The 4th Environment and Climate Sustainability Working Group (ECSWG) under India’s G-20 presidency will meet in Chennai on July 26 and 27. The working group’s deliberations will culminate in the G-20 Environment and Climate Ministers’ meeting on July 28 wherein nearly 35 environment ministers are expected to participate.
The Outcome and Presidency documents from the ECSWG will be released during the Ministers’ meeting, said Richa Sharma, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC). Detailing the proceedings of the last three meetings and virtual sessions held during the course of this year, Ms. Sharma told presspersons here on Tuesday that the focus was on three thematic priorities — arresting land degradation, accelerating ecosystem restoration and enriching biodiversity; promoting a sustainable and climate resilient blue economy; resource efficiency and circular economy.
As part of the deliberations on blue economy, India had compiled the fifth edition of the G-20 report on action against marine plastic litter with inputs from nearly 40 countries, said Ms. Sharma. During the 4th ECSWG, further discussion on the outcome documents were scheduled to take place under the two broad tracks of environment and climate.
A critical aspect of the ECSWG meeting would be the launch of Resource Efficiency and Circular Economy (RECE) Industry Coalition on Thursday, said Naresh Pal Gangwar, Additional Secretary, MoEFCC.
To a question on the restoration of degraded land in the country, Bavish Ranjan, Additional Director-General (Forests), MoEFCC, said: “We focus on two types of degraded land. Land lost to forest fires and mining. Through this we will achieve restoring ecological landscape and global biodiversity targets.”
At the end of the meeting on Friday, delegates will be taken to Mamallapuram, a UNESCO world heritage site.
