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Santo Domingo Hosts the XVI Annual Meeting of the Forum of Ministers of Latin America and the Caribbean












PNUMA
Santo Domingo Hosts the XVI Annual Meeting of the Forum of Ministers of Latin America and the Caribbean

Concerned about the effects that global climate change is already having in the region and the fact that 40 percent of the forested surface is affected by deforestation and soil degradation, Environment Ministers from Latin America and the Caribbean began a new round of discussions devoted to defining new environmental policies. This is the 16thAnnual Meeting of the Forum of Ministers of Environment of Latin America and the Caribbean, taking place between January 27 and February 1 in Santo Domingo.

According to the Communications Directorate of the Secretary of the Environment, the work will be divided in the following way: a Preparatory Meeting of Experts will be held on January 27-29 in which recommendations will be made for issues to be discussed on a ministerial level. A meeting of Caribbean Ministers will be held on Wednesday January 30; a ministerial session is to be held on the 29th of January until February 1st in which all ministry and governmental representatives will participate.

Work in the ministerial segment will be inaugurated by President Leonel Fernández Reyna and Achim Steiner, Executive Director of the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP). This event will take place on Wednesday January 30th in the La Fiesta Theater of the Hotel Jaragua in Santo Domingo.

Secretary of State for the Environment and Natural Resources of the Dominican Republic, Omar Ramírez Tejada, called the Forum “an important place to exchange ideas about environmental problems facing all these countries, which can then serve as lessons in our search for alternative solutions for the rest of the countries in the region.”

Ricardo Sánchez Sosa, Regional Director of UNEP, believes that “the consensus of focus and actions adopted by the meeting will contribute to the Meeting of the Forum of Ministers of Environment of Latin America and the Caribbean making if possible to continue to play a catalyzing and articulating role in the environmental and sustainable developmental policies on a regional as well as international level.”

“In this year’s Forum,” he added, “the ministers’ dialogue will deal with topics such as climate change and its impact, as well as the integrated management of the ecosystems that have special importance for our region.”

Important Topics

Before the meeting, several preliminary events were held in order to receive and go over proposals about issues relevant to the environmental future of the region. Among them, the Meeting of High Level Governmental Experts in Panama, held August 30-31, 2007 and the Civil Society Forum of Latin America and the Caribbean in Monterrey, Mexico on October 12-13 of last year.

The Environmental Ministers of Latin America and the Caribbean is held every two years at which time they cover themes such as a 5-year evaluation to approve the Latin American and Caribbean Initiative for Sustainable Development, ILAC. They will also present a report that will reveal the advances in the implementation of this regional initiative based on indicators selected for such research.

Another topic the regional environmental experts will discuss is the relationship between the approval of the Regional Plan of Action which will be implemented during the 2008-2009 Biennial in Latin America and the Caribbean, the topic of International Environmental Governance and United Nations’ reform.

In the framework of the meeting, Achim Steiner, Executive Director UNEP, will discuss a subject relative to UNEP’s efforts to strengthen its management of the Short Term UNEP 2010-2013 strategy. Yvo De Boer, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) will also speak as head of this organization which is present at the Forum.

A report on climate change in the Caribbean, prepared by a group of experts coordinated by Cuban Orlando Rey, will be presented.

The Latin American and Caribbean Initiative for Sustainable Development, ILAC, was adopted in 2002 by the Forum of Ministers of Environment of Latin America and the Caribbean, as an agreement to continue to push for sustainable development since the World Summit on Sustainable Development was held in Johannesburg. Since that year, ILAC has been a platform upon which plans of actions have been based in the Forum of Ministers as it contains directorates, objectives, indicative proposals and goals for common policies for the region of Latin America and the Caribbean.

The Forum of Environmental Ministers is considered the most important event for the definition of environmental policies in Latin America and the Caribbean. Throughout these three days of deliberation, it is hoped the ministers will approve a declaration containing the principle agreements established in the forum.



PNUMA


 

Date of Publication: January 29, 2008

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