Mongolia to host 2013 World Environment Day

The UN Environment Program (UNEP) on Friday said that Mongolia will host the 2013 World Environment Day. UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner told a media briefing in Nairobi that the nation was selected during the close of the first governing council session under universal membership. "Mongolia has taken a lead in the development of a less polluting and more sustainable national development strategy and is therefore a good choice for hosting the 2013 World Environment Day," Steiner said. The day is the most widely celebrated global day for positive environmental action. Mongolia's President Tsakhia Elbegdorj was one of the recipients of UNEP's Champion of the Earth 2012 Award. "I am optimistic that as a global host of the environment day, it will demonstrate to the world that a transition to a green economy is possible when leadership and political will is translated to the ground," he said. Steiner said that since 2010, the country has suspended the issuance of all new mining licenses until the development of new environmentally friendly regulations are completed. The executive director also announced that a UNEP mission to Mongolia to assist the country with green economy advisory services is scheduled to depart in April this year. The executive director noted that the impact of climate change is impacting efforts to achieve food security casually by water scarcity. "Mongolia is among the most vulnerable countries in the world to global warming and it is estimated that the annual mean temperature has increased by over two degrees during the last 70 years while precipitation has decreased in most parts of the country," he said. Mongolia's Vice Minister for Environment Tulga Buya said that the traditional nomadic lifestyle is now slowly disappearing due to declining incomes. "Green development is now a major pillar for development in order to safeguard the health and environmental eco systems," Buya said. He added that his country has already passed a law aimed that decreasing the level of pollution caused by an increasing urban population as well as high fossil fuel usage. Buya noted that projects that enhance youth understanding of environmental conservation has also been established in his country. The vice minister said that his country hopes to tap hits huge solar potential to become an exporter of clean energy.