World Environment Ministers Meet at UNEP Session

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Tuesday, February 04, 2003

World Environment Ministers Meet at UNEP Session

Environment ministers and other senior officials from around the world met here Monday to discuss issues ranging from environmental governance to leaded gasoline.

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Environment ministers and other senior officials from around the world met here Monday to discuss issues ranging from environmental governance to leaded gasoline.

"The world now understands, more than ever before, that prosperity at the expense of the environment is no prosperity at all," UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said in a message to the 22nd session of the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) Governing Council and the fourth Global Ministerial Environment Forum, which opened Monday at the UNEP headquarters in Nairobi, capital of Kenya.

Environment ministers and other senior government officials from over 100 countries, as well as representatives of UN agencies,international organizations, academia, business, industry and non-governmental organizations, attended the week-long meeting.

Coming five months after the World Summit for Sustainable Development (WSSD) in Johannesburg, South Africa, the meeting is expected to consider a wide range of topics, including emerging policy issues, the role of civil society, international environmental governance, linkages among environment-related conventions, and the outcomes of the WSSD.

"We must sustain the partnerships forged at the WSSD, in areas from coral reefs and clean drinking water to cleaner vehicle fuelsand the air that we all breathe," Annan said in the message.

The annual meeting will also include special side events and exhibitions on new and recent UNEP initiatives and reports on issues such as the work of the Post Conflict Unit in Afghanistan, the eradication of leaded gasoline worldwide, and the collaborative partnerships in the water management field.

Speaking at the opening session, UNEP Executive Director Klaus Toepfer said: "We have to fight poverty so as to reduce the gap between the rich and poor and also endeavor to make the environment more sustainable."

"The success of the Johannesburg Agreement is not based on any timetable, but on the need for its implementation," Toepfer said.

He also stressed that the UNEP Governing Council should look atways of tackling both the opportunities and risks of globalization,with the challenges of increasing poverty and environmental degradation.

Ugandan Environment Minister Ruhakana Rugunda was elected president of the UNEP Governing Council and the Global MinisterialEnvironment Forum, replacing his Canadian counterpart David Anderson.

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