ASEAN-India Environment Ministers’ Meeting Held In Delhi

New Delhi, Sept 9, IRNA - The Ministry of Environment and Forests hosted the ASEAN-India Environment Ministers’ Meeting Saturday in New Delhi. The Environment Ministers’ Meeting was preceded by a meeting of senior officials of ASEAN member states and senior officials of Ministry of Environment & Forest and Ministry of External Affairs on September 6, 2012. The event was attended by senior delegates from Cambodia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and the ASEAN Secretariat, said an official release issued here Saturday. The two sides discussed various aspects of biodiversity conservation. The meeting unanimously adopted the ‘New Delhi ASEAN-India Ministerial Statement on Biodiversity’ whereby both sides agreed to enhance awareness among all stakeholders, strive towards mainstreaming biodiversity concerns into development processes, and to strive towards enhancing priority in terms of resource allocation and mobilization for biodiversity conservation. Both sides also agreed to work together for conservation and management of flagship species and enhancing conservation management & sustainable utilization of Coastal and Marine biodiversity. The statement further agrees to take preparatory national work as a sound and informed basis for ratifying the Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit Sharing. The meeting called upon The Eleventh Conference of Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) to discuss issues relating to biodiversity & livelihoods regularly and recommend concrete actions, considering the critical linkages of biodiversity with livelihoods and poverty alleviation. Both sides agreed to meet and exchange views on issues of common interest at an appropriate ASEAN Environment Ministers’ Meetings./end