Personal resume

Ms. Agi Veres is the Country Director of the United Nations Development Programme（UNDP）in China.She is responsible for the overall management of UNDP’s programming and operations in China，as well as partnership building and strategic coherence.

Ms. Agi Veres has been working for UNDP since 2002 in various capacities at Headquarters（HQ），regional and country levels. Prior to her appointment as Country Director in UNDP China，she was the Deputy Resident Representative of UNDP in Lesotho from October 2011. She worked at the regional level as Senior Programme Coordinator in the Bratislava Regional Centre for Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States（CIS）（2009-2011），and Deputy Chief for Policy Support and Programme Development of the Bratislava Regional Centre（2006-2008）. She started her UNDP career in Headquarters，including as Reporting Coordinator and Business Analysis Team Lead（2005-2006），and ICT Communications Officer（2002-2005）.

Ms. Agi Veres is a native of Hungary and has a degree of Master of Sciences in Business Administration from the Budapest University of Economic Sciences.

Thank you very much. Ladies and gentlemen，It is my pleasure to be here and address this very important event in which culture is firstly be a part of Guiyang Ecological forum. Ecological civilization is much related with sustainable development，they have much in common.

According to the ecological footprint as all of the time we refer to，the meaning issue is that if we keep continue our current way of living，if we keep buying or consuming the same way，our current population rolls rapidly，then，according to some studies，by 2030，we may need two earths to live in. But it is very unlikely that we will discover the second planet in the next 15 years. So to avoid this situation，our best bet is to change our culture of consumption and production. For the human development respective，that the UNDP think the overuse of our planet will be in bad for the poor and vulnerable people，and worse affecting how family security and develop issues. So from cultural respective，the topic I want to release today is what we need to suffer if we continue our current life，buying and consuming. The idea of what cultural and behavior change requires allow for more sustainable future and assure that our future generation could enjoy life without us jeopardizing the ability and have the same access to resources we live today. So when we look at the importance of cultural，let me quote by Amarty· Sam about relationship of culture ecology civilization，she said cultural matters are intangible parts of life living，if the development can be seen at the enhancement of improving our living standards，that efforts of culture in development can hardly be ignored. We should be more aware that to change and to achieve it we cannot continue our mode of development. Many countries and international communities have strived for sustainable development for years，as the Paris Agreement and Development Aim mentioned before. But actually to achieve this，it’s the need to change our attitude，our behaviors and the conversion of its incentive and motivation behind. Economic and social development and environmental protection are very important for sustainable development. Though we have a deep knowledge of development，according to some survey，the change of our attitude and behaviors is still not enough，and much more level of change in attitude and behaviors should be done. So the next question is how can we encourage cultural change and how can we do this by also being in mind for the need for sustainability of cultural visible life.

Culture can be and must be considered in the sustainable development. We must consider local culture and the combination of narrative history and traditions that define their communities. Visual life make the people act and react. No transition could sustainable life style would be successful without taking parting change into account. For instance，one of the projects that the UNDP doing in China is a project in Yunnan province which help native women with their embroidery and help to sale the products to national and international markets. This is important for income generation and providing sustainable development for those villagers，and is equally important for local women’s culture and heritage life and entire the younger generation get involved. Another project that underlines the importance of agriculture biodiversity in Hainan province is called seeds protecting project. The seeds collectors save the seeds of crops and plants against disasters. The more interesting part is that parts of the seeds from the seeds bank expanding the seeds bank. Maintaining local cultures，tradition and knowledge is not only about localization，because culture diversity of a homeland will make our homeland.

Ladies and gentlemen，Culture has not been paid enough attention to in the past tribunes. Targets for development include three about culture，they are implement policies to promote sustainable development，promotion of local cultural products，tourism and employment，protection of natural and cultural heritage. Because sustainable development and ecological civilization are all concerned about future rewards，we should pay more attention to the culture capacity to development，and through our own efforts to change our culture and behavior. Culture is not just an important fabric，it can help us not just do the transformation that is necessary，but was also possible. Thank you very much for your all attention！