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Environment ministers discuss ways to conserve biodiversity
In a keynote speech at the meeting, South Korean Prime Minister Chung Hong-won said South Korea will make efforts to preserve the ecosystem of the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), a legacy of inter-Korean division and confrontation.
"I hope the DMZ will be made into a space for sustainable reconciliation and peace," he said. "South Korea is going to make the ecological system of the DMZ healthier by creating and running a world ecological park inside the zone in cooperation with North Korea and the international community, including the United Nations."
The DMZ, a 4-kilometer-wide and 250-kilometer-long cease-fire buffer zone at the inter-Korean border, is a wild habitat for over 5,000 animal and plant species, including 106 endangered species.
"Biodiversity is a prerequisite for the survival of mankind," the premier said. He urged countries in the world to muster their wisdom to prevent a further decrease of biological diversity "before it gets too late."
The prime minister also pledged to double South Korea's official development assistance (ODA) for biodiversity by next year.
"Seoul will expand its ODA regarding biodiversity by 2015 to twice the average size recorded from the 2006-2010 period," Chung noted in the speech.
"As the hosting country of this general meeting, South Korea will serve as a bridge between the developed and developing countries," the prime minister said, also vowing efforts to help recover ecosystems in the forests of developing nations.
The declaration to be adopted is expected to include the South Korean government's interest in the preservation of biodiversity in the DMZ.
The 12th biodiversity conference, which began on Sept. 29 for a 19-day run with some 20,000 representatives from 124 countries attending, is scheduled to undertake a midterm review of the implementation of a 2011-2020 strategic plan for biodiversity.
The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), informally known as the Biodiversity Convention, was adopted at the U.N. Conference on Environment and Development (UNECD) held in Brazil in 1992 to address environmental problems facing the planet.
The multilateral treaty handling all aspects of biological diversity, including genetic resources, species and ecosystems, is one of the three U.N. conventions aimed at protecting the environment along with the Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Convention to Combat Desertification.
sshim@yna.co.kr
Copyrights Yonhap News. All Rights Reserved. Source Text
Source: Yonhap News (October. 15, 2014)
Date
2014.10.20
Views
435
According to Yonhap News,
(PYEONGCHANG=Yonhap News)A global meeting of environment ministers and heads of related international organizations began in the eastern city of Pyeongchang on Wednesday to discuss ways to conserve biodiversity for sustainable development.
In a keynote speech at the meeting, South Korean Prime Minister Chung Hong-won said South Korea will make efforts to preserve the ecosystem of the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), a legacy of inter-Korean division and confrontation.
"I hope the DMZ will be made into a space for sustainable reconciliation and peace," he said. "South Korea is going to make the ecological system of the DMZ healthier by creating and running a world ecological park inside the zone in cooperation with North Korea and the international community, including the United Nations."
The DMZ, a 4-kilometer-wide and 250-kilometer-long cease-fire buffer zone at the inter-Korean border, is a wild habitat for over 5,000 animal and plant species, including 106 endangered species.
"Biodiversity is a prerequisite for the survival of mankind," the premier said. He urged countries in the world to muster their wisdom to prevent a further decrease of biological diversity "before it gets too late."
The prime minister also pledged to double South Korea's official development assistance (ODA) for biodiversity by next year.
"Seoul will expand its ODA regarding biodiversity by 2015 to twice the average size recorded from the 2006-2010 period," Chung noted in the speech.
"As the hosting country of this general meeting, South Korea will serve as a bridge between the developed and developing countries," the prime minister said, also vowing efforts to help recover ecosystems in the forests of developing nations.
The declaration to be adopted is expected to include the South Korean government's interest in the preservation of biodiversity in the DMZ.
The 12th biodiversity conference, which began on Sept. 29 for a 19-day run with some 20,000 representatives from 124 countries attending, is scheduled to undertake a midterm review of the implementation of a 2011-2020 strategic plan for biodiversity.
The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), informally known as the Biodiversity Convention, was adopted at the U.N. Conference on Environment and Development (UNECD) held in Brazil in 1992 to address environmental problems facing the planet.
The multilateral treaty handling all aspects of biological diversity, including genetic resources, species and ecosystems, is one of the three U.N. conventions aimed at protecting the environment along with the Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Convention to Combat Desertification.
sshim@yna.co.kr
Copyrights Yonhap News. All Rights Reserved. Source Text
Source: Yonhap News (October. 15, 2014)