Oct. 14, 2013 - Seoul, Korea
As the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon established the Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) to explore solutions to problems of sustainability development, the SDSN-Korea Forum (SDSNK) was officially launched in Seoul on Oct.7, 2013, as the Korean chapter of SDSN. Against this background, the SDSNK and SDSN Leadership Council co-hosted the Inaugural Conference of SDSNK in Seoul, on Oct. 14, 2013.
The audience gathered 200 participants, including scientists, engineers, development practitioners and civil society leaders from research centers, universities, businesses and civic organizations, willing and able to collaborate to find solutions for global, regional and national sustainable development.
Prof. Jeffrey Sachs, world-renowned professor of economics, leader in sustainable development and senior United Nations advisor, delivered opening remarks as co-chair & Director of the SDSN, Special Advisor to the UN Secretary-General on MDGs and Director of the Earth Institute. He made a presentation on the report to the UN Secretary-General ‘An Action Agenda for Sustainable Development’ during Session I ‘Global Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Role of Korea’ and co-chaired Session II ‘Challenges of Sustainable Development for Korea and the role of SDSNK.
Finally, Prof. Sachs presented an ‘Evaluation from Global Perspectives’. During this presentation, Sachs reminded that Korea had achieved many successes, and particularly an outstanding, and even unique, economic growth, with high school education and very low unemployment rates. However, the country was still facing major challenges and many areas should be improved, such as social welfare (Korea collects much less in tax revenues than most OECD countries and Mexico is the only country having less social expenditures than Korea), the lowest level of trust in other people, and a low level of trust in government or confidence in national institutions.
Korea climbed the ladder but building more social trust, resilience and confidence is important. Additionaly, Korea needs to come up with new approaches to secure social inclusion.
Regarding the environmental dimension of sustainable tourism, the situation is problematic as Korea is heavily using imported fossil fuels and therefore emits a lot carbon dioxide, just below countries such as Australia, US, Saudi Arabia, Canada, Russia, mostly producers of fossil fuels. Whereas Korea emits 11 tons of CO2 per capita, it should reduce it to 1 to 2 tons.
'Either we wreck the planet or we fix the planet' said Sachs. Korea should therefore change its energy systems. Nuclear power may be a desirable solution, in spite of security or proliferation risks.
Jeffrey Sachs recommended that everybody should brainstorm together and compare their respective experiences to bring innovation in elaborating new system designs for sustainable development. He concluded by saying 'I know Korea will come out with solutions'.
