UN Environment Programme's
10th Special Session of the Governing Council/Global
Ministerial Environment Forum in Monaco
20-22 February
Nairobi/Monaco, 11 February 2008 - The biggest
gathering of environment ministers to take
place since the climate change breakthrough
in Bali will be happening in Monaco later
this month under the theme "Mobilizing
Finance for the Climate Challenge".
More than 100 ministers
from across the globe are scheduled to attend
the Global Ministerial Environment Forum
(GMEF) - the world's forum for environment
ministers -alongside senior figures from
industry and economics; science; local government;
civil society, trades unions and intergovernmental
bodies.
These include Tulsi
Tanti, Managing Director of Indian wind
energy company Suzlon; Yvo de Boer, Executive
Secretary of the UN Framework Convention
on Climate Change; and Juan Somovia, the
Director-General of the International Labour
Organisation.
Other key figures include
Gunter Pauli, entrepreneur, businessman
and founder of the Zero Emissions Research
and Initiatives and an expert on nature's
solutions to environmental challenges; James
Cameron, founder of Climate Change Capital
- an investment banking group specializing
in financing a low-carbon economy; and Fernando
Ibanez, Chief Executive Officer of Saguapac,
one of the world's most successful and largest
water cooperatives.
They will be joined
by V. Ramanathan of the Scripps Institution
of Oceanography, an expert on the emerging
challenge of 'global dimming'.
Professor Ramanathan
is leader of the Atmospheric Brown Cloud
research team. It is carrying out cutting
edge research on the emerging links between
soot in the atmosphere and novel climatic
impacts including accelerated glacier melt,
reduced crop yields and shifts in rainfall
patterns of the Monsoon.
The delegates will all
be attending the 10th Special Session of
the UN Environment Programme's (UNEP) Governing
Council/Global Ministerial Environment Forum.
Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary
General and UNEP Executive Director, said:
"The last climate convention meeting
delivered the Bali Road Map. This is the
path along which over 190 countries are
traveling in order to deliver a new and
decisive climate deal by Copenhagen in 2009."
"Mobilizing finance,
focusing markets and unleashing innovation
will be central to successfully negotiating
the Road Map and avoiding too many detours
and dead ends," he added.
"We are
already glimpsing a transition to a low
carbon society. Billions of dollars are
now being invested in renewable energy and
hundreds of institutions with trillions
of dollars of assets are now endorsing investment
principles that reflect environmental alongside
social and governance concerns," said
Mr. Steiner.
"Designing and
delivering a Green Economy will not only
avert dangerous and debilitating climate
change. It can address the wider sustainability
challenges outlined in UNEP's recent Global
Environment Outlook from loss of biodiversity
and rapid ecosystem degradation to collapsing
fish stocks and depleted soils," he
said.
"In doing so, it
opens the door to true sustainable development
- development that benefits rich and poor
alike by unleashing creativity and innovation,
spawning new technologies and industries
and stimulating new kinds of green employment
patterns. In short, it is about investing
in tomorrow's economy today," said
Mr. Steiner.
Examples of transformations
already underway include:
- UNEP's Sustainable Energy Finance Initiative
(SEFI) is helping financiers scale up investment
in the growing global markets for renewable
energy and energy efficiency. SEFI's report
last year underlined how capital is mobilizing
towards these low carbon sectors, with total
transactions surpassing the $100 billion
milestone in 2006 and reaching nearly $160
billion in 2007.
- In collaboration with
the United Nations Foundation and Shell
Foundation, UNEP helped two of India's largest
banking groups - Canara Bank and Syndicate
Bank - create a credit market for helping
rural villages finance the purchase of solar
lighting systems. 100,000 people in southern
India have benefited and the initiative
is now self-financing with some 20 banks
involved. The Programme was awarded the
prestigious Energy Globe Award in 2007.
- In Tunisia a similar
initiative has created a credit market for
bank financing of solar hot water systems.
Over 20,000 systems have been financed,
affecting about 100,000 people and increasing
market volume more than 700% since 2004.
The positive results have led the government
to enact legislation aimed at decreasing
the country's reliance on using Liquid Petroleum
Gas for water heating and instead make the
shift to solar.
- UNEP and partners
such as UNDP and the World Bank are also
building the capacity of some 30 developing
countries to access the carbon markets for
financing climate friendly infrastructure.
These multi-million dollar initiatives,
including ones under the Nairobi Framework,
fall under the umbrella of the CD4CDM programme
- the largest initiative of its kind within
the development community.
- The geothermal electricity
potential in Africa is estimated at 7,000MW,
much of it in the part of the Rift Valley
that runs from Kenya to Djibouti. With funding
from the Global Environment Facility (GEF),
UNEP and the World Bank are about to launch
the African Rift Geothermal Facility (ARGeo).
The $17 million project will underwrite
the risks of drilling for steam and in doing
so build the confidence of the private sector
to build geothermal power stations.
- UNEP and the GEF's
Solar and Wind Resource Assessment have
'found' 10 million MW of solar and wind
energy in 26 developing countries available
for private sector development.
- With $20 million in
GEF and UN Foundation support, UNEP is also
working with the Asian and African Development
Banks to leverage private sector financial
flows towards clean energy entrepreneurs.
Over 50 entrepreneurial businesses specializing
in clean energy technologies and services
have been financed to date in Africa, Brazil
and China
Evolving UNEP
Other key issues on the table in Monaco
include the approval of UNEP's new Medium-Term
Strategy for 2010-2013. It is designed to
evolve the institution into a more efficient,
focused, effective and results based environmental
body of the United Nations better equipped
to deal with the sustainability challenges
of the 21st century.
Ministers will also
address the issue of International Environment
Governance and how well UNEP is placed to
address the challenges and opportunities
outlined in the recently published landmark
report, Global Environment Outlook-4.
Chemicals and Waste
Challenges
Also on the table are reports on improved
funding for the Strategic Approach to International
Chemicals Management and the extent to which
the international community is moving forward
on the management of the hazardous heavy
metal mercury.
Ministers will also
be presented with a key report on tackling
illegal international trade in hazardous
substances alongside one outlining recommendations
on how to improve waste management including
recycling in developing economies.
UNEP Year Book 2008
- An Overview of Our Changing Environment
This year's Year Book will be presented
to ministers and the media. It includes
a Global Overview highlighting emerging
climate change concerns including the way
rising CO2 emissions are triggering acidification
of the seas and oceans.
The 2008 Feature Focus
reflects on how market and financial mechanisms
are evolving and discusses barriers to progress
but also underscores the enormous economic
opportunities from improved efficiencies
and innovations in consumption and production
patterns.
The Emerging Challenges
section examines how feedback mechanisms
in the Earth's climate system, for example
methane releases from thawing Artic permafrost
and marine hydrate deposits, might amplify
global warming in the future.
Green Jobs - Towards
Sustainable Work in a Low-Carbon World
UNEP in partnership with the ILO and the
International Trades Union Confederation
will also be launching a preliminary report
from the Green Jobs Initiative on how an
emerging Green Economy is generating new
employment opportunities in agriculture,
construction, engineering and transportation.
Global Civil Society
Forum
The meeting will be preceded on 19 February
by the 9th Global Civil Society Forum whose
steering committee includes Professor Michael
Koech, Sustainable Development and Environment
Network of Kenya; Dr Mahmood Khwaja, Sustainable
Development Policy Institute, Pakistan and
Ms. Zhang Hehe, Friends of Nature, China.
Other members are Ms Sascha Gabizon, Women
in Europe for a Common Future, Germany;
Mr. Jan-Gustav Strandenaes, Norway; Ms Esther
Neuhaus, Brazilian Forum of NGOs and Social
Movements for Sustainable Development, Brazil.
Art for the Environment
Initiative
A groundbreaking touring art exhibition,
reflecting the climate theme and entitled
"Melting Ice / A Hot Topic: Envisioning
Change", will be shown at the Office
of Cultural Affairs in Monaco throughout
the environment ministers' meet and on until
16 March.
The unique exhibition,
a partnership between the Natural World
Museum and UNEP which was first shown on
World Environment Day last year at the Nobel
Peace Centre in Oslo, brings together leading
artists from the developed and developing
world.
Notes to Editors
The 10th Special Session of the UNEP Governing
Council/Global Ministerial Environment Forum
http://www.unep.org/gc/gcss-x/
The Principality of Monaco's host country
site http://www.unep2008.gouv.mc/pnue/wwwnew.nsf/HomeGb
9th Global Civil Society Forum http://www.unep.org/civil_society/GCSF/indexGCSF9.asp
Natural World Museum http://www.artintoaction.org/about.html
Journalists who wish to attend should be
accredited - please see: http://www.unep.org/gc/gcss-x/media.asp
Press conferences are scheduled every day
at 1pm. Journalists who cannot follow the
daily conferences on site will have the
opportunity to phone in, listen live and
ask questions. Interested journalists should
contact Robert Bisset (see below).
Nick Nuttall, UNEP Spokesperson/Head
of Media
Robert Bisset, UNEP Spokesperson for Europe
Anne-France White, Associate Information
Officer
