EU-Africa meeting: focus on climate change and EU-Africa Partnership
Environment Ministers from Africa and Europe met in Nairobi on Thursday during the 25th session of the UNEP Governing Council to discuss climate change, international environmental governance and the EU-Africa Partnership.
The meeting was chaired jointly by the EU Environment Council President, Czech Deputy Prime Minister and Environment Minister Martin Bursík and President of the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment (AMCEN) and Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism of South Africa Marthinus Van Schalkwyk.
“It is clear that European and African countries can easily identify environmental problems they have in common”, said Martin Bursík. “Today Europe and Africa already face the impacts of climate change such as floods, more frequent storms, draughts and water shortage. Africa is a region affected by climate change and other environmental problems such as land degradation, desertification, deforestation and air pollution more than all other regions in the world. And all these environmental problems have a very strong negative impact on the lives of millions of people”, added Bursík.
He also stressed that the EU-Africa Partnership has a key role in working together to find solutions to these problems. “To succeed, we need to support adaptation measures as well as transfer of modern technologies to developing countries”, said Martin Bursík commenting on today’s discussion. He mentioned that Clean Development Mechanism projects under the Kyoto Protocol, as well as part of the revenues from the EU’s emissions trading scheme and money from the Adaptation Fund should be used to finance both the introduction of modern technologies and adaptation projects.
“If this Governing Council really adopts the key decision on global legally binding rules on the use of mercury, it will show that UNEP is able to take specific and efficient steps towards solving a global problem concerning the environment”, said Martin Bursík. “I believe that we should also leave the door open for a similar agreement on the use of other dangerous substances such as cadmium and lead in the future”, he added.
contact:
- Jakub Kašpar, Spokesperson, Ministry of the Environment, Czech Republic
- tel.: +420 267 122 040, GSM: +420 724 175 927; e-mail: jakub.kaspar@mzp.cz
Last update: 16.8.2011 15:44
