NEW YORK – In its first ever address to the United Nations General Assembly since its status was upgraded earlier this year to “observer with voice,” the European Union chose to speak about the world population of 7 billion.
The statement was delivered by the President of the European Council, Mr. Herman van Rompuy, who pointed out that in a few weeks, a woman somewhere on earth will give birth to a child, the 7 billionth human being on earth. He asked the General Assembly “On what planet will this child live?”
The European Commission President and several EC Commissioners, including the EU Development Commissioner, Andris Piebalgs, also attended the UN meeting.
”Present patterns of production and consumption are unsustainable,” Mr. van Rompuy warned. “Our actions to combat climate change are insufficient, below the politically agreed objectives.” He said more needed to be done to align words and deeds and he called on the world to show its renewed commitment to sustainable development at next year's Rio+20 Conference.
For Mr. van Rompuy’s full statement please click here.
