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OPENING REMARKS

BY MR JACQUES CHIRAC
PRESIDENT OF THE FRENCH REPUBLIC

DURING THE ROUND TABLE ON
BIODIVERSITY, CULTURAL DIVERSITY AND ETHICS

ON THE OCCASION OF THE
WORLD SUMMIT ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

JOHANNESBURG - SOUTH AFRICA

TUESDAY 3 SEPTEMBER 2002

Mr. Chairman,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is a pleasure for me to welcome you to this round table on cultural diversity, biodiversity and ethics organized with UNESCO at the initiative of the United Nations Environment Programme and France.

Sustainable development is not just a technical and economic issue. It is a response to the worldwide ecological and social crisis. It is an ethical vision, confronting us with the question of the rights and duties of humankind toward nature and creation.

The time has come to supplement our political and economic decisions with a dialogue among cultures and an in-depth discussion about the nature of the challenge we face.

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I for my part am sustained by four convictions.

First, that in order to thrive, every human group must have confidence in its cultural identity.

Second, that there will never be humanized and controlled globalization without respect for the diversity of cultures and languages. There is nothing more foreign to the human spirit than evolution towards a uniform civilization, just as their is nothing more hostile to the movement of life than a reduction in biodiversity.

Third, that in parallel with globalization there must be a drive for dialogue among cultures. This dialogue is needed for the sake of peace, because it forestalls identity polarization and fosters the respect which the world's cultures owe to each other.

Fourth, that none of us alone has the solution to the complex problems which we face. We must exchange and share experience and ways of thinking as we move forward.

How, for example, can an environmental ethics be built without taking into account not just the progress made in science but also that made in ideas on all continents; without taking advantage of the philosophies and values bequeathed to us by, for example, the world's great religions?

How can the gap between modern man and nature be narrowed without respecting indigenous peoples and respecting their place in the world, so that the culture, the knowledge and the skills they have acquired over the millennia can enlighten us?

How can a global ethics be built without rehabilitating the oral traditions of Africa, Asia and Oceania?

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Despite the enormous promise it holds out, globalization threatens diversity. As it is developing today, globalization is driven primarily by the headlong progress in virtual technologies which is altering our relationship with tangible reality. It is based on mass consumption and its underlying thrust is toward standardization of products, norms and languages. It is grounded in trade and tends to commoditize everything. We must take care that it does not get out of control and become a force without values, with its own momentum its only goal.

If we neglect to regulate globalization with laws, it will end up impoverishing mankind.

One response which France proposes is for the international community to adopt a world convention on cultural diversity. This would be the counterpart to the Convention on Biological Diversity. It would lend the weight of international law to the principles couched in the declaration just adopted by UNESCO.

A convention of this sort would reflect the universal values which form our common heritage. These values are well-known - those of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the covenants and treaties derived from it; those recognizing the sacred nature of humankind and of life, which all human activity has a categorical imperative to respect.

A convention of this sort would affirm that cultural diversity is part of the common human heritage, that it is a right which every State may exercise. It would affirm the equal dignity of all human cultures.

A convention of this sort would naturally have to spell out the rights and duties of States in this field:

- Respect for linguistic pluralism and mobilization to halt the extinction of languages in the world - it is estimated that at the current pace, half of them will disappear within fifty years. This is an incalculable loss.

- Affirmation of the right of States to support creative activity through appropriate pro-active policies and actions.

- Affirmation of the exceptional nature of cultural goods, which are not goods like others and whose specificity must be respected.

- Recognition of the need for a dialogue of cultures to enable us to move toward a more peaceful world and work together to find solutions to the problems of our time.

- Development of procedures for international cooperation to help countries preserve their tangible and intangible heritage and defend their creative cultural works.

UNESCO should be given responsibility for this convention. This will enable the organization to play its part in establishing the laws that must govern globalization. Together with its partners concerned, first and foremost with its French-speaking partners, France will be presenting a proposal in coming months.

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Ladies and Gentlemen, the round table which we form illustrates the importance of our debate. I am happy that Heads of State and Government and Ministers from all continents have come. Their presence here bears witness to the fact that our concern is widely shared.

I am happy that distinguished figures who are emblematic of the most promising aspects of today's world have joined us. I would also mention in particular my friend Rigoberta Menchu, the Nobel Peace Prize laureate, to whom the renaissance of Amerindian peoples and civilizations owes so much. I would mention the great African writer and winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, Wole Soyinka.

Thanks to you, ethics and the quest for values will play a crucial role in our discussions. Thanks to you, warmth and openness will not be absent from our summit. Thanks to you, culture will gradually take its place as the fourth pillar of sustainable development alongside economics, environment and social concerns.

Thank you.