It's my pleasure to present today Speaker John Sawhill president and CEO of The Nature Conservancy. John has had an illustrious and varied career over the last 30 years in both the private and public sectors. Amongst his many responsibilities has been to serve as deputy secretary of the Department of energy under President Carter. chairman and CEO of the u.s. Synthetic fuels Corporation president of New York University a director of McKinsey & Company and most recently as the president and CEO of The Nature Conservancy. The Nature Conservancy is an international not-for-profit conservation organization with more than 700,000 members committed to the preservation of threatened ecosystems and wildlife habitats. In each of these positions John has been known for his energy his vision for threatening us and willingness to tackle difficult issues. John Sawhill is one of those very rare leaders in our society who cut wide and challenging pads for the rest of us to follow. This now my very great pleasure to present to you John Sawhill. Terry thank you very much for that. Nice introduction. Let me say how delighted I am to be here today. I never thought when I accepted this invitation that I would leave Washington and come to Minnesota and be warmer but it does matter of fact that you know, we've had some very bad weather in Washington the schools of closed businesses have closed even the federal government closed for a couple of days now, that's not all bad sometimes. Well, I was born in Cleveland and I know how to handle the cold. So as soon as the temperature begin to drop I scheduled a trip to Belize noun and Central America. Actually, I've been taking groups down to Belize every year for the past 4 years on Martin Luther King Jr. Birthday weekend and last year. We saw about 83 bird species while I was delighted this year and two and a half days. We saw over a hundred and twenty different bird species. No, I don't want to draw any definite conclusions from these figures, but I think it does suggest that some of these tropical forests are beginning to recover and I must say is president of the nature conservancy. I took a certain amount of pride in what I saw because the nature conservancy has recently established over 200,000 Acres of protected areas in Belize working with a local partner organization. Even more satisfying however was seen how a new conservation ethic has really taken hold among the people in Belize and I believe that the battle against environmental degradation must be fought in local communities without the community support conservation programs really have no chance of succeeding in Belize the support is there people are beginning to abandon the slash-and-burn agricultural practices. So prevalent across much of Latin America instead local communities are beginning to band together to manage their resources in a way that provides Economic Opportunity, but does not destroy the forest. But what's going on in Belize is one of the many small steps towards what has been called sustainable development. Now in my talk this afternoon. I want to engage you in a discussion about sustainability, which is the Brave New World for conservation. I'll start by trying to Define and describe that often ambitious concept of sustainable development. Then I'll outline a few of the challenges and issues that we face as we move towards a more sustainable future. I'm finally I'll finish up by describing some of the ways that the nature conservancy is attempting to meet these challenges and they conservation work that we do on the ground, but most of all, I promise to follow the advice of Benjamin Disraeli and stop talking before you stop listening. So my sponge ride in What's all this fuss about sustainable development? You've undoubtedly heard this expression which in a few short years has replaced biodiversity as kind of the buzzword du jour in the conservation lexicon. Everywhere you turn people are talking about it. For instance. I serve with other private and public sector officials on the president's Council on sustainable development here in Minnesota. The governor in the Environmental Quality board have launched the Minnesota sustainable development initiative, even the much-publicized Earth Summit, which I attended in Rio of the year before last was actually entitled the UN conference on environment and development. But for all the talk about sustainable development things get a little bit murkier when you try to get past the rhetoric and pin down exactly what it is. The most widely accepted definition of a rose from the work of the United Nations group known as the brundtland Commission in the late 1980s. Sustainable development. They said is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. Well, I think this definition serves as a very useful starting point for any discussion of sustainability it explicitly recognizes our responsibility to leave our children and our grandchildren a world rich in natural resources and biological diversity. At the same time it acknowledges the entirely legitimate economic aspirations of the Earth's current inhabitants. But on another level this definition is unsatisfactory for 1 if we go exclusively by the brundtland definition, we would have a very hard time identifying and on the ground project as either sustainable or not. Second it offers no guidance for exactly how we can reach the supposed Nirvana of sustainability. But most important this definition oversimplifies a long and complex process. It almost makes it sound as if we could go out to the store and buy sustainable development like a box of Wheaties or something. Let me be clear sustainable development is not a product nor is it an equation with one right answer nor? Is it really an end point? We won't arrive someday at a place called sustainability and then stand still for the rest of time. To the contrary sustainable development is a process an ever-evolving set of problems choices and solutions. So if we begin with the assumption that we're talking about a process. Then we can logically move on to the next question namely what are the different forces and factors that are shaping this process. And here at least we can talk about some specifics in short sustainable development seeks to integrate three interrelated but competing elements Environmental Protection Economic Opportunity and social progress. The ecological compound opponent is fairly self-explanatory after all conserving natural resources for the future is a primary goal of sustainable development and here we will be able to see the most tangible results. If in 50 years ecosystems are still healthy and functioning if they're still purifying water conserving soil and remaining biologically diverse. Then we'll know that we've made progress. Similarly, I don't think the economic component needs much elucidation. Without offering the prospect of higher standards of living including better Healthcare and better access to education. How can we talk about asking people particularly people in poor developing nations to make sacrifices for the future. Economic Opportunity clearly must be a central concern. The social aspect of sustainability is a little more complex as I mentioned a few moments ago about Belize we've learned that the success of sustainable development initiatives depends largely on the commitment of the local community. That's the very real needs of these communities must be met in order to win their support. Our priorities must revolve around such issues as institution-building empowering local people social cohesion and respecting traditional ways of life. In other words development that ignores the social needs of local communities is not sustainable at all. So I guess I would propose an alternative answer to the question. What is sustainable development in my view sustainable development is the process through which the creative tensions between economic ecological and social objectives are worked out. It's a bit like a pyramid or a three-legged stool if you take away one of the sides or one of the legs the overall structure collapses. Now before I look at some of the ways that conservationists are trying to turn these ideas into reality. I'd like to spend a few minutes discussing some of the challenges that must be addressed as we move towards sustainability. First we must control our own impatience. It's important to understand that achieving a truly sustainable economy will take time a lot of time. 50 years props or even longer just building. Our understanding of ecosystems is going to take a long time. That shouldn't stop us from getting started and we'll get better as new research points out some new directions in disregard. I understand that the Minnesota sustainable development initiative is looking half-a-century into the future. And by the way, I'm pleased to report that The Nature Conservancy is one of the private sector participants in this public-private effort. Well, then their political problems for one thing the shift to a truly sustainable global economy will demand unparalleled cooperation among nations and given world history. I guess that's not the kind of thing. You can bet the farm on even at the local and Regional level is difficult to break through the bureaucratic and jurisdictional gridlock. Sustainability will also demand new measures of social and economic progress at present. We have numerous benchmarks for determining economic performance an increase in the gross domestic product. For example But such traditional measures do not reflect a variety of hidden cost. If a rise in gross domestic product comes at the expense of our natural Capital, that is a bar Forest. Our Fisheries are soils. Should we not account for these cost? And without such inclusive calculations, how can we determine if we are really living sustainably? But I guess I believe that public attitudes not politics presents the most significant obstacle to building a sustainable economy. Maybe Pogo had it, right? We have met the enemy and it is us the truth is that sustainable development is a Hot Topic in the conservation world, but much of the general public still finds this topic either your relevant or confusing. Unlike problem such as toxic waste water quality and smog it is difficult for people to link their daily existence to a grand vision of sustainable development. What more these are complicated issues. They can't be crammed into a 30-second sound bite. There's no sense of urgency to sustainable development until it comes time to make hard choices. I guess we shouldn't look for this issue to register on the public radar screen. Well these caveats aside. I firmly believe that we have no choice but to go down this path why because sustainable development is indeed important not only to our future Prosperity but also to our survival And I don't think this assessment is overly dramatic over an astonishingly short. The activities of mankind have begun to unravel the basic ecological balance of the planet. The ecosystems that we depend on for food and forage for clean air and clean water are crumbling under human pressure. These pressures reveal themselves not just in spectacular one-time events like the dust bowl or Urban water scares, but in deeper and longer-lasting why is as well. For example on any given day three-quarters of this country shellfish waters are closed harvesting because of water quality problems. Along both coasts drastic declines in fish stocks have forced the government to restrict access to some of our most productive fisheries and Timber communities across the country are feeling Hard Times largely because of the unsustainable levels of logging in our national forest. Perhaps the most telling indicator. However, is there dramatic increase in species Extinction that the world is experiencing? Over geologic time that is the billions of years that the Earth has been in existence. We've lost about one species a year today some scientists including our board member EO Wilson estimates that we are losing another species every hour in turn as we eliminate species the basic building blocks of our ecosystems the whole natural world begins to pray at the edges or as I often argue a world that can support species. Won't be able to support us for very long either. That's why we must be concerned about sustainable development. We can no longer afford to ignore the direct links between our economic and our environmental health, nor can we continue to squander our natural capital? We must find ways of doing business that are new and creative and innovative. We haven't found this new way of doing business and I guess it's an old adage that you got to learn to walk before you can run. But that's how I would describe the the success that we've had the date. We're learning how to walk from these tentative steps. I am confident that organizations like ours and others will develop real on the ground models of sustainable development across the country and around the world and in the final part of my talk. I'd like to describe some of the projects where the nature conservancy is taking some of these first baby steps. Let me start with the Virginia Coast Reserve. This is the nature conservancy's Flagship conservation project. We've been involved on the eastern shore of Virginia for 25 years when we acquired the first of a chain of undeveloped Barrier Islands just off the coast over time. We protected 14 of these islands and what strategic Holdings on the mainland we now have about 50,000 Acres. It represents the longest stretch of undeveloped Seacoast on the Eastern seaboard. Over the years the Conservancy has come to recognize that uncontrolled poorly planned development on the mainland could actually destroy the ecological Integrity of the islands in which we had invested so much time and effort and the pressure for such development has been mounting. This area is one of the poorest in the state of Virginia a place where dark order of the homes are without running water. The challenge was clear. How could we preserve the natural values in this area and address the needs of the local community? Where you can already see the Pyramid of ecology economics and social objectives in action, obviously an effective program had to incorporate all three of these considerations and that's what we've done. Are the Eagles logical front we're continuing to carry out our efforts to acquire key Parcels, but beyond that we're working with local community leaders to ensure that a new wastewater treatment plant doesn't degrade. The area is outstanding water quality. We're also working with local farmers on educational programs to reduce unnecessary agricultural runoff and with local fishermen to minimize the chances of overfishing on the economic side. We're working to encourage environmentally sound development in this area. This means such things as low-density Housing Development attracting so-called clean Industries and promoting low-impact activities such as nature tourism. In addition we've joined together with Old Dominion University to establish the Virginia Coast Institute as a mechanism for maintaining this momentum and just two months ago. We took the unprecedented step of forming a separate for-profit Corporation to develop and Market locally produced Goods. This last step feeds directly into improving social conditions in this beautiful Natural Area local residents love the Eastern Shore Virginia and they value their very distinctive way of life. But because of the lack of opportunity many of these people are forced to move elsewhere in search of work. The conservancy's for-profit corporation should give them access to markets for the kinds of environmentally compatible products that they and their forebears have been making for centuries Furniture Seafood rural crafts. And so forth. One of the projects underway now is the creation of a seafood packing plant specializing in value-added projects products in turn these new opportunities will help maintain the social fabric of the Eastern Shore communities. There are other social problems of course, and we've joined with a variety of local Partners to help address such pressing needs as low income housing education and job training a good example was the role that we played in helping one of the County's develop a long-term blueprint for economic growth and Community Development. My point is that we can't do the job by ourselves to succeed. We must we must secure the cooperation and assistance of other concern groups both local and National sustainable development really is a Bottoms Up business. Let me look at one other example, and this comes from our international program. It's a project in Brazil where the conservancy and more than a dozen public and private partners are working to protect one of the last intact pieces of Atlantic tropical forest. This is an amazingly diverse ecosystem a place where new species are found all the time. Not unlike the developed world where the biggest threats to the environment come from wealth in such countries as Brazil. The biggest threats are from poverty. And in this particular region poverty has driven local residents to virtually Wipe Out the most profitable product of the forest heart of palm extracted from Palm Trees. Unfortunately, a lot of other species depend on these palm trees as well. And this entire ecosystem is fraying at the edges as the local systemically plunder this limited resource. To combat the ongoing degradation of the forest the nature conservancy and its Brazilian partners are trying to develop new sources of income for local residents. For example, this area happens to be one of the most productive Fisheries in Brazil, but because of problems in transporting fish to Urban markets, it has been tapped only for local consumption. So why not invest in a low-tech process to ensure that these products can get to the market and stay fresh. Why not develop a Cooperative approach to heart of palm extraction. So the neighbors are not competing with each other for an increasingly scarce commodity. Well, of course these ideas for choir support of the local community to succeed and consequently, we're spending a lot of time trying to develop Trust of people in those communities. We're working with Johnson & Johnson for example, and local Health authorities to set up a health clinic in the local community something as simple as bringing a doctor to a community without access to Medical Care goes a long way towards building a local constituency for conservation. On the domestic side building this kind of local constituency is no less important to our success and that's why the Conservancy in our staff take such pains to become members of the communities where we work. We try to recruit local people to manage local projects. You'll see our staff at school board meetings PTA meetings Church socials and the Chamber of Commerce were visible and we're engaged we're neighbors taking action to protect our own backyards not Outsiders meddling in local affairs. Not Virginia and and Brazil are only two of the places where the Conservancy is attempting to develop viable models of sustainable development. I could cite many other examples across the United States and indeed across the world. But let me close with two examples closer to home here in Minnesota The Nature Conservancy is attempting to apply the same principles and projects across the state for instance are Cannon Valley Big Woods, ecosystem conservation initiative in the Southeastern part of the state seeks to protect the cannon River Watershed restore part of the badly fragmented Big Woods, ecosystem and encourage compatible and profitable land uses in the region. In addition. The Conservancy has been one of the groups that has helped establish the agricultural environmental forum. Composed of representatives from Academia government Agriculture and business The Forum seeks to service a vehicle to bring together interested parties to discuss the long-term future of farming and the environment. Now you might dismiss this initiative and some of the others I've mentioned as just so much talk. I think that would be a mistake because although talk is cheap. It's also important. It's especially important in building local support So crucial to the community side of the sustainable development pyramid as we've seen these projects Riser fall on the strength of community commitment conservationists must be prepared to learn from the people who live in these areas to respect their vision of the future. In blending these different perspectives. I believe we can forge a new conservation ethic one that values both the needs of people and the needs of the environment. In fact, I can't think of a single thing we could do to advance the cause of sustainable development. That would be more worthwhile. And I guess this came home to me in an encounter I have on my trip to Belize. We were visiting one of the villages in the heart of the conservation area when we were approached by an elderly woman. She lived in this Village all her life and she had seen the destruction of the rainforests the removal of soils the dramatic decline in animal populations. But things were improving she wanted us to know. Thank you. She said for bringing the birds back. Thank you for making us proud of the forest again, and thank you for giving us hope In my opinion, that's really what the push for sustainable development is all about. It's about restoring hope Hope for people and hope for the environment, and I guess you really can't argue with that. Thank you. Thank you very much. You were listening to John Sawhill president and CEO of The Nature Conservancy speaking to the Minnesota meeting on the stations at Minnesota Public Radio. We have a first question here from Jim Estes from The Firm of McGladrey & Pullen. Thank you. My question is does The Nature Conservancy have a method or a program which allows individuals to contribute property or easements to the property and receive tax benefits is certainly does as a matter of fact The Nature Conservancy has grown and been successful because we're a multi local organization in every state in the United States. We have a local field office a local chapter and a local board composed of distinguished citizens in the state those local offices are fully equipped to discuss with you. The receipt of property are easements on property from what's an individual can receive a tax deduction can make an important contribution to the environment and to help the work of The Nature Conservancy. Okay, David, you're with United Way and David Wheaton with United Way question is more as a private citizen as I work in Dubai environmental issues from time to time people talk about trying to stop the slash-and-burn in South America in a criticism is raise the dead in fact was a way that this country was developed. The big was a good example. This this state used to be primarily the forest. We carved it out in many cases to sustain our own lifestyle. What what what kind of response would you suggested that kind of criticism when we are trying to suggest something to other communities like that an excellent question and when I was down at the Rio Summit a lot of people from underdeveloped countries ask me the same question. They said what are you doing to preserve your own for us? Why are you down here telling us to protect hours? Well, I guess I have two answers to that question one is I believe it makes a lot of sense for those countries to preserve their natural resources and the resources that are contained in those tropical rainforest the resources that can be used for health needs resources for human food consumption. And it really so vitally important to the needs of those countries that I think we can make the argument on that basis alone, So I think we can learn from our own mistakes, you know, it is true that there was a lot of slash-and-burn in the United States as the country was first settled, but we lost a lot of our forest resource some of them which we can never bring back and so I'm not sure that you know, we should necessarily say that we've done the job right? But certainly we can say that perhaps if we had it to do over again, we would have done it differently. Thank you very much. Mr. Sawhill. We've got several groups of students here guests of IDs in the HB Fuller company. We're going to start with a question from one of them. This is Sierra Hector's from Southwest High in Minneapolis. I was wondering does nuclear energy in the environment. Do you think it's a good thing? Cuz that has everything to do with helping or is it bad? Well, I guess it's kind of a tough question because in some ways nuclear plants don't put CO2 into the atmosphere and don't put other pollutants into the atmosphere what you are very harmful to the environment on the other hand. We in this country and elsewhere have still had difficulty dealing with the problem of nuclear waste and it may be that until we can get a good solution to what to do with nuclear waste. It's going to be hard to move forward with a nuclear program. So I guess I'm hopeful that I will spend a lot of time and resources trying to solve the nuclear waste problem because certainly we can't continue to build or even operate nuclear plants until we find effective ways of dealing with that waste. Thank you. Mr. Here. We have a question here from David Fox Brenton with the global action plan of the Earth. I miss the song Here we develop Eco teams here in the Minnesota area and that same brundtland commission that you spoke of once said that we have about a decade before we're going to cross some very important thresholds in the environment. We found that there's a lot of skepticism about that. How would you answer the skepticism? Well, I don't find quite that much skepticism. Actually. I people look around them and they see habitats being destroyed by the expansion of housing developments by Industrial Development. And I think they're becoming more concerned that we're not really going to have the same kind of environment to leave to our children and our grandchildren that we ourselves have enjoyed. So I guess my answer would be to try to point out the amount of rainforests being destroyed every year if it ends it turns out that weird. Drawing rainforest equivalent in size to the state of Washington and we just can't keep doing that and maintain healthy ecosystems on this Earth and I think more and more people are beginning to recognize that these ecosystems are deteriorating. They're saying it both in water quality as well as an air quality their hearing about it. They're what they're saying on television the destruction of these rainforest and they're also seen here in the United States that the loss of habitat is is incurring that are growing right the statistics I sighted on biodiversity and the decline of species would be another argument. I might use thank you. Mr. Sawhill. I'm going to go now to Marcia Talbot. Who's the commissioner with the Hennepin County Park Board? Thank you. I really support the nature conservancy's efforts to acquire Parcels of land. But I fear that in the long run this will come to naught unless we come to terms with population control and I'm just wondering if the nature conservancy at the national level has ever worked with organizations that promote a lower birth rate worldwide. Well population control is certainly an important issue in as you travel up through out some of the underdeveloped countries such as I've done you can see that these exploding populations clearly put pressure on natural resources in those countries on the other hand The Nature Conservancy has a very focused Mission Peter Drucker the management expert wrote a book a few years ago and said The Nature Conservancy has the best strategy of any nonprofit organization because they remain very very focused on what we do. We don't have experts and population or experts and Healthcare. We remain very focused on our conservation Mission. So while we appreciate the point that you made we really don't become actively involved in population issues. Thank you. Next question here from Karen Mueller for me to be for thank you. There's been a push in this state for integrating Environmental Education into all aspects of our school system and from your point of view from the Nature conservancy's Point of View. What are the key elements that should be in curricula for this sum in the area of Environmental Education. Well, that's a very broad question. But obviously a very important one the issue that were most concerned about is biodiversity. That is the loss of species The Nature Conservancy tries to protect plants animals and natural communities by protecting the land in the water that they need to survive and we hope that the next generation will have a much better appreciation for the need to protect this biodiversity the recent issue of the nature conservancy's magazine was devoted to biodiversity and its protection and I receive Hunter Letters from school teachers from Museum directors and from others around the country asking me for reprints of that magazine to use in their schools because it's a very comprehensive view of the biodiversity problem why it needs protected and some of the things that can be done about it. Thank you very much. Mr. Sawhill. We have a question now from Lloyd keppel who's with the Oppenheimer Wilson, Donnelly Law Firm. I miss recycle focusing domestically for a moment. I wish you comment on those elements of current federal policy that you believed to be consistent with the concept of sustainable development and perhaps one or two elements that you deem inconsistent with it and what you might suggest in terms of a recommendation and dealing with with the or changing those that are inconsistent with the with that concept. Well obviously policies that encourage recycling policies that encourage pollution prevention rather than try to control pollution at the end of the pipe policies that encourage sustainable agriculture and in general policies that encourage the conservation of our basic natural resources, one of the things I mentioned in my talk was the notion of trying to restructure the way we keep our national accounts so that we measure the progress are of our economy not Only in the goods and services that we produce but also in the loss of our natural resources that are incurred in producing these goods and services so that when we measure a gain in GDP as agriculture production, we should also look at the loss that occurs because of soil erosion. And so it seems to me the first step to really establishing is establishing a sustainable economy is measuring the economic growth in the appropriate way and that is measuring it to include the the assets the capital assets that we're losing in order to produce the economic goods and services we produce Thank you very much. We have a question now from Beverly Tire about who's a member of the Minnesota meeting. We hear so much about the extraordinary rapid industrialization taking place in China. Today is the nature conservancy able to work with China in any way to help protect their resources. We have expanded our programs into the Pacific island, but we haven't gotten to China yet as matter fact last summer. I took a trip to Papa New Guinea and Indonesia and had an opportunity to meet with President suharto of Indonesia. And one of the key and I signed an agreement at the time to permit Indonesian Park managers and leaders to visit nature conservancy projects in Latin America as the first step in at educating and convincing them of the importance of protecting Indonesia's natural resources. So we haven't quite gotten to China but we are working in some of the of the Far East areas. Thank you very much. Mr. Sawhill. We're going to go now to Rob Beatty who's with dirty run Bolton Butler another law firm in town. I was just high heel. Can you give us your opinion as to whether the Clinton Administration is living up to its promises with regard to the environment? If so, can you give some examples and if not, what should it be doing? Well, I think they're done a lot of a very good things. Number one. I thought they brought in a lot of very good people Bruce Babbitt and Carol Browner and some of the people that have come into the Department of Agriculture. I have been real leaders in the whole area of sustainable development. Of course it you know, it takes two to tango and then Washington the two is the executive branch in the Congress. And so even though the Clinton Administration may be trying to do certain things. It's not always successful because Congress has not always been receptive to the proposals of the administration, but I think the administration's efforts on recycling the proposal to create a national biological survey and the appointment by President Clinton of a Council on sustainable development are all very positive things. And so I look for continued support for environmental initiatives from the administration and I think they're approaching in the way. I described their trying to look at the environmental issues in the context of Economic Development and social objectives as well. And to me that's a very positive change on the international front. Of course, the Clinton Administration did sign the biodiversity convention, which the previous administration had not done and I believe I will take a much more active stand on on the international level as well. Thank you. Mr. Sawyer. We have time for one last question and we'll take a question here from Sarah and nari. Who is the Junior High student at Murray Junior High. Well, there's different things you talked about such as the rain problems with the rainforest and problems with different species of animals. I was wondering what you thought was the most in danger. Well, it's hard to say which is the most endangered because many many species have gone extinct in a we believe in protecting both plants and animals because when you look at nature, it's like a tapestry everything is connected with everything else and when one species goes extinct, it's like pulling a thread out of that tapestry and if too many go extinct the whole thing begins to unravel, so I think you have to look at it as an integrated whole rather than species by species. Thank you, John. As I attempted in my introduction of John to suggest I was confident that we would have a very articulate and thoughtful presentation on sustainable development and particularly an update on the nature conservancy and it's and some of its new initiatives and I think that he has certainly enlightened us John on behalf of Minnesota meeting and to show our appreciation for your presentation. I would like to present to you. Minnesota meeting peace pipe created by Minnesota artist Robert Rose bear and the pipe is symbolic of the human bonds that we all must maintain to achieve a truly peaceful and sustainable world. Thank you.