All eyes on Batumi, Georgia:
World officials attend 8th UN Environment Ministerial Conference

Hundreds of international officials are in Georgia’s Black Sea resort town Batumi to attend a major United Nations (UN) environmental meeting this week.

The 8th UN Environment for Europe Ministerial Conference launched today, which will gather about 600 delegates from 56 countries responsible for environmental, defence and education issues from June 8-10.

Additionally, top representatives of the business sector and 55 international organisations teamed up in Batumi to launch the Batumi Initiative on Green Economy (BIG-E).

Batumi, Georgia. Photo: Eighth Environment for Europe Ministerial Conference/Facebook

At the UN conference delegates will sign several deals including the Batumi Initiative on Green Economy, which was deemed as one of the most important.

Within the conference the Pan-European Strategic Framework for Greening the Economy in the Pan-European region will be adopted and additional commitments will be pledged to the Batumi Initiative on Green Economy.

"Today the Green Economy is regarded as one of the most important instruments for achieving sustainable development. It supports the use of national resources in a sustainable way, reduces negative impacts on the environment, creates new and green jobs and insures the well-being of our society,” said Georgia’s Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili while speaking at the Ministerial.

"The Government of Georgia has created a special environment for green business, encourages the activities of small and medium-sized enterprises, supports the growth of renewable energy, as well as green transport, green buildings and is supporting the development of eco-tourism,” he added.

Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili speaks at the conference. Photo by PM's press office

Ministerial participants explained ‘greening the economy’, which fostered a healthy economy while ensuring environmental sustainability and social equity, was considered one of the most promising ways to achieve sustainable development.

Meanwhile another deal set to be signed over the coming days related to improving the air quality. The delegates will discuss the findings of the Towards Cleaner Air report and will be called to adopt the Batumi Action for Cleaner Air (2016–2021).

The third most important issue to be discussed at the Ministerial will be about Education for Sustainable Development (ESD).

The conference will allow guests to discuss how education can contribute to achieving sustainable development in the region. The delegates will adopt a Framework for the future implementation of Ecologically Sustainable Development (ESD) in the UNECE region.

Photo: Aleksandre Jejelava/Facebook 

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Kvirikashvili said Georgia contributed to the environmental development of the world.

"Nine Georgian towns have already created an action plan for sustainable energy development. The main aim of the action plan is to reduce CO2 emissions so we can enjoy a cleaner and healthier environment by 2020. We have also launched proper legislative regulations,” said Kvirikashvili.

"Environmental issues play vital role in strategical documents like Georgia’s Social-Economic Development Strategy Georgia 2020, the regional development program and action plan for 2015-2017, and Agriculture Development Strategy in Georgia 2015-2020,” he added.

The 8th Environment for Europe Ministerial Conference was facilitated by the UN Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE). This major gathering of Environment Ministers in Europe was organised closely with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

UNEP worked closely with UNECE, member countries and partners on the "strategic framework for greening the economy in the pan-European” that shall contribute to frame more sustainable pathways for the development of the region.

The first ministerial conference took place at Dobris Castle near Prague in 1991, while the last event took place in Kazakhstan’s capital Astana in 2011.