MAYORS FROM ACROSS WORLD TO MARK WORLD ENVIRONMENT DAY (5
JUNE) – WITH URBAN ACCORDS
(Reissued as received.)
NAIROBI/SAN
FRANCISCO, 10 May (UNEP) -- A Brazilian mayor whose city has
been called the “cleanest in the world”, a mayor from England
where a fee to ease traffic congestion is being successfully
pioneered, and a mayor from China who is grappling with one of
the world’s fastest growing urban areas -- they all will be
converging on San Francisco from 1 to 5 June for World
Environment Day (WED).
Exactly four
weeks from today, the three mayors -- Carlos Alberto
Richa from
Curitiba,
Ken Livingstone from
London and Han
Zheng from
Shanghai -- will be joined by
more than 60 others, representing cities from across the globe.
They plan to exchange ideas and sign a set of ground-breaking
environmental actions for cities.
These
actions, collectively referred to as
the Urban Environmental Accords - Green Cities Declaration,
cover seven environmental categories that cities can address to
enable sustainable urban living and improve the quality of life
for urban dwellers: energy, waste reduction, urban design,
urban nature, transportation, environmental health, and water.
They reflect this year’s World Environment Day theme of “Green
Cities -- Plan for the Planet!”.
The Accords lay
out 21 practical actions cities can take to meet the needs of
the present without compromising the ability of future
generations to meet their own needs, or the health of the
planet.
Klaus
Toepfer, Executive Director of the
United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), said: “It is up to
cities in the developed world to set an example in areas such as
the efficient use of energy and water. And it is incumbent upon
them to partner developing world cities so they do not take a
short-term ‘dirty’ development path, but a long-term sustainable
one.
“If this can be
done, we can help realize the UN Millennium Development Goals by
2015, and in doing so rid the world
of poverty -- the most toxic element of all.”
Just over half
of the world’s people now live in cities. Urban populations
consume 75 per cent of the world’s natural resources and produce
75 per cent of its waste.
“The Urban
Environmental Accords represent an innovative response to the
fact that we now live on an urban planet”, said San Francisco
Mayor Gavin Newsom, the host of the celebrations. “We need to
develop real solutions to urban environmental challenges”, he
added.
Attending the
celebrations will be the UNEP Executive Director Klaus
Toepfer, California Governor Arnold
Schwarzenegger, former
US Vice-President Al
Gore and mayors from around 60 cities including
Kabul,
Buenos Aires,
Moscow,
Dublin,
Phnom Penh,
Caracas,
Jakarta and
Istanbul (see list below).
UNEP’s World Environment Day
celebrations have been hosted by a different city since 1987.
This is the first time the event takes place in the
United States and it
is most fitting that
San Francisco -- the birth
place of the United Nations 60 years ago -- should be this
year’s venue.
“Municipal
governments have the power to shape the future of the world’s
environment”, said Jared Blumenfeld,
Director of San Francisco’s Environment Department. “With the
majority of the Earth’s population living in cities, decisions
made at World Environment Day will have far-reaching effect.”
In addition to
the signing of the Urban Environmental Accords on 5 June, the
official celebrations also include a walk entitled “Peace and
the Environment at Muir Woods -- the UN at 60”. Furthermore,
over 200 community activities are planned around WED in the Bay
area. They range from special organic menu selections at local
restaurants to a display of artwork made from recycled
material. There will be a Green Cities Expo with booths and
exhibits at Fort Mason from 3 to 5 June, where this year’s
winners of the UNEP photo competition “Focus on Your World” will
also be on display.
The draft text
of the Accords can be viewed on the World Environment Day
website, www.wed2005.org, as well as at www.urbanaccords.org.
Notes to
Editors
World
Environment Day, commemorated each year on 5 June, is one of the
principal vehicles through which the United Nations stimulates
worldwide awareness of the environment and enhances political
attention and action. It was established by the United Nations
General Assembly in 1972 to mark the opening of the Stockholm
Conference on the Human Environment. Another resolution,
adopted by the General Assembly the same day, led to the
creation of UNEP.
The WED gives a
human face to environmental issues. It empowers people to
become active agents of sustainable and equitable development
and promotes an understanding that communities are pivotal to
changing attitudes towards environmental issues.
UNEP is the
voice for the environment within the United Nations system. It
acts as a catalyst, advocate, educator and facilitator to
promote the wise use and sustainable development of the global
environment. To accomplish this, UNEP works with a wide range
of partners including United Nations entities, international
organisations, national Governments, non-governmental
organisations, the private sector and civil society.
Representatives
of the following cities have so far confirmed their
participation at WED 2005:
Ahmedabad (India), Assisi (Italy),
Bahia de
Caraquez (Ecuador), Barcelona (Spain), Berkeley (USA),
Buenos Aires (Argentina), Cape Town (South Africa), Caracas
(Venezuela), Changchun (China),
Chongqing (China), Copenhagen
(Denmark), Curitiba (Brazil), Dakar
(Senegal), Delhi (India), Dhaka (Bangladesh), Dublin
(Ireland), Gampaha (Sri Lanka),
Hyderabad (India), Islamabad (Pakistan), Istanbul (Turkey),
Jakarta (Indonesia), Kabul (Afghanistan), Kampala (Uganda),
Kawasaki (Japan), Kitakyushu (Japan), Kiev (Ukraine),
Kolkata (India),
Kozhikode (India), Lausanne
(Switzerland), Lisbon (Portugal), London (United Kingdom),
Lurin (Peru), Lyon (France), Manila
(Philippines), Matale (Sri Lanka),
Minsk (Belarus), Moscow (Russian Federation), Mumbai (India),
Oakland (USA), Phnom Penh (Cambodia), Porto
Alegre (Brazil), Qingdao
(China), Quito (Ecuador), Riga (Latvia), Rio de Janeiro
(Brazil), Salt Lake City (USA), San Francisco (USA), San Miguel
de Allende (Mexico), Santa Monica
(USA), São Paulo (Brazil), Seattle
(USA), Shanghai (China), Shenyang
(China), Sinaia (Romania), Stockholm
(Sweden), Surabaya (Indonesia), Taipei (Taiwan),
Taiyuan (China), Tehran (Iran),
Thessaloniki (Greece),
Torino (Italy), Warsaw (Poland),
Wuhan (China),
Yogyakarta (Indonesia), Zibo
(China) and, Zürich (Switzerland).
For more
information, please contact: Eric Falt,
Director, UNEP Division of Communications and Public
Information, in
Nairobi, tel.:
+254-20-623292, e-mail: eric.falt@unep.org; or Nick
Nuttall, Spokesperson, UNEP, tel.:
+254 20 623084, mobile: +254 733 632755, e-mail: nick.nuttall@unep.org.
In
New York, contact Jim
Sniffen, Information Officer, UNEP,
tel: +1
212 963-8094/8210; info@nyo.unep.org,
www.nyo.unep.org.
source:
http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2005/unep285.doc.htm
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