Institutions and concepts cause poverty and environmental degradation.
This simple fact needs to be foremost in the minds of delegates to the fourth Ministerial Conference on Environment and Development in Asia and the Pacific, which is being held in Kitakyushu City, from Aug. 31 to Sept. 5.
The meeting of ministers and senior officials from more than 50 countries, organized by the U.N. Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, will frame the debate about environment and development for the next five years, and adopt a Regional Action Program for Environmentally Sound and Sustainable Development.