CLIMATE-SAARC 2 LST

India also decided to extend a grant of one million
dollars for strengthening the SAARC Forestry Centre in Thimphu
and an additional one million dollars for the coastal zone
management centre in the Maldives.
Ramesh said the regional environment treaty and the
natural disaster rapid response mechanism are expected to be
finalised and adopted at the SAARC Summit in Thimphu in April
next year.
Recognising that the South Asia was amongst the regions
most vulnerable to climate change as around 21 per cent of the
world's population lives here, the ministers stressed
sustainable development and adaptation to it remained the
appropriate way to address the threat.
"The ministers also underlined the need for
afforestation and emphasised that the REDD Plus proposal
(seeking fund for retaining forests) before the UNFCCC was an
appropriate basis for such an agreement at Copenhagen," Ramesh
added. PTI