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..Press
Release................................
UNESCAP News Services
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Date 25
March 2005
Press Release No: N/15/2005
INTERNATIONAL EFFORT TO PREVENT, CONTROL DUST
AND SANDSTORMS IN NORTH-EAST ASIA UNVEILED AT MCED 2005
Proposal includes regional monitoring and
early warning network
Bangkok (United Nations Information Services)
-- An international team working to prevent and control dust
and sandstorms (DSS) in North-East Asia will present the results
of a three-year project aimed at alleviating this deadly and
costly natural disaster on 25 March as part of the Ministerial
Conference on Environment and Development in Asia and the Pacific.
The Asian Development Bank (ADB), United Nations
Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), United Nations
Environment Programme (UNEP), United Nations Economic and Social
Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP), and the governments
of China, Japan, Mongolia and the Republic of Korea, have just
concluded the project aimed at creating a regional master plan,
investment strategy and regional monitoring and early warning
network.
According to ADB, dust and sandstorms, a part
of life in Northeast Asia for thousands of years, have increased
in frequency, intensity, and geographical reach over the last
half century. Hundreds of millions of people feel the impact
of dust and sandstorms on their living standards, health, and
wealth. For example, in 1993 a storm that struck China resulted
85 dead, 246 injured, 4,412 houses destroyed, 12,000 livestock
dead or lost, and 373,000 hectares of cropland damaged, with
a direct economic cost of $66 million.
The partners in the project believe that DDS is
a transboundary problem requiring an international effort to
find a solution, which includes a regional cooperation mechanism
among the most affected countries that would allow the problem
to be addressed in a coordinated way.
The Briefing on North-East Asia Regional Cooperation
for the Prevention and Control of Dust and Sandstorms will be
held in the Belle Vue Suite of the Lotte Hotel Seoul from 13:30-14:30
hrs. Conference delegates are invited to attend.
Participants of note include Ms. Park Sun Sook,
Vice Minister of Environment, Republic of Korea, Mr. Hama Arba
Diallo, Executive Secretary, UNCCD, and Mr. Lohani, Director
General of Environment and Sustainable Development, ADB.
For further information, please contact:
Mr. Jung Kyun Na, NRL Expert on Environment Policy,
Environment andSustainable Development Division, UNESCAP, Tel:
+(66-2) 288-1525; Fax: +(66-2) 288-1025
E-mail: naj@un.org
Mr. Sung Soo Cho, Senior Program Officer, International
Affairs Division,Ministry of Environment, Republic of Korea
Tel: +(82-2) 2110-7909; Fax: +(82-2) 504-9206
E-mail: dreamct@me.go.kr
For media inquiries, please contact:
Mr. David Lazarus, Chief, UN Information Services
Bangkok
Tel: +(66-2) 288-1861/4; Fax: +(66-2) 288-1052
E-mail: unisbkk.unescap@un.org
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