UN ENVIRONMENT PROGRAMME AND TONGJI UNIVERSITY OPEN NEW CHINESE INSTITUTE TO AID ENVIRONMENT AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

UN ENVIRONMENT PROGRAMME AND TONGJI UNIVERSITY OPEN NEW CHINESE INSTITUTE

TO AID ENVIRONMENT AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

Institute Will Assist Monitoring of Three Gorges

Project, Great Western Development Programme and Olympic Planning

SHANGHAI, BANGKOK, 9 May (UNEP) –- The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and Shanghai’s Tongji University today announced the establishment of the UNEP-Tongji Institute for Environment and Sustainable Development.

The new Institute aims to develop new educational programmes to build research, technical and managerial capacity among developing countries of the region, contribute to UNEP’s global and regional environmental assessments, and disseminate information on best practices and technology developments.

The Institute is also expected to establish a field ecological station to monitor the long-term land use changes resulting from the construction of the Three Gorges Reservoir and the resulting relocation of 1.1 million people.

Its work programme will also assist environmental planning for the 2008 Olympic Games and China’s Great Western Development Programme.

Such work will provide case studies, research and analysis for the Human Ecosystem Model being developed for UNEP’s Global Environment Outlook, the UNEP-led Millennium Ecosystem Assessment and planned programmes on global land cover changes and flood protection on the Yangtze River.

UNEP Executive Director Klaus Toepfer and Tongji University President Professor Wu Qidi signed a letter of agreement on establishment of the new Institute this morning.  Minister of the State Environment Protection Administration (SEPA) Xie Zhenhua, Vice Mayor of Shanghai Han Zhen, and other Chinese Government officials attended the signing ceremony held at Tongji University.

In his inaugural lecture for the Institute, Mr. Toepfer said much economic investment, scientific research and technology development needed to be redirected towards the goal of sustainable development.

“The global environmental and sustainability challenges are overwhelming and it may take decades to bring about the required fundamental changes in

energy infrastructures, urban settlements, transport systems, consumer technologies, and particularly in lifestyles.”

But Mr. Toepfer also pointed out hopeful signs:  “Environmental awareness is constantly rising and international discussions are starting to focus on the role the multilateral environmental agreements can play in shaping the global framework for the economy.”

Mr. Toepfer congratulated Minister Xie Zhenhua for the integration of environment into China’s Tenth Five-Year Plan.  He said its priorities -– equal importance to ecological protection and pollution control, cleaner production, controlling the amount of industrial pollution, sustainable urban development, environmental protection within agriculture, institutional strengthening, and transboundary and international environmental issues -– closely matched those issues facing the global community.

The supervisory board for the new Institute will comprise officials from UNEP and Tongji University, as well as experts in the fields of environmental protection, design and management.  The board will hold it first meeting in October or November this year.

For more information contact:  Tim Higham, Regional Information Officer, UNEP, Bangkok, phone +662 288 2127, higham@un.org; or Nick Nuttall, head of Media Services, UNEP, Nairobi, phone +254 2 623084, nick.nuttall@unep.org; or, in China, Surendra Shresta, Director of UNEP Regional Resource Centre for Asia-Pacific, mobile +661 837 9435, surendra@ait.ac.th.

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