14/04/2011 - Top officials
from more than 35 nations covering the world's
three major rainforest regions will gather
at a United Nations-backed conference next
month to discuss the common challenges faced
by these vital ecosystems that support more
than a billion people.
The aim of the Summit
of Heads of State and Government of the
Amazon, Congo, and Borneo-Mekong Forest
Basins is to achieve a plan for the sustainable
management of forest ecosystems in the three
basins.
The four-day meeting,
which will be held in Brazzaville, the capital
of the Republic of Congo, beginning on 31
May, is also part of celebrations of the
International Year of Forests (2011).
The Amazon Basin of
South America, the Congo Basis in Central
Africa and the Borneo-Mekong Basin in South-East
Asia make up 80 per cent of the world's
rainforests and contain two thirds of its
biodiversity.
"Every one of us,
all 7 billion people on Earth, has our physical,
economic and spiritual health tied to the
health of our forest ecosystems", said
Jan McAlpine, Director of the UN Forum on
Forests Secretariat. "Throughout Forests
2011, we will celebrate this intricate,
interdependent relationship between forests
and people."
Forest loss is accelerating
at a rapid pace across much of the three
basins, and forest degradation and destruction
now account for 20 per cent of the greenhouse
gases released into the atmosphere.
McAlpine noted at a
news conference in New York that the discussions
and outcomes of the summit will also feed
into the preparations for the UN Conference
on Sustainable Development, to be held in
Rio de Janeiro in June 2012.
Also addressing the
briefing, Henri Djombo, Minister of Sustainable
Development, Forestry and Environment of
the Republic of the Congo, said it was hoped
that the summit will achieve "a treaty
or an agreement" for the sustainable
management of the ecosystems of the three
regions.
Source: UN News Centre at http://www.un.org/news
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Environmental policies
are theme of debate in the Brazilian Senate
27/04/2011 - In a public
hearing held on Tuesday (April 26) in the
Senate, in Brasília, to discuss topics
such as the importance of the Rio+20 Conference
and sustainable development, the Executive
Secretary of the Ministry of the Environment
(MMA), Francisco Gaetani, said the country's
environmental policy is being consolidated
by a strategy towards the 'green economy'.
"We are convinced
that the environmental theme is not only
a problem or challenge of the MMA, but of
the entire society and all levels of government.
Brazil is now an 'environmental power',
especially in biodiversity, alternative
power generation, food production and reserves
of natural waters. These characteristics
give us new responsibilities towards a green
economy, which provides development in a
sustainable way, to ensure natural resources
for future generations", he said.
Gaetani also stressed
the importance of Brazil as the host of
three international events in the following
years: the Rio+20 Conference (2012), the
World Cup (2014) and the Olympics (2016)
- all with environmental implications.
UNEP - The UNEP Executive
Director, Achim Steiner, participated in
the event. Steiner, a leading expert on
green economy in the world, said there are
high expectations about Brazil in relation
to Rio+20. "We believe that Brazil
can enhance its ability to lead, negotiate
and influence the thought pattern that must
be present in the negotiations on sustainable
development and in the decisions that will
determine new strategies for the climate
system."
For the UNEP Executive
Director, all the nations still find obstacles
to the sustainable development, which are
triggered by economic and political domination,
and therefore the environmental advances
were not as significant as it was expected
to be. But, according to him, changes on
national legislations can contribute much
to it.
The Director of the
Environment Department of the Brazilian
Ministry of External Relations, minister
Luiz Alberto Figueiredo, who also attended
the hearing, stressed that the Rio+20 Conference
is not just an environmental event, but
an opportunity to the world to discuss the
'green economy' in the context of sustainability,
poverty eradication and international governance.
