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Jairam Ramesh, Minister of State for Environment & Forests, on Tuesday exhorted SAARC countries to demonstrate a collective commitment to ensure that CDM survives post 2012 because such a market mechanism should continue to be in place to bring about substantial climate change.
Inaugurating the SAARC CDM Conference in Delhi on Tuesday, Ramesh said, environment cannot be bottled into a national framework and suggested implementation of cross border CDM projects such as forestry projects with Bhutan and projects on tackling desertification with Pakistan etc.
The Minister said, although each country was entitled to is viewpoint on different issues, all SAARC countries should stand united to voice their concerns regarding CDM and climate change.
He said, Climate Change was the theme for the next SAARC Summit and the timing was perfect since the Conference of Parties at Copenhagen would have just concluded and there would be important issues for deliberations.
He mentioned that various institutional initiatives have been taken by SAARC for the promotion and expansion of CDM in this region. The SAARC Action Plan on Environment provides for the establishment of the Coastal Zone Management Centre in Maldives which has already been established, and also approved the establishment of the SAARC Forestry Centre in Bhutan.
Vijai Sharma, Secretary, Ministry of Environment & Forests, mentioned that there was need to take stock of the actual situation on the ground.
T S Tirumurti, Joint Secretary (BSM), Ministry of External Affairs, said there was need for a forward looking and principled approach to deal with the challenge of climate change in the SAARC region He also mentioned that the 8th Meeting of the SAARC Ministers scheduled on October 19-20, 2009 will contribute to the deliberations on Climate Change.
Sheel Kant Sharma, Secretary General, SAARC, emphasised the need to ensure social and economic development to make the SAARC region climate change resilient. He referred to the Dhaka Declaration on Climate Change and SAARC Action Plan on Climate Change adopted at the Ministerial Meeting on Climate Change held in Dhaka on July 3, 2008, which underlines the importance of capacity building on Clean Development Mechanisms and calls for development of CDM projects.
The one-day SAARC Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) Conference, a first of its kind initiative for capacity building on CDM for the other 7 member states of SAARC was organised by the ministry of environment and forests, and Ministry of External Affairs in partnership with FICCI. The conference was attended by delegates from Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Maldives, as well as officials of SAARC Secretariat.
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