By Kim Se-jeong
Staff Reporter
The recent heightened concern about global warming and climate change as evidenced by the many international meetings and conferences set up to deal with such issues appears to be a matter taken up with equal enthusiasm by foreign embassies in Korea.
Two embassies in Korea have been especially active in bringing environmental experts, businessmen, policy makers, and U.N. officials to the country at this time.
First, the Embassy of the United Kingdom sponsored a symposium on climate change and health, inviting nearly 10 medical and environmental experts to speak at Yonsei University on Nov. 22.
A World Health Organization official and researchers from New Zealand, China, Japan, the United States, the United Kingdom and Korea presented ideas on how public health could be affected by climate change and possible solutions.
On Wednesday, the Italian Embassy and Cultural Institute in cooperation with the Department of Environmental Science and Engineering of Ewha Womans University will hold the first Korea-Italy Joint Seminar on climate change.
The various speakers include Rokjin J. Par from Seoul National University who will speak on ``some scientific issues in atmospheric chemistry and their climate implication''; Antonello Pasini from the National Research Council of Italy who will present ``The Challenge of Understanding Climatic Behavior''; Ho Chang-hoi from Seoul National University on ``Is climate change attributed to human activities?''; Claudio Cassardo from University of Torino who will deal with ``Regional responses to global change: the case of Italy and Europe''; and Par Seon-ki from Ewha Womans University on ``Forecasting disastrous weather systems to cope with global change.''
Antonino Tata, science and technology attache at the Italian Embassy said the coordination of the program is a signal from the Italian government that it takes the issue of climate change very seriously.
An official at the U.K. Embassy also said the British government's alertness and willingness to deal with climate change is being executed through the country's foreign missions around the world.
This week, the United Nations is to begin its historical Bali meeting on climate change. Expected to include participants from 185 countries, the delegations will discuss reduction on greenhouse gas emission after the Kyoto Protocol expires at the end of 2012.
As former U.S. Vice President Al Gore and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) received the Nobel Peace Prize for their contribution to climate change, the meeting is likely to have more significance than previous meetings, a WHO official who attended the symposium on climate change and health said.
The joint seminar will be on Dec. 5 from 2 p.m. at Ewha Womans University in Seoul.