21 countries call for cleaner production policies

MANILA, Philippines - Twenty-one countries from the Asia-Pacific region agreed yesterday to promote “ecologically sustainable pattern of development” through cleaner production technologies and practices in the face of the growing concern over global warming and climate change.

In the first day of the International Conference on Green Industry in Asia held at the Philippine International Convention Center, ministers and senior officials signed the Manila Declaration calling for cleaner production policies in national development plans.

Environment Secretary Lito Atienza said the Manila Declaration also calls for the setting of goals and formulation of action plans for promoting low-carbon and resource-efficient manufacturing industries.

“Today, there is a need to go beyond greenhouse gas emissions,” Atienza said.

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) hosted the event in partnership with the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), UN Environment Program (UNEP), and UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP).

Atienza stressed the world today is facing the major challenges of a global financial crisis that has led to economic slowdowns and global warming causing climate change.

He said the two global problems are independent of one another but that they cannot be solved separately.

He stressed the need to find a common solution for these problems through what he called “green growth.”

Atienza told the gathering that nations must now grow and solve economic problems in an environmentally sustainable manner just as environment protection must create jobs, income, and economic growth.

He said the economic slowdown could be addressed by developing an economy that requires the use of renewable energy sources and more efficient production process that would involve the use of natural resources and less energy.