Dr. Gro Harlem Brundtland, a three-time prime minister of Norway and former director-general of the World Health Organization, said international cooperation is vital to building a sustainable planet, and she said human rights and democracy are necessary ingredients for creating worldwide peace and stability.

Brundtland spoke to an overflow audience at Lydia Mendelssohn Theatre
Oct. 29 for the fourth annual Wege Lecture sponsored by the School of Natural Resources and Environment (SNRE).

Brundtland, a medical doctor and children’s health researcher, said she links her environmental concerns to issues of poverty and public health. Early in her career, as a Labor Party leader, Brundtland accepted an invitation to lead the World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED) in 1983, only on condition that “I could have at least half of the members from the developing world, and if I could focus both on the environment and development.”

When the WCED published the report “Our Common Future” in 1987, the commission’s operating criterion for sustainable development was that it provide for economic and environmental equity in the present, while leaving options for future generations unimpaired. That operating definition stands today. The WCED is commonly known as the Brundtland Commission and the report as the Brundtland Report.

The ethical imperative for industrialized nations to collaborate so that developing nations can participate on a level playing field was Brundtland’s background theme, as she described the evolution of the global sustainability movement and commented on its current status.

“There is no true alternative to multilateralism in facing up to our responsibility for future generations and the planet itself. The future is one of including all countries in our global solutions, but before that can happen, the rich countries must rise to the occasion, show leadership and take responsibility,” Brundtland said.

During the question and answer session that followed her remarks, she expressed her disappointment with how the United States is handling such responsibility.

When asked about the relationship between medicine and public health with respect to infectious diseases, Brundtland said she is asked that question only in America because, she said, “In Europe, medicine and public health are two sides of the same coin. We never question whether one thing is medicine and the other one is public health. Because what we do with regard to promoting health and dealing with disease is part of a broad public health perspective. Because everybody has the right to the same medical attention.

“As long as you have 45 million Americans with no health insurance, there is a big gap whether you talk about medicine or you talk about public health. There is something wrong. So this has to be fixed. In my country we spend 8U 00C2U 00BD to 9 percent on health as a percentage of GDP; in the U.S., you spend 14. You don’t reach a big part of your population, even with that kind of expenditure. You can … improve the use of those resources … to cover all people without your economy getting broke, which is what people keep saying [will happen]. I don’t understand what kind of calculation that is. We can do it in Europe. Why can’t you do it here?”

Asked for insights on how to handle the paradox created by fundamental religious views that impede progress on human rights and health issues, Brundtland said, “I have been surprised that it has been possible for the last three years to keep a lid on stem cell research in the United States because of these kinds of arguments. It means that … a lot of scientists who could make a difference in moving important areas of health forward, to the benefit not only of Americans but of the world, are being held back. You can’t put a lid on the American continent like this. I find it, frankly, shocking.”

Brundtland’s remarks were both cautionary (“There is no hope for peace and stability without sustainable development, human rights and democracy”) and optimistic (“The idea of building global public goods … can help us reap the huge potential benefits of globalization, while at the same time containing the risks and vulnerabilities that comes with it”).

“But I’m basically an optimist,” she said. “I believe the American people can turn it back. And change it.”

The full text of Brundtland’s lecture, and a transcript of the question and answer session, is available on the SNRE Web site, http://www.snre.umich.edu/.