Our atmosphere can’t tell the difference between emissions from an Asian factory, the exhaust from a North American SUV, or deforestation in South America or Africa.
BAN KI-MOONWorld military spending has now risen to over $1.2 trillion. This incredible sum represents 2.5 per cent of GDP (global gross domestic product). Even if 1 per cent of it were redirected towards development, the world would be much closer to achieving the Millennium Development Goals.
More Ban Ki-moon Quotes
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We hold the future in our hands, together, we must ensure that our grandchildren will not have to ask why we failed to do the right thing, and let them suffer the consequences.
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World military spending has now risen to over $1.2 trillion. This incredible sum represents 2.5 per cent of GDP (global gross domestic product). Even if 1 per cent of it were redirected towards development, the world would be much closer to achieving the Millennium Development Goals.
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My observation is China is thinking more as a global player than regionally, in both politics and economics.
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To achieve a Green Revolution, African farmers, must have access to land and security of tenure. They also need access to markets, technology and improved infrastructure.
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Climate change, demographics, water, food, energy, global health, women’s empowerment – these issues are all intertwined. We cannot look at one strand in isolation. Instead, we must examine how these strands are woven together.
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On this International Day, let us promise to make peace not just a priority, but a passion. Let us pledge to do more, wherever we are in whatever way we can, to make every day a day of peace.
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Climate change does not respect border; it does not respect who you are – rich and poor, small and big. Therefore, this is what we call global challenges, which require global solidarity.
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Between now and 2015, we must make sure that promises made become promises kept. The consequences of doing otherwise are profound: death, illness and despair, needless suffering, lost opportunities for millions upon millions of people.
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The international community must offer short-term emergency measures to meet critical needs. But it must also make longer-term investments to promote food production and agricultural development, enhance food security and maintain and accelerate momentum towards the MDGs.
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Climate change…is, simply, the greatest collective challenge we face as a human family.
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Millions of people in nearly 80 countries still live in fear of landmines and explosive remnants of war, which take an unacceptable toll on lives and limbs, and people’s livelihoods
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The clear and present danger of climate change means we cannot burn our way to prosperity. We already rely too heavily on fossil fuels. We need to find a new, sustainable path to the future we want. We need a clean industrial revolution.
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I call on men and boys everywhere to join us. Violence against women and girls will not be eradicated until all of us – men and boys – refuse to tolerate it.
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The power of the leader is given to him by the people, so he has a duty to engage and listen more attentively and carefully to the aspirations of the people.
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We have seen in the past where leaders have not been open-minded or have not been flexible. That’s why the people came out to the streets and shouted and chanted for more reforms and more freedoms.
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A deal must include an equitable global governance structure. All countries must have a voice in how resources are deployed and managed.
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Achieving gender equality requires the engagement of women and men, girls and boys. It is everyones responsibility.
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With her courage and determination, Malala has shown what terrorists fear most: a girl with a book.
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The taking of life is too absolute, too irreversible, for one human being to inflict on another, even when backed by legal process. Where the death penalty persists, conditions for those awaiting execution are often horrifying, leading to aggravated suffering.
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SUSTAINABLE PEACE IS POSSIBLE ONLY WITH WOMEN’S FULL PARTICIPATION, their perspectives, their leadership, their daily, equal presence wherever we seek to make and keep the peace.
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As many micro-credit schemes across the world can testify, investment in women is the best investment for the future.
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Sustainable development is the pathway to the future we want for all. It offers a framework to generate economic growth, achieve social justice, exercise environmental stewardship and strengthen governance.
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For my generation, coming of age at the height of the Cold War, fear of nuclear winter seemed the leading existential threat on the horizon. But the danger posed by war to all humanity-and to our planet-is at least matched by climate change.
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National boundaries these days are not that important because of transformative technological development. Now we are talking about the fourth industrial revolution.
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I am willing to take any measures when it comes to the fundamental principle of human rights.
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Reason doesn’t mean very much in a country like North Korea.
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