Our Blue Planet

Ambassador Otabe
Excellencies
Ladies and Gentlemen:

It is a great pleasure to welcome you to this special musical performance by Classic Live for the United Nations from Japan. My most sincere thanks go to the Permanent Mission of Japan, and to Ambassador Otabe and his team for bringing us this beautiful musical treat to celebrate the final year of the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development.

Classic Live for the United Nations has already performed a number of times in Japan and at several United Nations events worldwide. This includes showcasing this particular performance before the Rio+20 Sustainable Development Conference in 2012. We are fortunate to be able to welcome them here in International Geneva where so much of our collective work on sustainable development takes place.

Sustainable development concerns us all. As the effects of climate change are becoming increasingly evident, it is more important than ever to re-evaluate how we use and manage resources in our everyday lives. Political declarations, technological advances and frameworks of incentives are important but they will not suffice. We need to change individual mindsets, approaches and habits to generate truly lasting change. Education is key to enabling all of us to make sustainable choices and support policy-making for a more sustainable future.

The concert here at the Palais des Nations takes place following the successful World Conference on Education for Sustainable Development in Japan earlier this month. Expressing strong support for the Global Action Programme to take forward the work of the past Decade, the Conference has helped to further strengthen education for sustainable development. This will be critical also the implementation of the post-2015 development agenda, which is to be agreed next year to guide the international community in the search for a sustainable future.

Preserving our planet is a mission that unites us. And there can be no better way to highlight this shared challenge than with the universal language of music and dance, which also unite us cross linguistic and cultural barriers. As the international community prepares for the Lima Climate Change Conference, which opens in less than two weeks, tonight’s performance is an opportunity to reaffirm our shared commitment to a cleaner, safer, more sustainable world for all.

Thank you very much – and enjoy the performance