Asian parliamentarians call for joint effort to protect environment
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Asian parliamentarians have called for the world concerted effort to protect environment and maintain climate stability to ensure food and global security for continued human prosperity, Lao newspaper the Vientiane Times reported Tuesday.
The call was made in a joint statement adopted at the end of the 26th Asian Parliamentarians'Meeting in the Lao capital of Vientiane on Monday. The meeting, under the theme of "Population and Adaptation to Climate Change," drew participation of delegates from 14 countries in the region.
The parliamentarians agreed that the threat of climate change has become a reality and it has impacted adversely on food and water, security, population, health, and the environment.
"With shared responsibilities to differing extents amongst countries, immediate collective action is essential to deal with the impacts of climate change", said the statement.
Delegates said international cooperation in combating climate change should persist through the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol, and common but differentiated responsibility.
Climate change affects countries and people disproportionately, most severely the disadvantaged, poor and marginalized including women, children, smallholder farmers, indigenous people and minorities, who have contributed least to climate change, said the newspaper.
Emphasis must be given to adaptation efforts for the lives of those who are vulnerable to climate change.
The efforts include the empowerment of women, universal access to reproductive health, access to education, strengthening of health care systems, climate friendly agricultural production technologies, agricultural wastes treatment, and effective water uses.
At the meeting, the parliamentarians also urged the heads of state and government leaders at the 2010 G8 Canada Summit to tackle the population and reproductive health issues which are imperative to address global challenges, including human rights, justice, high rates of maternal mortality and the threat of HIV/ AIDS.
