A U.N.-sponsored conference opening in Dubai on Monday is expected to lure the largest-ever gathering of national environment ministers -- around 130 of them -- to discuss matters ranging from sustainable energy to eco-tourism.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — A U.N.-sponsored conference opening here Monday is expected to lure the largest-ever gathering of national environment ministers -- around 130 of them -- to discuss matters ranging from sustainable energy to eco-tourism.
As the ministers arrived Sunday, about 100 midlevel officials were finishing negotiations on a proposed global treaty on handling hazardous chemicals, at a time when the production of such chemicals is moving increasingly from wealthy countries to poorer ones. The chemicals agreement is expected to be signed during the conference.
The 9th Special Session of the United Nations Environment Program's Governing Council/Global Ministerial Environment Forum is expected to lure participants from 150 countries, including the presidents of Gambia and Switzerland.
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan is scheduled to address the gathering on Monday, when he is to receive the US$500,000 (euro416,000) Zayed International Prize for the Environment.
The prize, named after longtime Emirates leader Sheik Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, who died last year, is the world's most lucrative grant restricted to environmental achievements. Annan was awarded the prize in December for backing United Nations summits and reports on environmental issues.
Also Monday, environment ministers are expected to adopt the chemicals treaty, which was spurred in 2003 by what experts perceived as a spiraling growth in the production of chemicals with little oversight.
In the next 15 years, the volume of chemicals produced will increase by 85 percent, with 1,500 new chemicals produced each year, said U.N. Environment Program spokesman Nick Nutall.
The production of the compounds has largely migrated from wealthy to poor countries, with no overall standards on protecting public health or the environment, Nutall said.
Advocates of the proposal believe there is a need for worldwide standards on testing, safeguards, labeling and disseminating new discoveries about the health risks of chemicals, Nutall said.
"The science is always changing," he said. "We need good science-based risk assessments that are harmonized across countries."
Dubai, a freewheeling desert city known more for grandiose construction projects than for environmental kindness, makes an ideal summit venue because of the importance of oil and tourism to its economy, said Klaus Toepfer, UNEP director.
Soaring fuel demand and eco-friendly tourism are expected to be key topics at the summit, as are what Toepfer described as a "renaissance" in environmental activism -- driven by soaring fuel prices and the recognition that pollution has become a bottleneck to economic growth, especially in fast-developing countries like China and India.
Source: Associated Press
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