Egypt: The Environment Minister of Egypt, Yasmin Fouad, participated in a conference accompanied by Ghada Waly, the Secretary-General of the United Nations and the Executive Director of the United Nations (UN) Office on Drugs and Crime.
The meeting was held to discuss ways of bilateral cooperation in a number of shared files and a roadmap to the COP28 climate conference.
On her part, Environment Minister stated that “We are keen to place waste files, climate change and biodiversity among priorities on the agenda of the next COP28 climate conference.” she added that “We aim to achieve sustainability in the quality of life for local communities to avoid many environmental crimes.”
During the meeting, the Minister of Environment, Fouad, received the first copy of the Arab Plan for the framework of work in the Arab region for the next ten years. The meeting also focused on cooperating on the roadmap to the upcoming COP28 climate conference and bilateral cooperation in tackling environmental crimes.
At the beginning of the meeting, Ghada Waly, the Executive Director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Yasmin Fouad, congratulated on the success of the COP27 climate conference and the gains from it.
Furthermore, Ghada Waly also cited that they are looking forward to completing the cooperation in implementing the conference initiatives and preparing a roadmap for the upcoming COP28 climate conference and bilateral cooperation in a number of files, including tracking waste and transactions.
“It is illegal, especially plastic waste, and its loss of biodiversity and its impact on increased environmental criminal activities in a number of regions such as the African continent and Latin America, and illicit trade in animals,” said Waly.
Environment Minister Yasmin Fouad reviewed the results of the COP27 climate conference and priority topics to work on in preparation for the upcoming climate conference COP28, waste, biodiversity and deforestation. She further pointed out the possibility of cooperation in paying the waste initiatives for Africa 1 by 2020 and nature-based solutions on the way from COP27 To COP28.
The climate conference COP27 witnessed for the first time the presentation of the waste file and its direct relationship to climate change at climate conferences, the environment minister clarified. In addition, the Africa Waste Initiative was launched in 2020, aiming to reach 75% of Africa’s waste by 2020, led by more than 30 countries, international institutions, civil society and sectors Of interest in participating in the initiative.
Along with this, 30 African countries, and five have formed working groups on topics related to the initiative, which are in one way or another related to the issue of waste tracking, the rotating economy, plastic waste, and illegal waste management, which has led to a lack of awareness to the accumulation of a large amount of waste randomly in Africa.
In her remarks, Yasmin Fouad confirmed that Egypt is seeking to push the initiative with an ambitious action plan to be presented during the upcoming COP28 climate conference, launching its first executive project and launching a platform for the initiative in cooperation with an international entity.
