Korean Updates: Environment Minister attends ‘Rio+20’ and introduces green growth of Korea

Date: 2012.06.18

Minister of Environment Yoo Young-sook will attend the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, also known as Rio+20, which will take place June 20-22 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and discuss about green economy for sustainable development.

The conference is the world’s biggest environmental event with the participation of heads of more than 190 countries along with leaders of civil, industrial and academic societies and stakeholders.

With President Lee Myung-bak heading Korea delegation, participants from the government including Minister of Environment Yoo Young-sook, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Kim Sung-hwan and Minister of Strategy and Finance Bahk Jae-wan and representatives of industrial societies and NGOs will be attending the conference.

Commemorating the 20th anniversary of Earth Summit in Rio, 1992, ‘Green Economy’ is selected as efficient measure for practical implementation of sustainable development
* Theme: ① Green Economy in the context of Sustainable Development and Poverty Eradication and ② Institutional Framework for Sustainable Development

Korea is planning to make ‘Rio+20’ an opportunity to expand and establish green growth to be an action-oriented measure for implementing green economy.

First of all, efforts to draw a statement, ‘the Future We Want’, to derive political agreement for enhancing the world to shift to green economy will be made.

Also, along with the President Lee’s keynote speech as head the head of delegation and high-level roundtable meeting (Environment Minister Yoo Young-sook), Korea’s green growth experience and success stories and green Official Development Assistance (ODA) initiative which can be a practical help to developing countries implementing green growth will be presented through different side events.

Green ODA initiative is to gradually increase the ODA to support developing countries and put more weight on green ODA by 2020.

In addition, Ministry of Environment and UNESCAP is co-organizing ‘High Level Policy Forum on Development of Framework for Green Economy’, held on June 19. Korea’s green consumption policy and green card system will be introduced as successful policy cases for implementing green economy while at the forum and discussion on global cooperation plan to expand and develop the policies will be made.

Presentations on green growth of Asia-Pacific region, green infrastructures, sustainable consumption and production and capacity development policy cases and ministerial panel discussion will be followed by Minister Yoo’s opening speech and Executive Secretary of UNESCAP’s welcome speech
Korea will also take part in holding high level forum on 21, and discuss detail plans to support developing countries to carry out environmental improvement and green growth.

A promotion center under the topic, ‘Green Growth for All’, will also be run June 13-23, to promote green card system, greenhouse gases trading and the four major rivers project.

Minister Yoo expects Rio+20 to be an important momentum for setting the common vision and paradigm, green economy and green growth, as ‘the Future We Want’.

For more info: http://eng.me.go.kr/board.do?method=view&docSeq=10504&bbsCode=new_infocus&currentPage=1&searchType=&searchText=