Alexandre Rocha*
São Paulo – Arab and South American ministers, deputy ministers and diplomats connected to the environmental area who met yesterday (06) in Nairobi, Kenya, approved a joint declaration that formalizes the beginning of bi-regional cooperation in this sector. As informed by ANBA yesterday morning, the document points out various sectors in which there is interest in exchange and defines a series of actions to be adopted. The text had already been discussed in Egypt last week by leaderships from both blocs.
"The general feeling at the meeting was that, despite the physical and cultural distance between both regions, they present similar challenges in the social and environmental area, including some ecosystems, in the management of water resources and in the question of desertification," stated the international advisor of the Ministry of Environment of Brazil, Fernando Lyrio, who accompanied the meeting.
The event was co-presided by the Brazilian minister of Environment, Marina Silva, and by her Algerian colleague, Cherif Rahmani, who were announced last week as winners of the "Champions of the Earth" award, granted by the United Nations Environment Program (Unep). The meeting between Arabs and South Americans took place in the sidelines of the 24th ministerial meeting of the UNDP, which is going on to February 09, and is one of the actions for follow up from the Summit of South American – Arab Countries, which took place in Brazil in 2005.
"It was recognized that there are synergies in the area of environment, that there is potential for cooperation to proceed with the political understandings planned by the Summit. The intention of minister Marina Silva at the meeting was in this regard," added Lyrio.
The table also included Saudi prince Turk Ibin Abdulaziz, president of the Council of Arab Ministers of Environment, the regional UNDP representatives for Latin America, Ricardo Sanchez, and for Eastern Asia, Habib El Habr, and Arab League representative Ibrahim Moheildeen. In the audience were around 80 people, among them deputy ministers, diplomats and employees of Arab and South American governments. "It was a very disputed meeting," stated the Summit follow up coordinator at the Brazilian Foreign Office (Itamaraty), Ânuar Nahes, who was also at the event.
Sectors and actions
In the joint statement signed yesterday, the areas considered of interest for cooperation are capacity building, technical coordination and technology transfer, biodiversity, urban environmental management – including waste management -, pollution control and clean technologies, integrated water resource management, the fight against desertification and the minimization of the results of droughts, and management of arid and semi-arid zones.
Other segments considered possible for joint work are the management of coastal areas, the assessment of the impact of climate change on the environment, energy for sustainable development, natural disaster prevention, environmental policy, legislation and management tools, and education and public awareness.
Among the actions scheduled are the exchange of relevant environmental information and data, the exchange of experts and expertise in different environmental and sustainable development fields, the organisation of joint workshops and symposiums, the implementation of international environmental agreements, the establishment and development of direct contacts between environmental agencies, organizations and enterprises engaged in environmental protection in both regions, and the promotion of consultation and coordination on positions on global environmental issues.
The document also adds that both blocs will request that the UN General Assembly declare the period 2010 to 2020 as a UN Decade for Deserts and Combating Desertification, proposed by the League of Arab States. According to the text, both regions should establish a Biennial Executive Program for the implementation of the activities approved, as well as promoting other meetings of ministers and technicians connected to the environmental sector.
According to Nahes, the organization of the meeting and of a specific document about the environment was proposed by the Arab League. "In the final declaration of the Summit there is not a complete chapter about the environment and it was considered essential for there to be something specific, the matter could not be left out. It was also necessary to open possibilities for cooperation in the environmental area," he finished off.
*Translated by Mark Ament
