Environmental conservation conference in Kathmandu

Chesmal Siriwardhana

NEPAL: Armed conflicts involving various countries and regions are escalating in number and their ferocity worldwide.

These conflicts have caused a lot of damage to human lives and to the environment.

Environmentalists of countries facing various armed conflicts have decided to get-together and form a coalition to protect natural resources from these catastrophies.

An international conference on Conservation in Conflict was held to further strengthen this idea and the International Coalition for Conservation in Conflict (ICCC) was formed during this conference to promote inter-sectoral and multicultural dialogues, to increase awareness, improve public support and develop codes of conduct and operational guidance during and after conflicts.

The conference was held in Kathmandu, Nepal with the participation of over 22 international representatives of different organisations of 18 countries and 44 from various INGOs and Nepali NGOs.

The event was organised by the Wildlife Watch Group, Embassy of Nepal, WWF Nepal, the Mountain Institute and IUCN Nepal.

Environmental scientist Dr. Ajantha Perera represented Sri Lanka. Nepali State Minister for Forest and Soil Conservation Gopal Rai said, armed conflict is a global threat which affects not only Asia but the whole world. A range of environmental protection issues in and post armed conflicts should be discussed and long lasting solutions should be obtained from this conference, he said.