Peru prepares for COP20 with Responsible Industry and Climate Commitment pledge
Peru announcesYear of Responsible Industry and Climate Commitment as it prepares for the UN's COP20 climate meeting later this year
Peru’s executive branch has just declared 2014 to be the Year of Responsible Industry and Climate Commitment as it prepares for the United Nations Climate Change Conference later this year.
The country’s economy is growing rapidly but experts are increasingly concerned that the growth is coming at a high environmental price.
The declaration is meant to re-recommit the Peruvian government to sustainable practices and “efficient processes that support the industrialisation of the country, without forgetting the respect for the population and the environment and with special emphasis on climate change.”
The designation of 2014 as a year in which prominence will be placed on caring for the climate is also significant as the year’s end will see Peru as host for the 20th session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), known more concisely as COP 20.
Critics have recently highlighted Peru’s seeming inability to control environmental damage caused by industry as reason for its unsuitability as host of COP 20.
The declaration was signed by President Ollanta Humala and Prime Minister Cesar Villanueva and appeared in Peru’s state newspaper El Peruano.
