Tarja Halonen: Everyone can contribute to sustainable development
The Finnish politician who served as the President of Finland Tarja Halonen has visited SPbU to deliver a lecture on “Necessary measures to achieve good positive results in sustainable development”.
Tarja Halonen met SPbU Deputy Rector for International Affairs Sergei Andrushin and Dean of the Faculty of Law Sergei Belov to discuss the opportunities how the University of Helsinki and St Petersburg University can collaborate in student and staff exchange and research, including environment preservation.
Not only education, but sustainable development is a core ground for any successful collaboration between the universities.
Tarja Halonen
Today, she serves as a Chairperson of the Helsinki Sustainability Center that is a non-commercial organisaiton which collects and processes information on research in sustainable development. It was a focus of her lecture to the students in law at SPbU.
She served as the President from 2000 to 2012; she had also been the Minister of Social Affairs, Minister for Collaboration between Northern Countries, Minister of Law, and Minister of Foreign Affairs. She gained a degree from the Faculty of Law at the University of Helsinki.
The search for a balance is a core concept of her idea of sustainable development in its traditional interpretation. We should balance our economic, human, and natural resources management. If we overuse our economic resources, we will be heading for ecological or social crises.
Everyone can contribute to sustainable development.
“Everyone can contribute to sustainable development. The countries that support the idea of sustainable development, including Russia, Finland, Estonia, Sweden, are striving to achieve a balance and have common goals. For example, Finland has successfully improved its education and jurisdiction. However, there are many problems we have not solved yet”, — said Tarja Halonen. Political support and collaboration is vital in sustainable development, she said.