The high level meeting, attended by delegates from more than 140
countries at the United Nations Environmental Programme headquarters in
Gigiri, comes hot on the heels of the global challenges facing various
countries including food shortages and the financial crisis.
New green economy
In Kenya for instance, 10 million people are facing starvation as a
result of the post-election violence, poor harvest, low rainfall and
the high cost of fertilisers among others.
But on Monday, leaders were unanimous that a new green economy, that
would in the long run trigger an employment boom especially in
developing countries, was necessary.
And President Kibaki, while officially opening the conference, summed
it up; We need to move towards a green and low carbon economy, for
this will deliver multiple benefits and ultimately result in achieving
sustainable development that benefits all.
However, President Kibaki was concerned by continued environmental
degradation particularly in Kenya, saying this undermined the fight
against poverty and realisation of high economic growth.
Natural as well as human-induced environmental disasters such as
fires, floods, droughts, earthquakes and landslides have become more
frequent and continue to cause untold human suffering and economic loss
in many parts of the world, said President Kibaki.
He went on: To us and the global community, this is a wake-up call to
seriously more than ever before, address environmental issues with
great vigour in order to enhance and safeguard our environment for the
present and future generations.
President Kibaki said that Kenya, like many other African countries,
still faced the challenges of conflicting demands of economic growth
and development on one hand and environmental sustainability on the
other.
We as developing countries must however strengthen our resolve to
enhance environmental management capacities and the ability of our
nations to invest in new and socially acceptable energy sources such as
bio-fuels, he added.
Unep's executive director Achim Steiner said even as developed
countries struggled to contain the effects of the global financial
crunch, this should not be done at the expense of the environment.
Financial crisis
Hundreds of billions of dollars have been mobilised as stimulus
packages in response to the financial crisis that have affected various
countries. But as we struggle to contain this, we don't have to put
environmental issues on the waiting list, he said.
Currently, governments worldwide are proposing and implementing $2 to 3
trillion in additional spending over the next one to two years to
revive the world's economy.
Added Mr Steiner: It is the manner in which such funds are invested
that will have a direct bearing on mitigating other environment and
development challenges.
He spoke as environmental experts demanded that a substantial amount of funds be set aside for greening the world's economy.
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