ID :
203205
Wed, 08/24/2011 - 11:43
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https://oananews.org//node/203205
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Environment summit marks a milestone for Gwangju
GWANGJU, Aug. 24 (Yonhap) -- A global summit on the urban environment that the Gwangju metropolitan government plans to host this fall is expected to give the southwestern Korean city an opportunity to turn over a new leaf and become a human-centered eco-city, the head of a body for the international gathering said Wednesday.
In an interview with Yonhap News Agency, Kim Kwi-gon, chief of the planning committee for the 2011 Gwangju Summit of the Urban Environmental Accords (UEA), said the event will be an opportunity for the city, known for its democracy, human rights and peace, to develop as a metropolis that embraces humans and centers itself around their lives.
The summit, hosted by the Gwangju metropolitan government, the U.N. Environment Program (UNEP) and the U.S. city of San Francisco, will be held in Gwangju, about 330 kilometers southwest of Seoul. The summit, to be held from Oct. 11-13, is expected to bring together mayors, scholars and activists from nearly 90 cities across the globe.
"The summit will be a place for urban cities to discuss how to deal with three major issues that we face: an economy relying on green and renewable energy, sustainable growth and global warming," Kim said. "Especially, the importance of the summit lies in preventing global warming by coming up with ways that cities can deal with the issues."
The UEA, signed in June 2005 by mayors from 52 cities to celebrate World Environment Day, has emerged as a hallmark of urban leadership toward addressing a wide range of issues associated with the urban environment.
"The event will be meaningful as it will delve into new agendas that have not been covered," Kim said, referring to two major ideas.
One is to develop a practical and universal index to evaluate cities' eco-friendly policies. The other major agenda item is to set up a framework for the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) as part of global efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
"Most of all, the Gwangju metropolitan city, the Ministry of Environment and the United Nations will discuss the validity of the CDM and further adopt the agenda," Kim said.
The CDM is one of the arrangements created under the Kyoto Protocol to facilitate carbon trading, prompting urban cities to cut greenhouse gases by initiating an emission trading scheme. The 1997 protocol obliges nearly 40 developed countries to reduce their emissions over a five-year period through the end of 2012 by an average of 5.2 percent from 1990 levels.
"At the closing ceremony, we will also adopt the Gwangju Declaration and will send it to this year's summit of the Group of 20 major economies in Cannes (that kicks off in November)," he said. "We are in the final stage of fine-tuning the wording of a draft for the declaration."
A handful of well-known officials and activists are also slated to discuss environmental issues at symposiums and forums taking place on the sidelines of the summit.
"Heads of the UNEP and U.N.-Habitat, two of the largest environmental institutions, will join the panel of keynote speakers. Also, U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon will send a congratulatory message to the summit," Kim said.
khj@yna.co.kr
In an interview with Yonhap News Agency, Kim Kwi-gon, chief of the planning committee for the 2011 Gwangju Summit of the Urban Environmental Accords (UEA), said the event will be an opportunity for the city, known for its democracy, human rights and peace, to develop as a metropolis that embraces humans and centers itself around their lives.
The summit, hosted by the Gwangju metropolitan government, the U.N. Environment Program (UNEP) and the U.S. city of San Francisco, will be held in Gwangju, about 330 kilometers southwest of Seoul. The summit, to be held from Oct. 11-13, is expected to bring together mayors, scholars and activists from nearly 90 cities across the globe.
"The summit will be a place for urban cities to discuss how to deal with three major issues that we face: an economy relying on green and renewable energy, sustainable growth and global warming," Kim said. "Especially, the importance of the summit lies in preventing global warming by coming up with ways that cities can deal with the issues."
The UEA, signed in June 2005 by mayors from 52 cities to celebrate World Environment Day, has emerged as a hallmark of urban leadership toward addressing a wide range of issues associated with the urban environment.
"The event will be meaningful as it will delve into new agendas that have not been covered," Kim said, referring to two major ideas.
One is to develop a practical and universal index to evaluate cities' eco-friendly policies. The other major agenda item is to set up a framework for the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) as part of global efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
"Most of all, the Gwangju metropolitan city, the Ministry of Environment and the United Nations will discuss the validity of the CDM and further adopt the agenda," Kim said.
The CDM is one of the arrangements created under the Kyoto Protocol to facilitate carbon trading, prompting urban cities to cut greenhouse gases by initiating an emission trading scheme. The 1997 protocol obliges nearly 40 developed countries to reduce their emissions over a five-year period through the end of 2012 by an average of 5.2 percent from 1990 levels.
"At the closing ceremony, we will also adopt the Gwangju Declaration and will send it to this year's summit of the Group of 20 major economies in Cannes (that kicks off in November)," he said. "We are in the final stage of fine-tuning the wording of a draft for the declaration."
A handful of well-known officials and activists are also slated to discuss environmental issues at symposiums and forums taking place on the sidelines of the summit.
"Heads of the UNEP and U.N.-Habitat, two of the largest environmental institutions, will join the panel of keynote speakers. Also, U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon will send a congratulatory message to the summit," Kim said.
khj@yna.co.kr
