Opening Remarks at Inauguration Session, United Nations University

Opening Remarks

United Nations University

Professor Dr. David Malone, Rector at UNU,

Professor Dr. Kazuhiko Takeuchi-san, Vice-rector and director of the Peace and Sustainability Institute,

Distinguished government officials,

Fellow members of the diplomatic corps,

UNU students, faculty and staff,

Dear friends,

Good morning. I thank you all for being here. I have prepared a few words with a special dedication to the students that start today a five-week intensive course that will certainly transform your lives in many ways.

Last year I had the privilege of attending the closing event, where students like you presented their group projects to a guest panel of which I was a part of, and it struck me how much knowledge was invested by the participants to create ideas that would not have existed otherwise.

It was a very good example of creation of shared value: to bring your individual strengths together in order to give life to something that you would not have been able to create individually or separately. It is a precise illustration of synergy. I believe this is what you are here to do from now until mid October.

Allow me to share a brief story about my family. My great-grandfather was born in the XIX Century and passed away at the age of 96. My relatives say I inherited his big hands and I guess that’s why I decided not to become a dentist. My two grandmothers are 98 years old. With one of them I speak every Saturday on the phone. I like to ask her for suggestions about how she has managed to live for so long in such good condition, and her reply is always along the lines of how she took care of her health.

It makes me wonder if I conduct myself in the same healthy way or if my circumstances and choices are detrimental to my genetic longevity. It also makes me wonder how different her XX Century was from this XXI Century we live in.

Every year of this XXI Century so far, humanity has produced in excess of 30 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide, a figure too big to understand. Simultaneously, the planet has been losing as much as a quarter of a million square kilometers of fertile biomass through deforestation, soil erosion and desertification. To put this figure into context, it is the equivalent of losing all of Japan’s forest coverage every year.

Not only are we releasing excessively large amounts of a highly toxic gas into the very air we breathe, but also the vegetation that could clean such pollution is being reduced at an astoundingly accelerated speed. It makes me wonder how much more human behavior can the planet sustain. We are, clearly, on a collision course.

Science, although limited in its ability to explain the extent of the problem, at least has proof that human-made CO2 emissions in the atmosphere are altering global climatic patterns, disrupting a balance that has remained within a normal range of stability for the last 4 million years. The pace of environmental change is faster than it has occurred at any other period in recorded geological history.

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My favorite definition of “conflict” is simply an incompatibility of goals. What I just described is a global conflict that involves all of humankind and also all other forms of life: we cannot continue our collective behavior if we want to survive and thrive as a civilization on the only planet known to science where life exists. This is the greatest and gravest conflict humankind has ever faced, especially due to the vast extent of its consequences.

My favorite definition of peace, paraphrasing Johan Galtung, is

“the ability to transform conflicts empathically, creatively and harmoniously.”

If we assume it as valid, it helps us focus on what is essential in order to transform any conflict, even climate change. The first one is empathy -which is to stand on someone else’s shoes- not only among us humans, but also with other species that are threatened with extinction. The second one is creativity. Einstein said we could not overcome our problems thinking in the same way we did when we fell into them. So we must be creative. And the third one is harmony, or the sensitivity to move towards scenarios of prosperity with the least possible violence or suffering.

Unlike 100 years ago, today there are global citizens that can exercise their leadership towards effectively transforming the most severe global issues. These are the people concerned and involved in issues that go beyond their place of birth, their place of residence or the state that issued their passport. It is the people that understand that what happens in Asia, does not stay in Asia, but affects Africa, Europe and the Americas.

I believe that global citizens share, at least, six characteristics: an understanding of different leadership styles; cultural sensitivity to better adapt to different cultural settings; the capability to facilitate or mediate in situations of conflict; effective communication techniques that allow them to express themselves assertively; negotiation skills; and a sense of global ethics, or clarity about virtue and good in all cultural contexts.

I believe all of you are global citizens, whether you chose to become or not. I also believe that in the course of the coming five weeks, you will come across many situations with your peers where you will realize that you are actively engaging as global citizens dealing with issues that were unfamiliar to you this morning.

What I find most fascinating about global citizenship is that it is an ongoing learning process that is never finished. You can always learn more, study more, listen more, and grow more. Be aware, throughout this academic experience, how much you will be consolidating your global citizenship among your colleagues from different countries, and perhaps most importantly, living in one of the most global cities in the world.

Yesterday’s designation of Tokyo as the hosting city of the 2020 Olympics is a confirmation of its relevance worldwide. Moreover, Fortune magazine ranks Tokyo as the second most global city in the world in terms of the economic impact and political influence of the decisions that are made here by 47 of the largest corporations in the world whose headquarters are located in the city.

Not only Tokyo offers a unique opportunity to expand your global citizenship. According to the Global Peace Index, Japan ranks in the top 10 most peaceful nations on Earth. This is a more remarkable fact considering that 125 million people live in a country that has up to 72% forest coverage, which leaves only a small fraction of the territory for human settlements. Given such high demographic density, it is impressive that the level of conflict and violence is so low in Japan.

What have the Japanese done differently compared to other countries in the world? I leave you with this question so you explore in the coming weeks with your colleagues. I am confident you will discover elements that will enrich your communities back home.

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Reflecting back on the definitions of conflict and peace that I introduced before, global citizens shall become mindful that humankind will not be able to transform global conflicts through military force. Every year, the world spends collectively US$1.7 trillion dollars in military armament. This is ten times larger than what the United Nations suggests is necessary every year to invest in climate change adaptation and the completion of the Millennium Development Goals together. To make it more absurd, no climate-related catastrophe can be stopped with weapons.

Even military generals are now confirming what ecologists have been suggesting for decades, that one of the biggest threats to peace and security in the coming years is climate change.

Therefore, what we need is a special kind of peace: a peace with nature. We must recover the planet’s biocapacity and its ability to generate all the natural resources we consume every day in every corner of the world. We must be empathic towards other life forms and preserve the rich forests that still stand, most of which are in developing countries in Southeast Asia, Africa and Latin America. We must innovate towards greater energy efficiency, including renewable sources of electricity, smart city technologies to allow for a greater quality of life with a lower demand of energy, and a more efficient management of other non-renewable natural resources and raw materials.

I strongly believe we can do what is required to achieve such peace with nature. I suggest that we can get there through bioliteracy, or the ability to understand the language of life, like the water cycle, the carbon cycle, the fertility process that describes all natural ecosystems, the comprehension of human’s ecological footprint on the planet and the many huge opportunities to develop green infrastructure in a way that is financially, socially and environmentally sustainable.

This is not just wishful thinking. Since 2011, the OECD -Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development- has been proposing green growth as an international policy for economic growth. One day in the near future, green growth will come to us. Let’s not wait for that day. Let’s go to it! Let’s utilize our global citizenship, our leadership skills, techniques, and ethics to take the advantages that green growth represents for this Century.

We are the only generation in human civilization that has faced a global challenge of such proportions. The opportunities for transformation are right before our eyes. All we need is to understand the conflict in order to understand the ways to solve it.

Allow me to share another personal reflection. In two months, my wife will give birth to our first child. If my child has the same genetic longevity of my ancestors, this means he or she will be 87 years old at the turn of the XXII Century. None of us in this room will be alive then, but probably my child will, and more likely, his or her children will too. I am aware that I represent a bridge in my family between the XIX and the XXII centuries. This is why, to me, global environmental change is personal. It is a battle I choose to fight, and I encourage you do the same.

Let me finish with a quote from a book I read last week that made me think of you:

"Inspiration is a magical thing, a productivity multiplier, a motivator. But it won't wait for you. Inspiration is a NOW thing. If it grabs you, grab it right back and put it to work."

…

Thank you.

Tokyo, Japan

Sept. 9^th, 2013

Hiroshima: 68 years of peace

For those of us who cherish peace and forge it through our work, being in Hiroshima at the official ceremony to commemorate the atomic bomb detonation is a rare honor that obliges deep reflection and sharing the lessons that this event reminds us year on year. 

War had already been bloody enough. Which war is not? There was rampant poverty, hopelessness about the somber future and combat carried on. Throughout the night before, sirens went off announcing the threat of bombing, frightening the entire city of 400,000 inhabitants. Hiroshima was one of the few Japanese cities that had not been bombed yet. The night went by without incidents and by dawn the sirens had gone mute. It must have been an ominous silence. 

At 8:15 that morning, when people tried to go back to normal on a state of war that had already prolonged for too many years in Japan, four bomber airplanes flew over the city and one of them released which would become the first atomic bomb over a territory inhabited by humans. 

The bomb detonated at 600 meters above ground level. It created a dome of fire that burned the city to the ground within a radius of one mile from the hypocenter, with temperatures exceeding 7000 degrees Fahrenheit. Everything within that radius was vaporized or charred to ashes in two seconds. A great light, a great rumble, followed by a deep darkness and a sepulchral silence, literally. 

Survivors were immersed in a vast confusion, unaware of what had happened with it all. Burned to the bones, many died begging a drink of water by nightfall. Others battled for days or months to a painful, gruesome death. By December of 1945, 140,000 inhabitants of this city had died as a direct result of the atomic explosion. 

The sequels of the bombing are still felt today. Thousands of orphaned children, tens of thousands with unknown diseases resulting from the radiation that were denominated "A-bomb diseases", and the vast majority, victims of discrimination by others who feared they were contaminated by radioactivity. 

Almost two generations have gone by and the memory of that day still reflects the absurdity of war. Men work intensely to make innocent and defenseless women and children suffer and die. That is the measure of "progress" during the campaign. All available resources are consumed, above all, the best minds and hands of the best youngsters, to continue shooting, attacking, invading, scoring Pyrrhic victories. To ask who wins a war is like asking who wins an earthquake or a hurricane. 

At the official ceremony today, there was an initial offering of water for the victims of that day that died of thirst, burned inside and out. Five black birds, as lugubrious self-invited guests, flew over the cenotaph in honor of the victims to the sound of mournful, solemn and shivery music. 

As commented by Mr Keijiro Matsushima, a survivor of the atomic bomb who was 16 at the time, the Fukushima nuclear accident in 2011 was equivalent to a third nuclear bomb for Japan, mainly to the thousands of local inhabitants that have been permanently displaced from their lands, their homes, their communities. "We were unprepared for the use of nuclear energy, even for peaceful purposes," he added. 

Therefore, atomic energy, employed for good or evil, confirms the absurdity of its detructive power. The fact that there are countries still trying to develop those technologies or sharing them with others, or those who trade raw materials for radioactive uses to generate this source of energy is, apart from a shame for civilization, a constant threat that looms over humanity and that threatens all life on the planet.  

This is my bias, partly for being a peace activist, partly for being a citizen of the demilitarized Republic of Costa Rica. It takes a great deal of courage to abolish a military army like my country did 65 years ago. I suggest it requires equal bravery to abolish and eradicate nuclear weapons and nuclear energy from the face of the Earth. All our leaders must possess this courage. 

I repeat the words imprinted forever at the Atomic Bomb Museum here in Hiroshima on October 6, 1990, by Dr. Oscar Arias Sanchez, Nobel Peace Laureate:

"I wish that all the men and women in the world would engrave in their minds the artifacts in this museum so that such a tragedy will never be repeated. Because there are no borders for peace, all humankind must work together to secure it."

Hiroshima: 68 años de paz

Para quienes amamos la paz y laboramos para forjarla, estar en Hiroshima en la ceremonia oficial de conmemoración de la detonación de la bomba atómica es un raro honor que obliga a reflexionar profundamente y compartir las lecciones que este evento nos recuerda año a año. 

La guerra ya había sido lo suficientemente cruenta. ¿Cuál guerra no lo es? Había pobreza por doquier, desesperanza sobre el sombrío porvenir y aún continuaba el combate. La noche antes sonaron sirenas de amenaza de bombardeo durante toda la noche, atemorizando a la ciudad entera de 400.000 personas. Hiroshima era de las pocas ciudades japonesas que no había sido bombardeada todavía. Sin embargo, la noche transcurrió sin incidentes y al amanecer se silenciaron las sirenas. Debe haber sido un silencio ominoso. 

A las 8:15 de la mañana, cuando la gente intentaba nuevamente acceder a la normalidad de un estado de guerra que ya se prolongaba en Japón por demasiados años, cuatro aviones bombarderos sobrevolaron la ciudad y uno de ellos liberó la que sería la primera bomba atómica sobre un territorio habitado por seres humanos. 

La bomba detonó a 600 metros sobre el suelo. Su efecto causó un domo de fuego que calcinó a la ciudad en un radio de dos kilómetros del hipocentro, con temperaturas de hasta 4000 grados centígrados. Todo en ese radio fue evaporado o reducido a cenizas en dos segundos. Una gran luz, un gran retumbo, seguidos de una oscuridad como si fuera de noche y de un silencio sepulcral, literalmente. 

Los sobrevivientes quedaron inmersos en la vasta confusión de quien no sabe qué sucedió con todo aquello. Quemados hasta los huesos, muchos murieron implorando por agua al anochecer. Otros batallaron hasta fallecer días o meses después. Para diciembre de aquel 1945, 140.000 habitantes de esta ciudad habrían fallecido como consecuencia directa de la explosión atómica. 

Las secuelas que dejó la bomba se sienten hasta la fecha. Miles de niños huérfanos, decenas de miles con enfermedades desconocidas producto de la radiación que fueron denominadas "enfermedades de la bomba atómica", y la inmensa mayoría, víctimas de la discriminación de otros por temor a estar contaminados con radioactividad. 

Han pasado casi dos generaciones y el recuerdo de aquel día todavía refleja lo absurda que es la guerra. Hombres trabajan intensamente para que mujeres y niños, inocentes e indefensos, sufran y mueran. Así se mide el "progreso" de la campaña. Se consumen todos los recursos disponibles, sobre todo las mejores mentes y manos de los mejores jóvenes, para seguir disparando, atacando, invadiendo, anotándose triunfos pírricos. Preguntarse quién gana una guerra es como preguntarse quién gana un terremoto o un huracán. 

En la ceremonia oficial de hoy, hubo primero una ofrenda de agua para las víctimas que aquel día murieron de sed, quemados por dentro y por fuera. Cinco pájaros negros, cuales invitados lúgubres, sobrevolaron el cenotafio en honor a las víctimas al son de una música fúnebre, solemne y estremecedora. 

Según relatara anoche el señor Keijiro Matsushima, sobreviviente de la bomba atómica que tenía 16 años aquel día, el accidente nuclear de 2011 en Fukushima equivalió a una tercera bomba atómica para Japón, sobre todo para los miles de habitantes de la localidad que han sido desplazados  permanentemente de sus tierras, de sus casas, de sus comunidades. "No estábamos preparados para el uso de la energía nuclear, aún con fines pacíficos", relató.

Por ello la energía atómica, empleada para bien o para mal, reitera el absurdo de su poder destructivo. Que haya países que aún intenten desarrollar esas tecnologías o compartirlas con otros, o los que comercien la materia prima y material radioactivo para la generación de esta fuente de energía es, además de una vergüenza para la civilización, una amenaza constante que se cierne sobre la humanidad y que atenta contra toda la vida en el planeta. 

Este es mi sesgo en parte por ser un activista de la paz, en parte por ser un ciudadano de la desmilitarizada República de Costa Rica. Se requiere mucha valentía para abolir un ejército militar como lo hizo mi país 65 años atrás. Sugiero que se requiere igual valentía para abolir y erradicar de la faz de la Tierra las armas y la energía nuclear. De esa valentía deben estar dotados nuestros líderes y gobernantes. 

Hago eco de las palabras que dejó inscritas para siempre en el Museo de la Bomba Atómica aquí en Hiroshima, el 6 de octubre de 1990, el Dr. Óscar Arias Sánchez, Premio Nóbel de la Paz: 

"Que las imágenes de este museo se graben en las mentes de los hombres y mujeres del mundo para que nunca más se repita una tragedia semejante. Porque la paz no tiene fronteras, por conseguirla debe trabajar la humanidad entera."

Amenazas militares de Corea del Norte contra Japón

El acontecimiento geopolítico más relevante de este mes de marzo para el Japón ha sido la amenaza de ataque militar por parte de Corea del Norte, que resultó de maniobras de la fuerza aérea estadounidense sobre cielos surcoreanos. Dichos ejercicios fueron interpretados por autoridades norcoreanas como una provocación y un ensayo para una eventual invasión a su territorio.

La expresión de violencia militar, política y diplomática fue dirigida específicamente a las bases militares estadounidenses en Japón y Guam, argumentando que es de bases en estos lugares de donde despegaron los bombarderos utilizados en los vuelos de entrenamiento.

La notoria agresividad del régimen norcoreano se ha visto exacerbada en días recientes por las sanciones impuestas por Naciones Unidas el mes pasado en respuesta a la tercera prueba nuclear realizada por Norcorea en el mismo mes de febrero. Adicionalmente, la Comisión de Derechos Humanos de Naciones Unidas ha aprobado la semana pasada la creación de una comisión para investigar supuestos abusos de derechos humanos en Corea del Norte.

Es destacable, en esta oportunidad, el aumento de tensiones en la región del Lejano Oriente o Asia del Este, concretamente entre Japón, China, Corea del Sur y Corea del Norte. Los últimos seis meses han sido de un ruidoso incremento del discurso hostil, desde el verano anterior en que se agitaron las aguas por disputas territoriales entre Japón, por una parte, y China y Corea del Sur, respectivamente, así como la reciente detonación nuclear norcoreana y esta última manifestación ofensiva de amenaza de ataque militar.

Para una democracia desmilitarizada como la costarricense, este escenario geopolítico es inaudito y deplorable. Mientras nuestro país avanza una agenda de prosperidad basada en el desarme, la sostenibilidad y la creación de valor socioeconómico y ambiental a través de la implementación exitosa de los derechos humanos, en pleno Siglo XXI el este asiático pareciera estar reviviendo el teatro vivido durante inicios del siglo pasado y la consecuente guerra mundial que vio, en esta zona geográfica, una de sus manifestaciones más cruentas y violentas.

Es menester mantener la firmeza de la posición histórica costarricense basada en intereses y principios que promueven la convivencia pacífica entre naciones y estados y expresarse con vehemencia ante manifestaciones belicistas que, de ninguna manera, ofrecen ni proponen opciones para la creación de valor en torno a medios pacíficos.

Se debe considerar, además, la posibilidad de que la autoridad moral de Costa Rica pudiera aportar mejores prácticas para la transformación de estos conflictos que son, por ahora, fácilmente desescalables en términos de los costos en los que se debe incurrir para obtener los beneficios que traería otro tipo de entendimiento entre las partes.

Más allá de lo específicamente local del conflicto y lo que pudiera afectar a los actores directos, la alteración de la armonía en las relaciones internacionales significa una pérdida para toda la comunidad global en el sentido de seguridad y en las expectativas de prosperidad que se procuran a nivel doméstico en todos los rincones del mundo. Ello sin entrar a considerar el impacto económico que tendría un incremento en la belicosidad en las semanas y meses siguientes, en tiempos de cadenas globales de valor que integran industrias enteras vinculadas prácticamente a toda región del orbe.

Por lo expuesto, el liderazgo de Costa Rica, si bien tan solo indicando lo que no anda bien y cómo reenfocarlo hacia la paz, podría resultar un instrumento innovador en lo que algunos sugieren son los albores de la Guerra Fría del Siglo XXI. 

Speech at the 11th Informal Meeting to Further Actions on Climate Change

Thank you, Mr. co-Chair.

I am the Costa Rican ambassador to Japan and I have the mandate to establish a bilateral green growth agenda between both countries.

Two years ago, upon arrival to Japan in the wake of the worst tsunami in 1000 years, my wife and I planted 50 cherry trees that will hopefully be in bloom this week. That is a repeated effort that we have done to increase the planet’s biocapacity.

Yesterday was my first day in school, as some of you mentioned, and today might be my last one, unfortunately. I have had a memorable experience so far although ambivalent in extreme.

On the one hand, I have admired the knowledge, technical skills and experience expressed in every comment and concept that I have heard. For an enthusiast trained in philosophy of law, this has been a magnificent playground and a unique learning opportunity.

On the other hand, I have become increasingly concerned about the state of affairs of the only planet that supports life in the universe. NASA proved last week that life had become extinct in Mars and our main objective must be to revert the trends that are leading Earth towards collapse and reinvigorate life across all species by embracing regenerative development as a humankind.

I feel additionally ambivalent when I compare and contrast ecologists’ prognoses about the planet’s ecosphere –where life lives- and the apparent consensus or at least political leverage to allow the long-term global temperature to rise by 2C.

If you take a closer look, you will see some turtles in the patterns of my tie. If we allow the planet’s temperatures to increase by 2C, there will be no more marine turtles, of which five of a total seven species are born in Costa Rica.

My country committed six years ago to become carbon neutral by 2021 and we are working hard to achieve it, including support from the Japanese and other governments represented here.

But the truth is that for the last 30 years we have become an exemplar of regenerative development, tripling our GDP and at the same time doubling our forest coverage. Our green growth strategy runs on the principle that our behavior must have a net positive impact on our ecosystems.

A final source of ambivalence is when I hear the finances of mitigation and adaptation. One hundred billion dollars a year is less than 10% what the world spends in military armament. If I were the finance minister of planet Earth it would be a no-brainer to shift spending from the latter to the former.

Perhaps that is my cultural bias, as Costa Rica abolished its military army 65 years ago and effectively spent that money in education, healthcare and environmental conservation. In a way, we could say that Costa Rica swapped its weapons for trees.

I am confident that with 65 negotiation days ahead towards a legally binding agreement we will be able to succeed configuring an innovative policy framework that will revert degrading trends and move us swiftly into a regenerative path.

Thank you.