February 15, 2002
'30'
SHRI BAALU CALLS FOR INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS FOR MARKETING CHEMICALSINDIA TO HOST THE EIGHTH SESSION OF CONFERENCE OF PARTIES OF UNFCCC
The Minister for Environment and Forests, Shri T.R. Baalu, has called for a strategic approach for sound management of chemicals for sustainable development. Speaking at the Plenary Session of the Seventh Special Session of UNEP (United Nations Environmental Programme) Governing Council at Cartegena, Colombia on Thursday, Shri Baalu said that the new strategy should lead to evolution of international standards for placing chemicals in the market. The strategy should also spell out concrete steps to facilitate use of environmentally sound substitutes and best available technologies for replacing hazardous chemicals, especially in developing countries.
Welcoming the establishment of a Civil Society Forum by UNEP, Shri Baalu suggested that the Forum should act purely as an advisory body to UNEP and its Governing Council. He lamented that the Principles adopted at the World Summit on Sustainable Development at Rio were not acted upon. He wanted countries to identify positive steps to ensure that the future of human race and all species on this planet was effectively safeguarded. Shri Baalu felt that the failure to reach a satisfactory consensus on action on agreements such as the Framework Convention on Climate Change was due to the fact that rational thinkers could not prevail on decision makers. He said that there was need for building up public awareness education, particularly among the youth, to mobilise global action and national initiatives.
Shri Baalu stressed that there was need to translate the language of science into the language of politics. The world leaders should understand at least at a basic minimum level the dangers facing the humanity with the current patterns of development and growth. The Minister said that the world had not yet understood the danger of poverty. While Rio Summit was all about environment and development, the problems of the poor hardly received any attention. The highest priority for the world today should be overcoming underdevelopment, alleviation of poverty, hunger, illiteracy, disease and crushing debt burden, he added. Shri Baalu also called for developing effective mechanism at the national and international levels to integrate the concept of sustainable development in economic policies and decision making. The governments would need to network with and influence other stakeholders such as the corporate sector, NGOs and the media, he added.
Shri Baalu announced that India would host the Eighth Session of the Conference of Parties (COP) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in New Delhi during October/November, 2002.