Barcelona
and the Universal Forum of Cultures
to Host World Environment Day 2004
Nairobi/Barcelona,
24 February 2004 - The city of Barcelona, known for its commitment to
culture and urban renewal, will be hosting World Environment Day 2004,
the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) announced today.
The annual World Environment Day (WED) event, celebrated around the
globe each year on or around 5 June, will take place during the nearly
five-month long Universal Forum of Cultures that is being hosted by
the Barcelona City Council, the Catalan Autonomous Government and the
Spanish Government.
UNEP, in accepting the offer of Barcelona and The Forum to stage WED,
has been impressed by the wealth of ambitious and innovative environmental
ideas, technologies and infrastructure developments being undertaken
by the hosts as part of the Universal Forum of Cultures.
Visitors to Barcelona will not fail to see the huge, 10,500 square-metre
solar power plant located at the heart of the Forum. The 1.3 MW of clean,
green electricity generated is enough to meet the needs of a town of
1,000 inhabitants.
Other innovative developments (see also note to editors) include a pneumatic
rubbish collection system that will take waste generated by the Forum
and WED from intakes around the city through an underground network
to a processing and recycling centre.
This year’s WED theme, “Wanted! Seas and Oceans –
Dead or Alive?” reflects not only the activities in Barcelona,
which as part of the Forum is holding several activities related to
seas and oceans, but UNEP’s important activities in the field
of the marine environment and sustainable coastal livelihoods.
Klaus Toepfer, Executive Director of UNEP, said the World Summit on
Sustainable Development (WSSD), which in 2002 drew up a Plan of Implementation
with time tables and targets, had thrown down several challenges in
respect to fisheries, marine protected areas, small island developing
States and marine pollution.
“There was a time when humankind viewed the oceans and seas as
vast and unchanging, able to absorb and dilute pollution, and provide
seemingly limitless catches of fish and other marine-living resources”.
“Unlike the land, where concepts of ownership and management have
been established for centuries, the oceans have been viewed as truly
wilderness areas, owned by no one and free for all,” he added.
“That was fine in a world, now long ago, where a coastal mega-city
might have been a few thousand rather than 10 million souls. But the
growth in the global population, where more than 40 per cent now live
by the coast, allied to our abilities to hunt faster and further for
ever greater quantities of marine-living resources means we can no longer
treat the seas and oceans as a free for all, uncared for and unmanaged,”
said Mr. Toepfer.
“So I welcome the generosity and enthusiasm of the Government
of Spain, the Catalan Autonomous Government and the City of Barcelona
to host this year’s World Environment Day with its theme of seas
and oceans. I am sure that the awareness that will be raised will catalyze
further, long-lasting action from governments, right down to the smallest
seaside village, to deliver the WSSD Plan of Implementation. I am also
impressed by the commitment to environmental technologies which show
how a modern, 21st century city can reduce its ecological footprint,
not only on the seas but on the air and the land,” he added.
Joan Clos, the Mayor of Barcelona, said: “ World Environment Day
will be a key celebration of the Universal Forum of Cultures. Its focus
on peace, sustainability and respect for cultural diversity, reflects
the global issues confronting our world of which the seas and oceans
and the peoples who are linked with them are a key part”.
“Indeed, culture and its links with the environment, are critical.
In many ways it is those culturally rich parts of the globe where concepts
of conservation, of the sustainable harvesting of natural resources,
of living in harmony with wildlife and landscapes, are so keenly understood.
Loss of culture is not only a tragedy for the world’s social fabric,
but a loss of intimate knowledge of the natural world,” he said.
UNEP
will use the occasion of WED in Barcelona to launch its new International
Photographic Competition, which is being sponsored by Canon.
The new competition, with the themes of ‘Focus on Your World’
and ‘Celebrating Diversity’, aims to increase awareness
of environment and sustainable development issues.
Entries are invited from all nationalities and ages, and from amateurs
and professionals alike. Some of the world’s leading photographers
will be judging the competition.
The award ceremony and winners’ exhibition will be held at EXPO
2005 in Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture, Japan.
Notes to Editors
WED,
commemorated each year on 5 June is one of the principal vehicles through
which the United Nations stimulates worldwide awareness of the environment
and enhances political attention and action.
WED was established by the United Nations General Assembly in 1972 to
mark the opening of the Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment.
Another resolution, adopted by the General Assembly the same day, led
to the creation of UNEP.
Information on the day, logos, posters, fact sheets and ideas on how
to celebrate WED can be found at www.unep.org/wed/2004
Inquiries about the UNEP International Photographic Competition should
be directed to Steve Jackson, UNEP Audio Visual Unit, on Tel: 254 20
623332 or E-mail: steve.jackson@unep.org
Details of the Universal Forum of Cultures can be found at http://www.barcelona2004.org
Apart from the giant solar power plant and the pneumatic rubbish system,
Barcelona will show-case other pioneering environmental ideas and urban
renewal projects.
These include the construction of a new metro station, two tram networks
and the extension of cycle networks, which in the case of the coastal
cycle route will extend the network to Adria de Besos.
Barcelona’s Besos river is also being transformed with a river
side park being created between the Molinet Bridge and the sea. Inflatable
dams will keep the river level constant and the new grassy river banks
should prove a joy for visitors and locals out for a stroll.
The more natural treatment of the estuary should attract migratory birds.
The project will also see power lines running through hidden service
corridors allowing the city to dismantle the existing unsightly high
voltage towers.
For More Information Please Contact: Eric Falt, Spokesperson/Director
of UNEP’s Division of Communications and Public Information, on
Tel: 254 20 623292, Mobile: 254 (0) 733 682656, E-mail: eric.falt@unep.org
or Nick Nuttall, UNEP Head of Media, on Tel: 254 20 623084, Mobile:
254 (0) 733 632755, E-mail: nick.nuttall@unep.org or Elisabeth Guilbaud-Cox,
Head of UNEP Outreach and Special Events, on Tel: 254 20 623401/623128,
Fax: 254 20 623692/623927,Email: elisabeth.guilbaud-cox@unep.org
UNEP News Release 2004/10
