When Klaus Topher became executive director of the United Nations Environment Programme in 1998, it was a moribund agency whose donors were suggesting that it be dismantled. But Topfer--formerly Germany's Environment minister--has re-energized the Nairobi-based organization, even persuading industrialized countries to channel more funds into the agency. Last week Topher released his "Global Environment Outlook 2000," a 400-page report about the international environmental crisis. NEWSWEEK's Pranay Gupte talked with Topher. Excerpts:
Gupte: What's most worrying about the global environmental situation?
Klaus Topher: There's a growing water shortage, global warming, desertification and deforestation. There are less publicized problems such as the harmful impact of nitrogen on ecosystems, the impact of assorted wars and conflicts, species invasion as a result of globalization, the movement of refugees, pressures caused by urbanization. But the continued poverty of the majority of the planet's 6 billion inhabitants, and excessive consumption by the affluent minority, are the two main causes of environmental degradation. Postponing action is no longer an option.
What kind of action is needed?
We need much more comprehensive, integrated policymaking. You cannot deal with deforestation and land degradation on a piecemeal basis--environment and development are linked as never before. International institutions, governments, the private sector, nongovernmental organizations, the scientific community--they must learn to work more closely.
Why are you so critical of globalization?
I am a realist. I know that globalization is not even any longer a process. It is already a result, bringing of course a lot of advantages. We are confronted with the globalization of markets, the globalization of information and communication, the globalization of goods and services. So I have to ask, what is the consequence? We urgently need economic growth in the world. But we have to overcome poverty. Poverty is the toxic substance in the world. UNEP is located in Nairobi. Of the nearly 4 million inhabitants of Nairobi close to 60 percent live in slums in absolute poverty. If you see their water problems, their hygienic situation, their fight for daily subsistence--you wonder about globalization's benefits. There's a growing gap between those who benefit from economic and technological development, and those who don't.
What has it been like for you to make the transition from an important political career in Germany to the multilateral world?
After one year I have come to the conclusion that this was really the best decision I ever made. My last appointment in the German government was the responsibility for housing, for regional planning, for the transfer of government from Bonn to Berlin--and I enjoyed a budget of more than $7 billion. Now I have to contend with just $120 million. But it is not a question of the budget--it is a challenge. You can stimulate a lot with $120 million if you use this money carefully in a lean administration and in close cooperation with all the actors in the field of sustainable development. I am impatient, no doubt. But now I've had to learn to be aware that you are integrated in the U.N. family, and that we have to handle very carefully the different interests of different regions.
What do you say to those who insist thatenvironmental agencies such as yours are useless?
I was Germany's Environment minister for a long time, and I always contended that it would be a huge success for the Environment minister if he is not even needed in the future--that the Agriculture minister is directly integrating environmental policies in his work, if the Transport minister, the minister for Foreign Affairs and all the other colleagues are really greening their agendas. Obviously, I don't believe that we are quite now in that situation.
How concerned are you about donor fatigue?
We must be honest. We cannot play only on donors' emotions. We need clear analysis. We are one world, more and more, and we must be aware that problems in one part of the world quickly have huge repercussions in other parts. We know by now that we have more environmental refugees than ever before--more than 25 million. So we cannot permit ourselves to suffer from donor fatigue. The people in the developed world--the taxpayers--must know that the money they spend in Africa or in Latin America or in parts of Asia is really an investment for peace--for their own peace and for the peace of their children in this world. What we are not doing to bridge the gap between the developed world and the developing world is again and again the most important starting point for tensions, for conflicts, even for wars. The protection of the global environment should be a local concern everywhere.
