埃里克·索尔海姆:为青年参与治理全球环境危机提出四项倡议

 

2022年5月13日上午,由山东省人民政府、中国人民对外友好协会、中华全国青年联合会、中国宋庆龄基金会主办,山东省人民政府外事办公室、全球化智库(CCG)等机构承办的“2022国际青年交流大会”举行,联合国前副秘书长兼环境规划署执行主任埃里克·索尔海姆在论坛上发表致辞:

大家好,我是埃里克·索尔海姆,前联合国环境规划署执行主任,也是“一带一路”绿色发展国际联盟的负责人之一。我很高兴受邀在山东省济南市举办的国际青年交流大会上致辞。山东是中国的重要省份之一,是人口第二大省和经济第三大省。在我的老朋友李干杰书记的领导下,山东正在高速发展。山东位于黄河入海口,是中华文明发展的核心地区,是中国历史的重要组成部分,也是一个非常美丽的地方。

几年前,我和我的儿子奥克森去了孔子的故乡曲阜。我们都非常欣赏孔子的智慧。他2500年前的教诲在当今这个时代仍然适用。孔子认为,智慧、仁爱和勇敢是人类最重要的三个道德品质。而在21世纪,我们也要将这些牢记于心,因为它们能够解决当今时代的三重危机,即气候变化、环境破坏和环境污染。让我们汲取孔子的智慧,用智慧的方式促进科学进步,做正确的事情;我们必须要怀有仁爱之心,考虑到每个人,包括穷人;我们必须要勇敢,在解决这个问题之前,决不停下脚步,勇气对于寻找新的解决方案来说至关重要。

而在这场与三重环境危机的斗争中,青年人可以发挥非常重要的作用。除了青年人之外,没有人能够解决这个问题。纵观历史,重大运动的发起者往往是青年,比如中国的五四运动就是由青年发起的。你们可以通过多种方式助力环境保护,你们可以创立绿色企业、可以通过学术研究来探讨环境和绿色议题,也可以在日常生活中成为一名绿色公民,成为他人的榜样,或投身于你的家乡和国家的环境改善。

我在此提出四项倡议。第一,请推广太阳能和可再生能源。当你看到停车场或农舍时,请向那里的人们提出架设太阳能板的建议,因为太阳能是现在世界上最便宜的能源,比煤炭及化石燃料便宜得多。但我们需要加大对太阳能的推广力度,让世界各地都用上太阳能。中国在风能和太阳能领域领先世界,但还能发挥更大作用。

第二,请助力电力交通。当你的家庭购买汽车时,请选择电动汽车。购买自行车时,请选择电动自行车。另外,也请推广快速交通和公共交通。我知道乘坐高铁在几个小时内就可以从济南去北京或上海。希望各位能够将同样快速的公共交通工具推广到世界其他地方。

第三,请多植树。我们需要一个更加绿色的世界。深圳是一个绿化率很高的中国城市,美丽的绿色走廊贯穿整个城市,杭州、苏州等城市也是如此,但我们仍需要在各地种植更多的树木。习近平主席承诺,从现在到2030年,中国每年将种植相当于比利时国土面积的树林,这是一个非常鼓舞人心的承诺。

最后,请助力循环经济发展。拒绝塑料浪费、拒绝粮食浪费、拒绝电子产品浪费,由企业将它们集中回收,用于发展循环经济。

做到推广可再生能源和电力交通方式、积极植树并发展循环经济,我们将解决当今时代面临的三重环境危机。中国在这方面处于领先地位,世界上80%的太阳能电池板产自中国,99%的电动公交车行驶在中国的马路上。中国在绿色氢能、风能乃至基本上所有绿色技术方面都是世界第一。中国现在日益成为绿色环保实践的领导者,比如,中国正在黄河的大部分地区实行捕鱼禁令,以期在一段时间内恢复鱼的数量,这是很好的范例。山东省是中国绿色行动的领导者,正如习主席所说“绿水青山就是金山银山”,最近,我从一些青岛朋友那里得知,青岛决定建设世界级绿色港口,努力成为绿色航运的领导者;淄博的朋友告诉我他们想把淄博打造成电池之都和绿色氢能之城。有这么多令人赞叹的进步和项目都来自山东,助力中国成为全球绿色领袖。

因此,对于此次在济南举行的国际青年交流大会,我十分期待,祝大会圆满成功,期待诸位的讨论取得丰硕成果。

谢谢。

英文原文:

 

Hello, Ni Hao, I’m Eric Solheim, the former Executive Director of UN-Environment. I’m currently one of the leaders of the Green Belt and Road Coalition. I’m so happy to be asked to speak at the Global Youth Forum in Jinan, Shandong province. Shandong is one of the key provinces of China, the second biggest in population, the third biggest economy in China, and now searching ahead under the good leadership of my long-term friend, party secretary, Li Ganjie. Shandong is also the core of the Chinese civilization at the mouth of the Yellow River, and the key part of China throughout history, a very beautiful place.

Few years back, I went to Qufu, the hometown of Confucius, with my son Oxen. And we really enjoyed the wisdom of this man. 2500 years back, he taught us lessons for our time. Confucius said, wisdom, compassion and courage are the three most important moral qualities of man. And let’s take that to heart also in the 21st century, then that target triple crisis in our time, which is a triple environment crisis: climate change, environment destruction and pollution. Let’s use the wisdom of Confucius. We must do it with wisdom, building up on science, doing the right things. We must do it with compassion, bringing everyone on board, also poor people. And we must do it with courage. We cannot stop before we have solved this problem. So being brave, looking for new solutions are absolutely critical.

And in this struggle to defeat the triple environment crisis, young people has a very important role to play. No one will solve this problem except young people. Throughout history, young people were always the people who started big movements. Look at China, where the May Fourth Movement, for example, was done by young people. And you can do it in many ways. You can be entrepreneurs starting green business. You can do through a studies, studying environment and green issues. And you can do it through a private life, being a green citizen, showing an example to others, or engaging in the environment issues in your town or your nation.

And I have four tasks for you. Please promote solar and renewable energy. When you see a roof of a parking spot or farmhouse, please ask people to put up solar panels. Because solar is the cheapest energy in the world, much cheaper than coal or any fossil fuels. But we need to supercharge the solar energy and bring it everywhere. China is the leading nation in the wind and solar energy, but China can also do more.

Secondly, please promote electric mobility. When your family buy a car, please buy an electric car. If you buy a bicycle, please buy an electric bicycle. And, of course, please promote rapid transport and public transport. You can all go in a couple of hours from Jinan to Beijing or to Shanghai with the super fast, beautiful Chinese trains. And let’s promote the same fast public mobility to the rest of the world.

Thirdly, please plant trees. We need a much greener world. Shenzhen is a fantastic green city in China, with beautiful green corridors through the city. And of course, Hangzhou, Suzhou, so many other Chinese cities, are green, that we need to plant more trees everywhere. And they promise, by President Xi, that China will plant an area in the size of Belgium every year, from now to 2030. That’s a fantastic, inspiring promise by President Xi.

And finally, please promote a circular economy. Don’t waste plastic, don’t waste food, don’t waste electronics, but ask companies to take them back and circulate them into a renewable economy.

We do all this, the renewable energy, electric transport, tree planting and the circular economy, we will solve the great crisis of our time, the triple environment crisis. And China, of course, is now so much in the lead. 80% of all solar panels in the world are produced in China. 99% of all electric buses in the world are running on Chinese roads. And China is number one in green hydrogen, wind energy, basically every technology. And China is also now more and more a leader in green environment practice. At the Yellow River, for instance, China is now stopping fisheries in big parts of the Yellow River to get fish back in abundance in some time. This is a great example. Shandong province has a leading role in this movement in China to go green. Green is gold, as Presidency is saying. I’m just recently been in touch with people in Qingdao, they want to make Qingdao a green port in the world, lead a place for green shipping, or people from the city of Zibo, they want to make Zibo an electric battery capital, or a green hydrogen city. There are so many exciting processes and programs coming from Shandong and helping China to be a green leader.

So, I’m excited about this youth conference in Jinan. I wish it complete success, and I’m very eager to hear about the sounds or discussions in Jinan. Xie xie.

 

(本文根据前联合国副秘书长兼环境规划署执行主任埃里克·索尔海姆在全球化智库(CCG)等机构举办的“2022国际青年交流大会”上的发言整理,未经本人审阅,转载请注明出处)