ID :
211499
Thu, 10/06/2011 - 10:38
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Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/211499
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Gwangju set to hold environment summit next week
GWANGJU, Oct. 6 (Yonhap) -- The Gwangju metropolitan government is fully geared up to host a three-day global urban environment summit as the southwestern city's biggest international gathering to date kicks off next week, organizers said Thursday.
The 2011 Gwangju Summit of the Urban Environmental Accords (UEA), set to run in the city, about 330 kilometers southwest of Seoul, from next Tuesday through Thursday, is expected to bring together mayors, scholars and activists from nearly 120 cities and international organizations. The summit is hosted by the local government, the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) and the U.S. city of San Francisco.
A total of 105 cities, including Curitiba, Brazil, and Barcelona, Spain have registered for the event, adding to hopes that the summit will attract a record number of foreign officials and mayors to discuss the future of the global environment.
A dozen international organizations, including UN-Habitat, the World Bank, and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, are participating as sponsors.
Most of all, a handful of well-known officials and activists are slated to join the panel of keynote speakers. They include Achim Steiner, executive director of the UNEP; Joan Clos, executive director of U.N.-Habitat; and Earth Policy Institute President Lester Brown.
Signed in June 2005 by mayors from 52 cities to celebrate World Environment Day, the UEA has emerged as a hallmark of urban leadership's efforts to address the wide range of environmental issues facing cities, including reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
The summit will delve into two major topics: developing a system to evaluate environmental policies and trying to revive a previous effort to set up an emissions trading framework.
Summit attendees will try to develop a practical and universal index to evaluate cities' eco-friendly policies. The existing standards are either outdated or do not consider the differences between developed and developing countries.
The other goal of the summit is to set up a framework for the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) as part of global efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. A joint study with the UNEP has been under way since 2007.
The CDM was created under the Kyoto Protocol as one of several ways to facilitate carbon trading in an effort to get cities to cut greenhouse gas emissions. 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.
But the CDM has not led to a functional carbon trading system, and so summit attendees are hoping to discuss the agreement and hammer out a new framework for emissions trading.
At the close of the summit, the participants are expected to announce the Gwangju Declaration and Gwangju Initiative summarizing what they discussed, which includes opening an office to implement the aforementioned two goals, and forming a consultative body of environment-friendly cities.
Meanwhile, a group of well-known officials and activists are also slated to discuss environmental issues at symposiums and forums on the sidelines of the summit on subjects such as finding a solution to the endangered Earth and environmental issues facing metropolises and developing countries.
khj@yna.co.kr
(END)
The 2011 Gwangju Summit of the Urban Environmental Accords (UEA), set to run in the city, about 330 kilometers southwest of Seoul, from next Tuesday through Thursday, is expected to bring together mayors, scholars and activists from nearly 120 cities and international organizations. The summit is hosted by the local government, the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) and the U.S. city of San Francisco.
A total of 105 cities, including Curitiba, Brazil, and Barcelona, Spain have registered for the event, adding to hopes that the summit will attract a record number of foreign officials and mayors to discuss the future of the global environment.
A dozen international organizations, including UN-Habitat, the World Bank, and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, are participating as sponsors.
Most of all, a handful of well-known officials and activists are slated to join the panel of keynote speakers. They include Achim Steiner, executive director of the UNEP; Joan Clos, executive director of U.N.-Habitat; and Earth Policy Institute President Lester Brown.
Signed in June 2005 by mayors from 52 cities to celebrate World Environment Day, the UEA has emerged as a hallmark of urban leadership's efforts to address the wide range of environmental issues facing cities, including reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
The summit will delve into two major topics: developing a system to evaluate environmental policies and trying to revive a previous effort to set up an emissions trading framework.
Summit attendees will try to develop a practical and universal index to evaluate cities' eco-friendly policies. The existing standards are either outdated or do not consider the differences between developed and developing countries.
The other goal of the summit is to set up a framework for the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) as part of global efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. A joint study with the UNEP has been under way since 2007.
The CDM was created under the Kyoto Protocol as one of several ways to facilitate carbon trading in an effort to get cities to cut greenhouse gas emissions. 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.
But the CDM has not led to a functional carbon trading system, and so summit attendees are hoping to discuss the agreement and hammer out a new framework for emissions trading.
At the close of the summit, the participants are expected to announce the Gwangju Declaration and Gwangju Initiative summarizing what they discussed, which includes opening an office to implement the aforementioned two goals, and forming a consultative body of environment-friendly cities.
Meanwhile, a group of well-known officials and activists are also slated to discuss environmental issues at symposiums and forums on the sidelines of the summit on subjects such as finding a solution to the endangered Earth and environmental issues facing metropolises and developing countries.
khj@yna.co.kr
(END)
