Until now, we have been able to take for granted that the complex systems that make up the Earth and sustain life would look after themselves, no matter what mankind's activities were. It is a great irony that the marvellous advances that humanity has achieved in recent decades—in agriculture, in medicine, in science and technology—welcome advances which have improved the lot of humanity as a whole, may now be changing the balance of nature on our planet. That would affect us all. So truly, we can now speak of “Our Common Future” .
Sustaining the balance of nature is one of the greatest challenges of the late 20th century. In the United Kingdom, we are taking this challenge very seriously indeed. Take the ozone layer, for example. In March we held a conference in London which brought together 123 countries in a practical demonstration of how the international community can act together to tackle this kind of global issue. As a result of the conference, 20 more nations agreed to sign the Montreal Protocol to curb ozone damaging agents. The United Kingdom also announced that it was more than doubling its contribution to the United Nations Environment Programme. I hope other governments will follow suit. Last month at the UN Britain called for a new international agreement to tackle the problem of global climate change. We shall be [end p1] pressing hard for this. The atmosphere knows no national boundaries. The winds carry no passports. I firmly believe that the will exists around the world for these problems to be tackled together.
I salute all those who have been involved in this pioneering broadcast. And I invite everyone to re-dedicate themselves on this World Environment Day to secure “Our Common Future” . We must resolve today to pass on this future intact to our children and our grandchildren.