Speaking notes for the Frits Schlingemann, Director of the UNEP Regional Office for Europe, at the start of the 2005 Bayer Young Environmental Envoy programme, Leverkusen, Germany, Monday 14 November, 2005.

  The importance of youth leadership

Ladies and gentlemen, young friends, Thank you for inviting me here today.

The Bayer Young Environmental Envoy programme is making an important contribution to enhancing the ability of young people around the world to take action and influence decision makers for a sustainable future.

I would like to thank Bayer for its initiative and long-standing commitment to youth.

Bayer is, of course, UNEP's main sponsor in the implementation of the our Tunza strategy for children and youth.

UNEP places great emphasis on involving young people in sustainable development. We are also committed to making sure that the young people of the world—who represent nearly half the planet's population—are given a voice, and are listened to.

For instance, young people's representatives sponsored by UNEP addressed world leaders at the World Summit on Sustainable Development, in Johannesburg, South Africa, in 2002.

They told the international community in forthright terms that the future belongs to them, and that they want to inherit a world free of the indignity and indecency of poverty, environmental degradation and unsustainable development.

Through our children and youth strategy UNEP hopes to be able to further involve young people all over the world in working towards a sustainable future.

The strategy is called Tunza, which is a word from the Kiswahili language of Kenya, where UNEP is based. It means ‘to treat with care and affection'.

Care, affection, respect: these must be our bywords in looking after our environment.

I am pleased to tell you that my colleague Cecilia Kibare will be leading a workshop tomorrow where you will learn much more about the Tunza strategy and the work we are doing with Bayer's support.

Ladies and gentlemen, young envoys of tomorrow,

There is a saying: We do not inherit the land from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children.

These are very wise words. The global environment is not ours to do with as we wish—which I think was, and often still is, the prevailing opinion in many parts of the world.

We simply hold it in trust for those who follow.

That is an awesome responsibility, a responsibility that you share.

You are not only tomorrow's leaders—of families, communities and countries. You also represent a major consumer force. Decisions you make today—on what to buy, the lifestyle you choose—will directly influence the future sustainability of our society.

That is going to require strong leadership. By that I don't mean that people like me are going to tell you what to do. On the contrary, the leadership will come from you.

Leadership is not words, it is actions and attitudes. It is about doing the right things.

Often, doing the right thing is not necessarily the easiest thing.

As Goethe said: “To think is easy. To act is difficult. To act as one thinks is the most difficult of all.”

For instance, a couple of years ago, the Government of South Africa made the decision to make thin plastic bags illegal.

Other countries are considering similar schemes.

Across the developing world you can see these bags everywhere, littering the landscape.

They are the subject of one of the books in a children's series that UNEP is producing. It is called Theo and the Giant Plastic Ball.

I know it's for children, but I enjoyed reading it. I hope you do too.

South Africa's move to ban thin plastic bags is a great example.

It required political courage, for there was quite an uproar: from the unions who said it would cost jobs, and from consumers who said it will make their lives more expensive.

Of course, there are people who can remember when nobody used plastic bags. Now they are everywhere. Things we did without yesterday become the things we say we can't do without today.

Changing habits, whether it be of individuals or of countries, is not easy. Yet it is going to be essential if we are to achieve a sustainable future.

Ladies and gentlemen,

The World Summit on Sustainable Development gave us a blueprint for sustainable development. World leaders agreed on a plan of action that embodies care for the environment and respect for the aspirations of all the world's people for better future.

That plan was endorsed by world leaders this year at the 2005 World Summit.

Making that plan a reality is going to involve many changes—in how we think about our world, and how we organise our lives. It is going to demand innovation and courageous leadership in all areas: science, policy and behaviour.

As young people, you have a major role to play. Let us not forget that 2015 marks the date for many of the targets set at WSSD and in the Millennium Development Goals. By that time many of you will be parents, community leaders, and decision makers in industry or government.

Decisions you make now about how you lead your lives are therefore crucial.

At the turn of the Millennium, UNEP conducted a survey of middle-class youth in 24 countries. It found that their primary concerns were the environment, health and human rights.

Interestingly, it found also that shopping behaviour is not linked with the state of the environment.

This issue of consumption—the over-consumption of the wealthy majority and the need of the poor majority to consume more—lies at the centre of the sustainable development question.

You represent a major consumer group.

Nearly half the world's population is under the age of 25. The majority are in the developing world. The problem there is mostly under-consumption—not having a fair share of the Earth's resources.

For the disadvantaged of the world the big question is how to increase consumption in a way that does not degrade or exhaust the environment.

For that, much innovation will be needed, plus the leadership and self discipline that says, yes, we want more comfortable and healthy lives, but not at the expense of our children.

For the young people who live in the developed world, leadership is also essential.

The consumption patterns in developed societies are unsustainable, and they cannot be adopted by the underprivileged world.

If they were we would need between three and six more planets to live on.

So, it is increasingly important that we address our consumption, that we look at the world behind the product that we buy. It is imperative that, as we raise standards of living across the globe, we do so in an environmentally friendly way.

For that we are going to need leadership.

The Bayer Young Environmental Envoy programme is an opportunity for you to meet other outstanding young people, to exchange ideas and learn from your peers and your mentors how to improve those ideas.

You might find an idea you can use when you go back home or an idea that can be used with yours. Your friends and mentors will also look at your ideas and help you improve them.

This is great opportunity for you. But it is also an opportunity for the world, for as I have said, you are the leaders of tomorrow.

In closing I would like to leave you with some words of encouragement.

We live in a complex world that is going through difficult times. It may seem that the problems we face are too daunting.

You might think that you are too young to do anything. But, you can make a big difference.

There is a proverb: “It takes more than one stick to start a fire”. You all have different talents and ideas. When you use your knowledge towards a common goal you will succeed.

The important thing to remember is to keep faith and to remember that everything you do matters.

In the words of the French writer and Nobel prize-winner Andre Gide: “There are admirable potentialities in every human being. Believe in your strength and your youth. Learn to repeat endlessly to yourself: ‘It all depends on me'.”

Thank you