June 14, 2012
Eight Goldman Prize recipients from the Asia-Pacific region recently participated in a symposium hosted by the Korea Green Foundation to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Korean Environmental Movement.
Yul Choi, 1995 Goldman Prize recipient and President of the Korea Green Foundation, welcomed MC Mehta (1996), Dai Qing (1993), Prigi Arisandi (2011), Noah Idechong (1995), Rizwana Hasan (2009), Tunjai Deetes (1994), and Sereivathana Tuy (2010), all of whom were keynote speakers at the event.
The Prize winners participated in heated discussion and debate about local and international issues and issued the following joint statement calling for a unified front, in the form of the ‘Green Asia Forum,’ to address climate change in the Asia-Pacific region. The Prize winners issued the following statement outlining the goals of the Green Asia Forum:
Joint Statement of the Green Asia Forum on Asia-Pacific Environmental Issues
By Goldman Prize Winners in the Asia-Pacific
We, the recipients of the Goldman Prize from Asia, participated in the symposium to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the environmental movement in Korea. As part of our participation we delivered a report highlighting the environmental problems of our respective countries. We also had in-depth discussions on regional and global environmental issues through which we realized our Asian continent, the ‘motor’ of world economic growth, is gravely faced with environmental degradation. After the Fukushima nuclear power plant accident, we are once again reminded that the environment knows no borders and that there are critical regional and global environmental issues on which joint actions are needed.
We acknowledge our responsibility to work together and to join forces in stopping the rapid environmental degradation in Asia, in the name of the Green Asia Forum, and resolve to take actions in the following areas:
1. Support alternative and renewable energy for the eventual realization of a nuclear-free society;
2. Uphold climate justice;
3. Safeguard Ocean and river ecology, particularly of international rivers and promote equity of water usage;
4. Protect and conserve forests and biodiversity;
5. Support and promote environmental education;
6. Watch TNC’s activities and mobilize actions to counter their environmental and social malpractices;
7. Support communities in their activism, movements and campaigns for environmental protection and food security
We further resolve to build up a network with regular meetings to gauge the situation, exchange ideas and develop action plans. At the 10th Green Film Festival in Seoul, which is to be held in May 2013, we shall meet again to develop more specific action agendas and modus operandi. In order to administer these action plans and communication, the Korea Green Foundation shall take the role of secretariat of the Green Asia Forum for the time being.
Goldman Prize Winners,
YulChoi(South Korea) Dai Qing(China)
Noah Idechong(Palau) PrigiArisandi(Indonesia)
RizwanaHasan(Bangladeshi) SereivathanaTuy(Cambodia)
TuenjaiDeetes(Thailand) M.C. Mehta (India)
