Spring-Summer 2013, vol. XXV No.1,2 TABLE OF CONTENTS CREATING Special CREATING Conference Issue SUSTAINABILITY SUSTAINABILITY 2 Dr. Christine K. Durbak 21st International Conference 3 H.E. Mr. Yuriy A. Sergeyev on Health and Environment: SUSTAINABLE Global Partners for Global Solutions NUCLEAR ENERGY United Nations Headquarters, December 3, 2012 4 H.E. Mrs. Edita Hrda 4 H.E. Mr. Ryszard Stanislaw Sarkowicz 5 H.E. Mr. Frantisek Ruzicka SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT 7 Mr. Sonaar Luthra 8 Ms. Nikki Henderson 9 Miss Nicole Carter Session One. Sustainable Nuclear Energy. 11 Ms. Brandi Veil H.E. Mrs. Edita Hrda`, H.E. Mr. Yuriy Sergeyev, Dr. Christine K. Durbak, H.E. Mr. Frantisek Ruzicka, H.E. Mr. Ryszard Stanislaw Sarkowicz FOOD SECURITY AND SUSTAINABILITY: COMMEMORATING HOLODOMOR 15 Statement from the White House Statement from the President 15 of Ukraine, Mr. Yanukovych Statement from the Prime Minister Session Two. Sustainable Development. 15 of Canada, H.E. Mr. Stephen Harper Mr. Sonaar Luthra, Mr. Alex Shapoval, Dr. Christine K. Durbak, Ms. Brandi Veil, H.E. Mr. Margus Kolga 16 Ms. Nikki Henderson, Miss Nicole Carter 16 H.E. Mr. Normans Penke 17 H.E. Ms. Raimonda Murmokaite 18 Mrs. Tamara Gallo-Olexy CLOSING REMARKS 20 H.E. Yuriy Sergeyev Session Three. Food Security and Sustainability: Education brings choices. Commemorating Holodomor. Choices bring power. H.E. Ms. Raimonda Murmokaite, H.E. Mr. Yuriy Sergeyev, World Ecology Report Dr. Christine K. Durbak, H.E. Mr. Normans Penke, H.E. Mr. Margus Kolga, is printed on recycled paper. Mrs. Tamara Gallo-Olexy In our endeavor to educate the public about envi- Dr. Christine K. Durbak ronmental issues, we perceive two central drawbacks caused by lumping environmental problems togeth- Founder and Chair of WIT er. The first difficulty is that, as each issue of envi- Opening Statement ronmental decay becomes compressed, the potential for public understanding diminishes. The real prob- lems are altered for the purpose of easy recitation and recognition. Complex conditions become simplified reference points with slogans, such as “end climate Your Excellencies, Distinguished Delegates, Col- change.” leagues, Students, Ladies and Gentlemen, Such diminished and fragmentary data leads to the It is an honor and privilege to once again address second, important problem. A tendency exists for false this gathering. On behalf of World Information Trans- information to make its way into the public mind in the fer, I would like to express our deep appreciation to the form of inaccurate, unbalanced and omitted facts. Less Government of Ukraine and H.E. Yuriy Sergeyev, Per- and less usable data accompanies each issue as prob- manent Representative of Ukraine for having co-spon- lems get clumped together for expediency. Knowl- sored this Conference since 1992 and to the UN Mis- edge of environmental issues is reduced to fragments sions of the Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, of data, along with decreased information that are the Poland and the Slovak Republic for supporting our usually dire admonishments and predictions. For ex- 21st International Conference on Health and Environ- ample, just as the pressures on global resources by bur- ment: Global Partners for Global Solutions. I would geoning populations of an additional 95 million people also like to express our gratitude to all of our supporters annually received so little attention at the RIO+20 Earth that made this Conference possible. Summit, so too in the environmental litany, important World Information Transfer is dedicated to studying issues tend to fall to the bottom of the list. the connection between environmental degradation The most significant consequence of false informa- and human health and in identifying solutions to reme- tion presented with fashionable slogans is that each diate our environment and by so doing, improving the environmental problem loses its causal relationship to health and quality of life of all citizens. We can begin the others and thus its urgency of remediation is dimin- by considering the list of environmental problems that ished. Policies suffer when controversial facts are re- have appeared during the past 20 years in newspapers, placed by familiar platitudes such as “feed the children” radio interviews, TV stories or the Internet. New vi- since containing the world population is our most con- rus strains, stratospheric ozone depletion, fresh water troversial and unpopular task. Finally, government poli- depletion and contamination, fracking, biodiversity, cies suffer when controversial facts are masked by issues air pollution, deforestation, desertification, rampant and platitudes that distract them from the underlying urbanization, waste management, and unregulated cause and the courage to address them. population growth. Usually, each problem is accom- Today, our first panel will focus on the issue of nu- panied by far reaching solutions presented in impera- clear energy and its role in producing sustainable en- tives which point the audience towards either a green ergy. The second panel will focus on susrainabile de- or black future that disappears once the news recy- velopment projects that are currently taking place on cles. Many have been moved to action to “save the plan- our globe whose goals can ultimately eneable people to et” as the ubiquitous slogan goes. But it is really saving live within the bounds of their environmental resourc- the human species whose survival is threatened if no so- es. The final panel will address the devastation of the lution is found to ecological degradation. Some turn tragedy of Holodomor, which could have been prevent- away from the real problems out of fear, and the doubt- ed if people were informed of Stalin’s policy of starva- ing Thomases wait for full proof substantiating various tion. A history that hopefully will never be repeated. issues, while the planet continues to deteriorate. Thank you for your attention. World Information Transfer 2 World Ecology Report Spring-Summer 2013 of Ukraine recently approved an Action Plan on strength- H.E. Mr. Yuriy A. Sergeyev ening Safety Culture and Public Communications on Nuclear Safety Issues. In September 2012 Ukrainian Par- liament approved the next step in our nuclear power de- Permanent Representative of velopment – construction of two new units at Khmelnitsy Ukraine to the United Nations NPP site. Ukraine will use the IAEA peer review instru- ments to achieve the highest possible safety level in imple- mentation of this project. In 2012 in order to broaden the scope of the nuclear I would like to thank all of you for your participation sustainability Ukraine has accomplished its voluntary in the 21st International Conference on Health and Envi- non-proliferation commitments and eliminated all stocks ronment which comprises very complex and acute topics, of highly enriched uranium, stockpiled at the Ukrainian combining Health, Environment, Social and Economic nuclear research facilities. developments. I also would like to take this opportunity We believe that one of the outcomes of “Kyiv Summit to express my sincere appreciation to Dr. Durbak, Presi- on Safe and Innovative Use of Nuclear Energy” in 2011 dent and Founder of World Information Transfer, Inc. for was the unanimous recognition of the necessity to se- organizing this conference as a follow up to Rio + 20 and cure adequate level of nuclear safety, as the key priority, to my fellow colleagues Ambassadors for accepting our in- throughout every and each stage of the nuclear energy vitation to participate in this Conference. production. I am confident that international efforts under the aus- In Ukraine many of the storage facilities for the spent pices of the United Nations are the crucial components in and unused radioactive sources do not meet today’s safety order to reach global results on sustainable development. and security requirements. In this regard there are some Through the decades Ukraine has developed its own international projects, namely RADON and VECTOR II, nuclear energy sector and actively cooperates with its inter- directed to reconditioning these radioactive sources and national partners and universal organizations in order to im- further transportation to a safer, long-term storage facility, prove its sustainability. We consider the nuclear energy to be which will be built in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone. De- one of the efficient engines of the modern economy. livering sustainable results, Ukraine develops a number of At the same time we are fully aware of the tragic conse- international projects in the area of Chernobyl Exclusion quences of the mane-made catastrophe in Chornobyl or Zone, with many of them relying on the State budget as natural disaster in Fukushima. Therefore, Ukrainian gov- well as foreign funding. ernment presumes that sustainable nuclear energy should We believe that sustainable development will not be be considered first as a nuclear safety and security goal. complete without high standards of the specialized educa- The State Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate of Ukraine tion and nuclear security competence. Therefore Ukraine was established to implement recommendations of the In- commends the IAEA for its invaluable support given to ternational Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on enhancing us to develop training at 5 education facilities for nuclear control of the nuclear safety. A great deal has been done security purposes at the Sevastopol National University. I in Ukraine to improve the nuclear energy infrastructure,