(As prepared for delivery)
Thank you, Your Royal Highness.
Good morning, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen.
I am very pleased to address this International Conference on Nuclear Science and Technology. It is also a special pleasure to visit Thailand. In fact, this is my third visit to your beautiful country since I became Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency.
One of the key roles of the IAEA is to make nuclear science and technology available to developing countries to help them improve the prosperity, health and well-being of their people.
Nuclear applications offer enormous benefits in many areas of our lives, including medicine, food production and energy generation, as well as in many sectors of industry.
I express my great appreciation to Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn for her active involvement in development issues including health, child nutrition, water resources and agriculture.
Her presence at this important conference reflects her profound understanding of the enormous contribution which science and technology can make to development.
Nuclear applications, in particular, have a great deal to offer in the areas I mentioned. The IAEA works closely with Member States on all of them.
I have been asked to focus today on two particular areas of the IAEA’s work – health and the environment.
I will begin by taking a look at our health activities.
Human health is an increasingly important area of our work. We assist developing countries in the safe and effective deployment of radiation medicine, and related nuclear techniques, to address conditions such as cancer, cardiovascular diseases, tuberculosis and malnutrition.
There are four main areas to the IAEA’s work on human health.
First, nuclear medicine. Nuclear medicine involves procedures such as PET/CT scans that use radioactive sources to help doctors to diagnose and manage many of the conditions I mentioned.
Drugs that contain radioactive materials, known as radiopharmaceuticals, are injected into a patient and taken up by the part of the body which is being investigated.
The radioactive emissions from these drugs are detected by a device known as a gamma camera, which produces images of the body part under investigation. This allows doctors to see what is happening within the patient’s body and decide on appropriate action.
Second, radiotherapy. This is an important treatment for many cancers, either on its own, or together with other treatments such as surgery and chemotherapy. I will say more about cancer in a moment.
Third, dosimetry. The IAEA has a special dosimetry laboratory which helps to ensure that cancer patients throughout the world who are treated with radiation beams receive the correct doses – high enough to kill tumours, but not too high so as to risk damaging healthy tissue.
Fourth, nutrition. Stable isotope techniques can be used to combat malnutrition in all its forms.
These techniques help specialists to assess body composition and bone mineral density.
They help to determine whether infants are getting the nutrition they need, providing more detailed information than the traditional method of weighing babies before and after each feed.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Let me give you a few examples of our practical work in human health.
In many countries in Asia and the Pacific region, there is a shortage of highly qualified nuclear medicine practitioners.
Last year, the IAEA signed an agreement with leading medical institutes in South Korea to provide training for nuclear medicine professionals from other countries in the region and organize workshops on clinical practices.
As far as dosimetry is concerned, the Agency has brought together experts from Thailand and other Asian countries to learn about the latest techniques for estimating the radiation doses received by individuals and populations.
On the nutrition side, Thailand is one of 12 countries in Asia and the Pacific that have participated in a study on infant feeding practices that began in 2014.
Stable isotope techniques were used to validate mothers' reported breastfeeding practices. The results will help to determine whether breastfeeding promotion programmes are proving effective in ensuring that infants receive enough nutrition in the crucial early years of life.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I should mention that the IAEA is also able to respond quickly to health emergencies in Member States.
We helped countries in West Africa to deal with an outbreak of the Ebola virus a few years ago by providing diagnostic kits, laboratory supplies and technical advice.
This enabled the affected countries to use nuclear-derived technologies to quickly diagnose the spread of Ebola and related viruses.
We also assisted them in developing the expertise to better track and detect animal diseases that could be transmitted to humans.
We are now adopting a similar approach to help countries in Latin America and the Caribbean respond to the Zika virus.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
As I mentioned, cancer control is a particular focus of the IAEA’s work.
Our partners at the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) estimate that, by 2030, over 21 million people will be diagnosed with cancer every year, 13 million of whom will die from the disease.
Some 60 percent of all new cancer cases will be recorded in developing countries, where around 70 percent of cancer-related deaths will occur.
This is a great human tragedy. Many of those patients could be treated effectively if they lived in countries where modern cancer diagnosis and treatment facilities are available.
In developed countries, remarkable improvements in cancer treatment, and greater accuracy in diagnosis and early detection, have made it possible for many patients to live longer and healthier lives.
Some are completely cured of what was once regarded as an incurable disease.
Unfortunately, many developing countries lack both equipment and the trained medical and technical experts to treat cancer effectively. In Africa alone, there are 28 countries which do not have a single radiotherapy machine.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Nuclear medicine and imaging technology offer enormous health benefits. But they are relatively complex and expensive tools. Many developing countries face challenges in fully exploiting their potential.
Nuclear medicine procedures are often not affordable for patients in the developing world. Access is also seriously constrained by the lack of a reliable basic infrastructure, such as a constant power supply, essential materials and well maintained equipment.
The IAEA is uniquely positioned to assist countries devise comprehensive cancer control programmes. We help them to establish nuclear medicine and radiation oncology facilities and we support the education and training of specialized health professionals.
Here in the Asia and Pacific region, for example, we have helped countries to build human resources and deploy new equipment. Our technical support focuses on nuclear medicine and imaging technology, and radiotherapy.
Together with partners such as the World Health Organization and IARC, we assist countries in identifying cancer priorities and developing solutions tailored to their needs and resources.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
In recent years, world leaders have begun taking the cancer challenge in developing countries more seriously.
I was in New York last September when the Sustainable Development Goals were adopted.
For the first time, leaders committed themselves to reducing early deaths from chronic diseases, including cancer, by one third over the next 15 years.
I believe this is an achievable goal if governments, organisations such as the IAEA, our key partners, and non-governmental organisations, work together.
Closer collaboration among public and private sector partners, and innovative ways of financing, are required to help countries derive maximum benefit from the use of new nuclear technologies, and to reduce the knowledge gap between developed and developing countries.
Cancer prevention, early detection and treatment must be addressed simultaneously. This requires broad investment in technology to enable cancer patients to receive lifesaving treatment. Partnerships such as that between the IAEA and the WHO are essential.
Innovative approaches to training technical specialists are also crucial.
The IAEA supports an e-learning platform, known as the Virtual University for Cancer Control, which offers accessible, high-quality online training free of charge to medical staff, across all areas of cancer care.
This means that doctors and medical physicists, for example, can receive expert training without leaving home for costly trips abroad which their countries can ill afford.
We have achieved a lot in the cancer field over the years and many lives have been saved. But the need is enormous and much more needs to be done.
The IAEA will continue to make its specialist nuclear expertise available to help save lives. This is a high priority for the Agency and for me personally.
Our goal must be to help ensure that, one day, all of the world’s people will have access to effective, quality, and affordable cancer diagnosis and treatment.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I will now turn to the second main issue which I was asked to address – the contribution of nuclear science and technology to dealing with climate change.
The most obvious example of how nuclear technology can help to mitigate the effects of climate change is nuclear energy.
Energy is indispensable for development. Enormous increases in energy supply will be required over the next few decades to support economic development and to lift some 2.6 billion people out of energy poverty.
Many countries believe nuclear power can help them to address the twin challenges of ensuring reliable energy supplies, while curbing greenhouse gas emissions.
Nuclear power is one of the lowest-carbon technologies available to generate electricity. Nuclear power plants produce virtually no greenhouse gas emissions or air pollutants during their operation, and only very low emissions over their entire life cycle.
Some 30 countries are already using nuclear power. Another 30 are considering building their first nuclear power plants, or have started doing so. Most of these possible newcomers are developing nations.
Including nuclear power in the energy mix can also help to alleviate concerns about volatile fuel prices and security of supply. Plenty of uranium is available from reliable sources spread all over the world, and the cost of uranium is only a small fraction of the total cost of nuclear electricity.
It is the sovereign decision of each country whether or not to include nuclear power in its energy mix.
The IAEA does not attempt to influence these decisions. Our job is to provide assistance and information to countries that wish to use nuclear power to help them do so safely, securely and sustainably.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
The world must not only tackle the causes of climate change. The damage that climate change has already caused to the environment, and the threat it can pose to human livelihoods, also need to be addressed.
With a changing climate and growing populations, developing countries face serious environmental challenges such as desertification, soil erosion, pollution and deteriorating water quality.
This is sometimes compounded by inappropriate land management and excessive use of irrigation water, fertilizers and pesticides. All of this can severely constrain food production and hamper sustainable development.
In dealing with such threats, governments need accurate data and skilled researchers who can devise accurate models to help predict future conditions. Governments can then start implementing appropriate strategies to protect the land, seas and oceans.
How does the IAEA help? In a number of ways.
In partnership with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the IAEA deploys nuclear techniques to help manage pollution, reverse land degradation and restore soils.
Nuclear and isotopic techniques help us to understand and map the way in which pollutants move through the environment and show how individual species and ecosystems are impacted.
These techniques can identify the source of lead pollution in fish and help determine where petroleum contamination has come from. They provide the scientific data governments need to respond.
For example, after Typhoon Haiyan in 2013, the IAEA worked with the Philippine authorities to assess water and soil contamination using nuclear and isotopic techniques.
Isotopes are also used to measure soil erosion and to quantify how efficiently water and fertilizers are being used.
This information helps farmers to adopt good agricultural practices to improve crop yields, minimize pollution and safeguard water quality.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
There is virtually no area of human activity that does not depend on water. It is vital for human health, for agriculture, for industrial production, and for technological development.
For over half a century, the IAEA has been deploying its unique expertise in using nuclear techniques to understand and manage water. In more than 90 countries, our experts work with national counterparts to find, manage and conserve supplies of fresh water.
In Asia and the Pacific, water insecurity is a major issue. Many people do not have access to clean drinking water. The effective management of water and environmental resources is central to sustainable development in the region.
Both stable and radioactive environmental isotopes can be used to investigate underground sources of water to determine their source, whether they are at risk of saltwater intrusion or pollution, and whether they can be used in a sustainable manner.
The IAEA also makes a direct contribution to increasing food production by developing new varieties of staple food crops such as rice and barley that are resistant to drought and other adverse conditions.
This is done by using what we call radiation-induced mutation techniques. These make it possible to develop new varieties of crops much more rapidly than occurs in nature, or through traditional plant breeding methods.
Thailand is one of many countries in this region which have increased rice production using nuclear techniques, with the help of the IAEA. I look forward to visiting the Pathumthani Rice Research Center tomorrow.
Stable isotopes can play an important role in the protection of endangered species and threatened habitats.
By measuring stable isotopes in wildlife products such as ivory from endangered elephants, scientists can identify where the animal lived, and therefore track the ivory’s origin.
Likewise, studying the isotopes of hydrogen in timber can help determine its origin. The IAEA has developed reference materials for wood which can be used by analytical laboratories worldwide.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
One of the Sustainable Development Goals concerns ocean acidification. The IAEA uses nuclear and isotopic techniques to study biological processes affected by ocean acidification.
We established a new IAEA Ocean Acidification International Coordination Centre in Monaco in 2013 to serve as a platform for information sharing and international collaboration.
The Agency is conducting a major research project on the impact of ocean acidification in fisheries. We have also launched international studies to address the effects of climate change on polar and mountainous regions.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I hope I have given you some insight into the work of the IAEA in making nuclear science and technology available for development. Our work is extremely wide-ranging and I have only had time to highlight a few examples.
The IAEA will continue to work with our Member States and key international partners to ensure that nuclear science and technology help to improve the health and well-being of the human family, and to meet the challenges of climate change.
I wish you every success with your conference.
Thank you.