World Conservation Congress: SDPI to propose mercury treaty

KARACHI:

A motion expected to be presented by the Sustainable Development and Policy Institute (SDPI) at the World Conservation Congress is likely to become a global resolution for controlling the rising the temperature of the home planet.

Thousands of delegates from around the world will gather at the World Conservation Congress on September 6, organised by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

Representatives from the governments, the public sector, NGOs, businesses, UN agencies, economists and others gather to try and form solutions to the world’s environment and development issues at the congress.

The motion, developed by IUCN member organisation SDPI, urges the global community to adopt a binding mercury treaty to protect wildlife, ecosystems, and humans from the hazardous effects of rising levels of mercury.

The motion, according to IUCN Global Vice President Javed Jabbar, has already gathered the support of ninety organisations.

Speaking at the Pakistan IUCN head office Javed Jabbar along with IUCN Country Representative Shah Murad Aliani, and IUCN Coordinator Madiha Aijaz briefed journalists about the Pakistan delegation’s aims for this year’s conference.

“We are going to advocate and teach others at the conference about utilizing the Kaarez [water supply system using natural strems] and the disadvantages of the tubewell system,” Aliani said.

One of the events that will be held at the ten day conference in Jeju, South Korea will be a film on the Kaarez system titled “Pearls in the Sand” and another film will be shown about mangroves and the Juniper Forests of Pakistan.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 31^st, 2012.