see the recommendations of the Panel offering concrete challenges. The recommendations of the Panel are free for all to implement.