Reith Lectures 2000, The: Respect for the Earth (6 Lectures)

Synopsis

The series of 5 Millennium Reith Lectures deal with one of the most pressing issues of our time - sustainable development. They are delivered by five different thinkers, each eminent in a different field. At the end of the run, the Prince of Wales presents his own views on the topic in a roundtable discussion with all five lecturers. This year’s lecturers are Chris Patten, Tom Lovejoy, John Browne, Gro Harlem Brundtland, Vandana Shiva and the Prince of Wales.

Series

Reith Lectures Series

Language

English

Country

Great Britain

Year of release

2005

Year of production

2000

Documentation

A transcript is available online at http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/reith2000/

Subjects

Agriculture; Development studies; Politics & government

Keywords

globalisation

Online availability

URI

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/reith2000/

Price

free

Delivery

Streamed

Sections

Title

Governance - Chris Pattern

Synopsis

Chris Patten puts forward the view that sustainable development is about much more than environment policy defined in terms of departments, ministers and white papers. It requires a mosaic of institutions, policies and values. He discusses how the concepts of good governance and democracy have always been crucial to sustainable development.

Duration

45 mins

Title

Biodiversity - Tom Lovejoy

Synopsis

Tom Lovejoy, Chief Biodiversity Adviser for the World Bank, discusses how biological diversity underpins sustainability.

Duration

45 mins

Title

Business - John Browne

Synopsis

Sir John Browne, Chief Executive Officer of BP Amoco discusses whether economic progress is still possible and development sustainable or is one strand of progress - industrialisation - now doing such damage to the environment that the next generation won’t have a world worth living in.

Duration

45 mins

Title

Health and Population - Gro Harlem Brundtland

Synopsis

In this lecture Dr Gro Harlem Brundtland, Director General of the World Health Organisation, says she wants the fight against poverty to be our global cause as we straddle the millennium, with the aim of creating a world where we all can live well fed and clothed, and with dignity. This must be done without undermining future generations’ ability to do the same. She argues that poor people will only be able to prosper and emerge from poverty if they enjoy better health, so health should be at the heart of our struggle for sustainable development.

Duration

45 mins

Title

Poverty and Globalisation - Vandana Shiva

Synopsis

Dr Vandana Shiva, Founder Director of the Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Ecology, New Delhi,
argues that globalisation is leading to the rich diversity and sustainable systems of food production being destroyed in the name of increasing food production. However, with the destruction of diversity, rich sources of nutrition disappear. Research done by FAO has shown that small biodiverse farms can produce thousands of times more food than large, industrial monocultures. What the world needs to feed a growing population sustainably is biodiversity intensification, not the chemical intensification or the intensification of genetic engineering. The globalisation of non-sustainable industrial agriculture is literally evaporating the incomes of Third World farmers through a combination of devaluation of currencies, increase in costs of production and a collapse in commodity prices.

Duration

45 mins

Title

Royal View, A - The Prince of Wales

Synopsis

Prince Charles gives his thoughts on agriculture and sustainable development. This is followed by a discussion, chaired by James Naughtie, with the five earlier speakers from this series of Reith lectures.

Duration

45 mins

Distributor

Name

BBC Radio 4

Web

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4 External site opens in new window