Oxford University held its Re|Source forum recently, and former US President Bill Clinton addressed the group on the subject of scarce resources and how to manage their development and use in a way that is fair and equitable. The most important decision of the 21st century is whether the human race can learn to share its scarce natural resources for the common good, President Bill Clinton told delegates at Re|Source 2012 during a two-day forum at the University of Oxford.
Clinton said: ‘The only strategy that makes sense is the one that says we are going to share the world with other human beings and we will share its natural resources.’ This, he said, ‘is the fundamental decision of the 21st century.’ This is an important issue, and the extent to which it can be fairly managed will make an enormous difference to us all.
Clinton’s address reflected a key theme from the conference about the need for greater cooperation between governments, businesses and other organizations to successfully meet the resource challenges the world.
In particular, he noted, the private sector has the commercial leverage and influence to drive significant changes — and can create new models in finance to support these changes.
Mr Clinton was the keynote speaker at Re|Source, a gathering of 250 leaders from business, finance, policy and government, dedicated to the issue of how the world can manage resource scarcity with economic growth.
His keynote address on Friday concluded the event, which had earlier heard from speakers including Nobel laureate Amartya Sen; Amory Lovins, named by Time magazine as one of the world’s 100 most influential people; Rt Hon David Miliband MP, former UK Foreign Secretary; and David Nabarro, the UN’s Special Representative on Food Security and Nutrition.
Article by Roger Greenway, appearing courtesy Environment News Network.
