Press Release No. G/35/00
4 September 2000
Environment Ministers begin meeting in Japan to offer solutions
REGION'S URBAN, RURAL POPULATION EXPECTED TO BECOME
EQUAL IN FIRST HALF OF CENTURY
Kitakyushu, Japan (United Nations Information Services, Bangkok) – As the region’s population is expected to swell to 5 billion in the first half of the century, for the first time in history the region’s urban population will equal its rural.
This worrying statistic is in United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s message to over 44 Ministers meeting in Japan to approve fresh plans to combat environmental pollution. It was delivered by Mr. Kim Hak-Su, Executive Secretary of the Bangkok-based, 61-member United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP)
The fourth Ministerial Conference on Environment and Development in Asia and the Pacific is being held from 31 August to 5 September 2000 at Kitakyushu City, Japan. The conference is being organized by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) and co-sponsored by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Bank.
Mr. Annan said that information technologies, with their potential to spread environmental awareness, globalization, which has the potential to promote greater environmental responsibility, and partnerships with business and civil society were some of the solutions causing reason for some optimism.
“I sincerely hope that together you will find ways to move towards a new ethic of global environmental stewardship that is so urgently needed,” Mr. Annan said.
Mr. Kim underlined in his policy statement that environmental degradation could have a severe and wide-ranging effect on human health. “When these effects are concentrated, as in an urban context, they can be disastrous. As Asia’s urban centres grow, the issue of urban environmental management becomes more of a priority.”
Ms. Yoriko Kawaguchi, Minister of State, Director-General of the Environment Agency of Japan, in her inaugural statement said, “During the 21st century, it will be necessary to create a new society that takes up the issues of poverty and the environment in a more active way than the present age. A new model for development - sustainable development - will need to be created if we are to make this possible.”
To improve the environment will cost money, reminded Asian Development Bank (ADB) President Tadao Chino. “We estimate that a minimum of $13 billion will be required annually to maintain the present status of the environment in Asia and the Pacific. Multiples of that amount will be needed additionally to improve the environment significantly.” He said other sources including the private sector must be developed to meet the demand for sustainable development projects.
The Executive Director of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), Mr. Klaus Topfer, said that as the region is witness to an unprecedented economic recovery, “this new growth period of the Asian economies, with a younger capital stock, gives us a fresh opportunity to implement more environmental precautions, promote cleaner technologies and raise environmental awareness amongst the people especially the youth and women.”
The Conference is the fourth in a series of Ministerial-level meetings, held every five years. Ministers are expected to review the implementation of Agenda 21 - an environmental blueprint - in the region, and assess the state of the environment in Asia and the Pacific.
The Ministerial Conference is expected to produce a Declaration reaffirming the commitment of countries in the region to environmental protection. The Ministerial Conference is also in preparation for the 10-year review, in 2002, of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992.
For further information, please contact:
Mr. Rezaul Karim, Chief, Environment Section, Environment and Natural Resources Development Division (ENRDD), ESCAP, United Nations Building, Rajdamnern Nok Avenue, Bangkok 10200, Thailand. Tel: (66 2) 288 1614 or 288 1770, Fax: (66 2) 288 1025 and 288 1059, Email address: karim.unescap@un.org.
Mr. David Lazarus, Chief, UNIS Bangkok, ESCAP, United Nations Building, Rajdamnern Nok Avenue, Bangkok 10200, Thailand. Tel: (66 2) 288 1866 Fax: (66 2) 288 1052, Email: unisbkk.unescap@un.org.
Mr. Kawaji Mitsutaka, MCED/ECO ASIA, Kitakyushu Secretariat, 11th Fl., 1-1 Jonai, Kokurakita-ku, Kitakyushu 803-8501, Japan. Tel: (81 93) 582 3230, Fax: (81 93) 571 0160, Email: kawaji@convention.co.jp.