LOC12:09
09:09 GMT
VIENNA, May 24 (KUNA) -- The Japanese city of Kitakyushu, one of the
greenest industrial cities in the world, and the United Nations Industrial
Development Organization (UNIDO) will jointly promote eco-town concept in
developing countries.
The eco-town concept is based on a zero-emissions approach and seeks to
utilize - to the greatest extent possible - the waste generated by domestic
and industrial activities as the raw material for other industries.
An agreement on extending cooperation was signed in Vienna by the Director
General of UNIDO, Kandeh K. Yumkella, and the mayor of the city of Kitakyushu,
Kenji Kitahashi.
Yumkella said that "since 2010, UNIDO and Kitakyushu have been working
together to share clean technology and recycling know-how with developing
countries by organizing annual seminars for the decision-makers and technical
managers responsible for environmental industry management of industrial zones
and industrial estates in developing countries in Asia and Africa."
"Our partnership has provided a platform for training representatives from
developing countries interested in adapting clean technology and
waste-recycling services based on the eco-town concept," said Yumkella.
"The annual seminars have helped initiate conducive policies and replicate
best practices on waste recycling and waste-integration management. Developing
countries can benefit greatly from obtaining the waste-recycling and
destruction technologies currently used in Japan, especially in Kitakyushu,
many of which are unique.
By transferring modern technology to developing countries, Japan is helping
them comply with the legally binding requirements of the Stockholm Convention
on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs)," he added.
Another aspect of the cooperation between UNIDO and Kitakyushu is the
organization of fact-finding missions, including from Japan to Nigeria. The
missioned helped one Japanese company invest in e-waste recycling in India,
while another company will soon open an office in Thailand to focus on
construction-waste recycling.
In Nigeria, the cooperation between UNIDO and Kitakyushu has led to the
opening of a car-recycling investment project. Elsewhere, an e-waste project
is being negotiated for Tatarstan, Russia, and eco-town projects are being
prepared for the Visaya province of the Philippines, and for South Africa.
During the signing ceremony, Director General Yumkella noted another good
example of close cooperation between UNIDO and the Government of Japan - the
Green Industry Conference organized in Tokyo in 2011.
Kitakyushu is in Japan's first eco-town project. It originated in 1997
within Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, and was founded on the
basic concept of zero missions.
There are two main objectives: to stimulate local economies by nurturing
the growth of environmental industries that take advantage of the industrial
capabilities in each region; and to involve industry, the public sector and
consumers in the creation of integrated systems that are in harmony with the
environment, with the aim of creating a resource-recycling society in a given
region.
As part of the Kitakyushu eco-town concept, the city has adopted a
collective measure for the treatment of POPs, which is based on complete POPs
waste management and recycling, including segregation, collection treatment
and disposal.
POPs are organic chemical substances that possess a particular combination
of physical and chemical properties such that, once released into the
environment, they remain intact for exceptionally long periods of time (many
years); become wildly distributed throughout the environment as a result of
natural processes involving soil, water and most notably, air; accumulate in
the fatty tissue of living organisms including humans, and are fount at higher
concentrations at higher levels in the food chain; and are toxic to both
humans and wildlife. (end)
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