Rat für Nachhaltige Entwicklung : 5th Annual Conference of the German Council for Sustainable Development

Sustainability – the formula for growth from "More" to "Better"

Bundeskanzler Gerhard Schröder mit Preisträgern des Fotowettbewerbs Facing Sustainability auf der Jahreskonferenz des Rates

5th Annual Conference of the German Council for Sustainable Development

6 September 2005
Berlin Congress Center (bcc)
Alexanderplatz 3, D-10178 Berlin
8.30 am to approx. 19.30 pm

In a society that requires ever-increasing amounts of raw materials to create more and more products, growth is a dead-end. If we continue with our current levels of resource consumption, we will ultimately destroy the foundations of our economy, our environment and our society. Unlimited growth is not possible if it involves only the old industrial society on a "bigger, fatter and heavier" scale. But growth geared to man and to nature, recognising and setting limits, means development. Sustainability is achieved when the life options of future generations are increased rather than jeopardised.

Until now, growth has simply been concerned with "more" - in future it needs to be geared to "better" - in other words to sustainable development. And to achieve this we need new approaches and innovative ways of thinking.

BRICS+G - Sustainability and growth in Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa - and in Germany: This dialogue project run by the Sustainability Council (Nachhaltigkeitsrat) and the Association for Technical Cooperation (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) GmbH) takes as a central theme the role of sustainability strategies for growth. BRICS stands for a group of countries, which, it is predicted, will become economically stronger than the USA, Europe and Japan within the foreseeable future. What does that mean for them? What does it mean for us? And what does it mean for our global responsibility? This dialogue project will be presented at the Annual Conference.

Speeches:

"Environmental Degradation and Poverty as Inhibitors of Economic Growth" (PDF, 61KB)
Speech by Prof. Dr. Klaus Töpfer held at the 5th Annual Conference of the German Council for Sustainable Development
(Berlin, 6 September 2005)

Forum 4: Africa and the Millennium Goals
Initial Statement (PDF, 26KB)
Speech by Prof. Alan Whiteside
Forum 4: Africa and the Millennium Goals
(Berlin, 6 September 2005)

Forum 5: Sustainet - Agriculture as a Global Development Engine
"Organic Farming: The Real Green Revolution for Removal Of Poverty, Hunger And Ecological Insecurity"
Speech by Dr. Vandana Shiva (PDF, 198KB)
Forum 5: Sustainet - Agriculture as a Global
Development Engine
(Berlin, 6 September 2005)