'World Leaders' Dialogue' to discuss environmental challenges on Jeju

By Yi Whan-woo

With less than a month before Korea’s first-ever World Conservation Congress, the organizing committee on Monday unveiled plans for a major program that will focus on interactive talks on environmental issues.

The program, titled “World Leaders’ Dialogue,” will involve 30 delegates from the United Nations, governments, environmental groups and private firms across the world. With members of the audience, participants will discuss possible solutions to global environmental challenges during the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) conference on Jeju Island from Sept. 6 to 15.

The IUCN introduced the program for its quadrennial conference that has been held since 1948 to facilitate active feedback among the participants of 123 government offices and 967 non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in 91 countries.

The program from Sept. 7 to 11 is divided into five sessions, and each of them will discuss one of five issues — climate, food, economic development, people and governance, and life — under the theme of this conference, “Resilient Nature.”

Each of the 90-minute sessions will start at 5 p.m. at Tamna Hall of the International Convention Center Jeju.

At each session, the audience can ask questions and also express their thoughts on an issue. All five sessions will also be aired in real-time broadcasting through the IUCN website (www.iucn.org/congress) or through the organizing committee’s website (www.wcc2012.or.kr).

The 30 delegates are divided into five groups depending on the issue and they will participate as either moderators or panelists.

Five of the delegates are Koreans, such as Environment Minister Yoo Young-sook. As a panelist, she will address Korea’s efforts to conserve nature at the Sept. 11 session.

Another Korean representative is Young Soo-gil, co-chairperson of the Presidential Committee on Green Growth. He will be one of the panelists, including Executive Director Achim Steiner of the U.N. Environment Program, at the Sept. 9 session on green economy.

The 10-day conference is co-hosted by the IUCN, the Ministry of Environment and Jeju Self-Governing Province.