Klaus Toepfer Quotations

There are encouraging examples of ecosystems being managed for the long-term to create wealth for poor communities, but there is still a huge job to do. Natural resources can be properly used to greatly reduce poverty. The time has come to reverse the course of worsening diseases, depleted natural resources, political instability, inequality, and the social corrosion of angry generations that have no means to rise out of poverty.

The extraordinary rise in both human populations and consumption levels leaves us no choice but to take innovative and ambitious actions to reverse the widespread destruction of species and ecosystems,

There is clear and growing evidence of a link between reverence for the land and a breadth of unique and special plants and animals. Sadly, sacred sites are also under threat, and there is an urgent need to help local, indigenous and traditional peoples safeguard their heritage. This can do much to conserve the biological and genetic diversity upon which we all depend.

So it must be a clear signal that, in order to avoid such a disaster, we must deploy technologies and adopt economic measures that are already available and feasible.

One is that if you have no price, no limitation of carbon dioxide, you don't have the demand for those technologies.

One area that the IOC might wish review is the issue of recycling of sporting infrastructure. Take bobsleigh for example. TOROC did a great job to try and mitigate its environmental impact. But the fact remains that constructing, operating and maintaining what is effectively a huge fridge in the mountains raises many fundamental questions of sustainability.

more detailed field analysis of soil and water quality is needed to gauge the exact state of rehabilitation.

I am delighted that we have finally come together to forge a forward-looking road map for closer cooperation.

I am delighted that governments could agree to this new chemicals initiative, which I sincerely believe will be a step change in the way we use and produce chemicals.

The peoples of the Arctic and the small islands of this world face many of the same threats.

We must convince and empower people to adopt the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity as their guiding principle,

I would urge Presidents and Prime Ministers to make this WRI report and the findings of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment indispensable parts of their reading. I am sure that the conclusions will suggest to them, as they do to me, fresh, imaginative, sensible and truly sustainable approaches to the pressing development issues of the day,

It is clear from this report, and from a series of other studies published throughout the year, that the environment is something like the red ribbon running through the Millennium Development Goals.

It is a moral issue of the highest importance. By conserving the habitats of the great apes, we are helping to overcome poverty and to conserve the natural wealth upon which current and future human generations depend. It seems a small price to pay.

Sustainable construction is one way to show social responsibility to a world now threatened with environmental disaster, especially from global warming. We have to do everything in our means to ease this crisis at every level, beginning in your home and your company.

There are many important messages emerging from this pioneering study. One that rings loud and clear is the economic one - that our collective failure to value the goods and services provided by international waters, and to narrowly price the benefits in terms of the few rather than the many, is impoverishing us all.

There are also global implications, not least because a pollution parcel like this, which stretches three kilometers high, can travel half way round the globe in a week.

Without doubt, sports and sports men and women can be a power for good in the world inspiring by example and bringing together communities, nations and cultures in a common understanding of the principles of peace and fair play.

While the re-flooding bodes well for the Iraqi marshes, their recovery will take many years, ... We must continue to monitor the situation carefully and make the necessary long-term investment in marshlands management.

While the most important solutions to climate change will remain energy efficiency and cleaner energy sources ... capturing and storing carbon dioxide can supplement these other efforts.

We have a duty to rescue our closest living relatives as part of our wider responsibilities to conserve the ecosystems they inhabit.

We are very aware that there are non-technology constraints.

Wars, conflicts, instability and the poor environmental management of the previous regime have left their scars on the Iraqi people and the Iraqi environment,

We are an integral part of the Kenyan community and any calamity that affects a part of it, affects us all. I am pleased to see that we respond not only as an organization, which is our duty, but as individuals as well.

Conserving sacred sites and their biological richness can play a major role in achieving the 2010 target and perhaps act as beacons from where good and sustainable management practices can be exported to nearby areas and beyond.

Constructing, operating and maintaining what is effectively a huge fridge in the mountains raises many fundamental questions of sustainability.

The tragedy of the Indian Ocean tsunami of December 2004 brought into sharp focus the debate about the life saving qualities of healthy reefs and mangroves.

These are ... sites that have a history of contamination, all of which are linked to massive neglect.

These facts are especially poignant when you factor in the impact of climate change which is triggering more extreme weather events like droughts.

I've been asked whether we can justify trying to protect wildlife when there's so much human suffering on the planet but the two are actually not exclusive.

Putting tourism on a sustainable path is a major challenge, requiring partnership and cooperation within the tourism industry, and between the industry, governments and tourists themselves.

On this special United Nations Day, let us take those adequate steps to stop the careless exploitation and destruction of the environment by making the necessary changes in our own lives, in our own attitudes, and in our own behavior. We don't have another thousand years,

Day in and day out and across the oceans and seas of the world nature is working to generate incomes and livelihoods for millions if not billions of people.

A renaissance in environmental politics and policy does not come in a vacuum. It needs the long-term commitment and vision of men and women. It needs people who have been and continue to be Champions of the Earth.

You only have to look at the tropical forests, home to the great apes. Economists now calculate that they are worth US$60 billion a year as a result of their ability to remove and store global warming gases from the atmosphere alone,

This is a real environmental and health achievement and I pay tribute to all those governments, companies and others such as the World Bank who kept this promise.

This is a real environmental and health achievement.

This is extremely important for health and the environment.

Americans are not the only victims. The evil hand of terrorists has hit the human race. We are all victims.

that investigation at these locations wasn't necessary anymore. That is very clearly not correct.

Not only is the toll a human tragedy, but it means these people are less able to carry on productive lives, and this undermines social and economic development.

The near total destruction of the Iraqi marshlands was a major ecological and human disaster, robbing the Marsh Arabs of a centuries-old culture and way of life,

The near-total destruction of the Iraqi marshlands under the regime of Saddam Hussein was a major ecological and human disaster, robbing the Marsh Arabs of a centuries-old culture and way of life as well as food in the form of fish and that most crucial of natural resources, drinking water,

Small cetaceans are amongst the most well loved and charismatic creatures on the planet,

I'm utterly convinced that it should not be included in any type of (agreement).

Indeed locating more and more Olympic events away from sensitive rural areas and into city centers with good access to public transport -- especially if this contributes to urban renewal and renovation of redundant buildings and structures -- may be an environmentally sound step forward for future games.

If nothing happens there's a very great probability the great apes will go out of this world.

In 2002 governments meeting at the World Summit on Sustainable Development agreed to reverse the rate of loss of biodiversity by 2010 including in the marine world. Our valuable association with 3D Entertainment has allowed us to convey the importance of marine wildlife conservation to vast audiences, and we are thrilled this project has been so well received across countries and cultures.

In terms of the environment, the two organizing committees are taking forward a green torch first lit at Lillehammer, Norway in 1994,

The UN calls upon the Kenyan government to clarify the circumstances surrounding today's events at the Standard Group, and to take the appropriate action against those responsible, including legal action if necessary.

This is a grim prognosis based on business as usual,

The evidence of their rapid revival is a positive signal, not only for the environment and the local communities who live there, but must be seen as a contribution to wider peace and security for the Iraqi people.

The evidence of their rapid revival is a positive signal.

The environment . . . is not a luxury good, only affordable when all other problems have been solved.

The findings in this atlas are speaking a very clear language,

The main quest for overcoming poverty and a secure future is to make energy available because we cannot cut poverty if we cannot bring affordable energy to the people.