News
69th session of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) hosts the conference “Batumi Talk Show: Scoring SDGs through action on green economy and clean air”
The United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) hosted 69th online session with the following theme “Batumi Talk Show: Scoring SDGs through action on green economy and clean air”, which was attended by Ms Nino Tandilashvili, Deputy Minister of Environmental Protection and Agriculture of Georgia (MEPA).The conference was jointly organized by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) and regional office of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and aimed at complementing efforts for fulfilling commitments to the Batumi Initiative on Green Economy (BIG-E) and the Batumi Action for Cleaner Air (BACA) initiative since both were launched in Batumi, Georgia, in 2016.
The BIG and BACA are crucial regional environmental initiatives, which embrace voluntary commitments undertaken by the regional countries on ensuring green economy and clean air. In the course of the regional conference, representatives of six countries discussed the process of undertaking liabilities within the BIG and BACA initiatives and briefed on contemporary commitments. During the sessions, Deputy Minister Tandilashvili provided attendees with detailed information undertaking seven commitments voluntarily and stressed out on the importance of active engagement of local municipalities.
“Georgia has harvested significant success in implementing commitments within the BACA, which entail enhancement of atmospheric air monitoring and evaluation, which is vital for decreasing pollution from transport sector” – Deputy Minister Tandilashvili stated.
Deputy Minister stated that the new and eight voluntary commitments set forth by the BACA is related to volatile organic compounds (VOC), regarding decreasing emissions from storage/distribution and utilization from paint sector. Meanwhile, Deputy Minister briefed attendees that Georgia has undertaken a voluntary commitment in frames of the BIG-E, aiming at decreasing environmental risks upon cultivating early warning systems on multispectral threats.
The online conference was attended by high-level representatives of Ukraine, Portugal, Finland, Belarus, Georgia and Uzbekistan.