World Community Urged to Protect People's Right to Clean EnvironmentThe international conference on "Persistent Organic Pollutants" opened here on Monday, December 4, with participants urging all governments in the world to protect people's right to a clean environment.Addressing the opening ceremony of the conference, Deputy Minister of South African Environmental Affairs Department Rejoice Mabudafhasi said the people have a right to an environment which is not harmful to their well-being. She said more emphasis needs to be placed on making people aware of harmful pollutants and their effects. "Public information and awareness is critical, particularly for people who are exposed to these chemicals on a day-to-day basis without adequate or correct protection," Mabudafhasi said, noting that Africa is in particular faced with this problem and is losing natural resources at a faster rate than other regions in the world. According to the conference, people most at risk are farm workers, poor people and employees working at industries that release toxic substances. Delegates at the conference are expected to finalize negotiations towards a binding policy on organic pollutants, Mabudafhasi said. The conference follows the climate change convention in The Hague and the Montreal protocol convention in Canada, both of which are part of the build-up to the Earth Summit in 2002, when policies on global environmental affairs are expected to be finalized. |
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