United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Economic Co-operation Organisation (ECO) based in Tehran have agreed to strengthen environmental management in the ECO region, sources disclosed this here on Thursday.
According to them, the agreement identifies the potential for joint activities to increase the use of renewable energy, through UNEP's Solar and Wind Energy Resource Assessment Project, to strengthen environmental law making, enhance environmental education and training programmes, catalyse more ECO-friendly tourism development and improve environmental monitoring and assessment.
It may be recalled that ECO was an inter-governmental regional organisation, established by Iran, Pakistan and Turkey, and now embracing also Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.
The organisation's purpose was to promote socio-economic development of member states, including through regional co-operation in the field of environment, following adoption of an ECO Ministerial Declaration on Environment in 2002.
Sources disclosed that the Memorandum of Understanding also identifies the potential to strengthen links between the scientific community and policy-makers, and for further development of the Regional Environmental Action Plan for Central Asia, developed by UNEP and the Central Asian governments recently.
"Late last year, UNEP assisted countries of the region agreed a Framework Convention for the Protection of the Caspian Sea. In March, it signed a Memorandum of Understanding for Environmental Co-operation with the Department of the Environment of the Islamic Republic of Iran," they added.