Environment ministers from the Group of Eight (G8) gathered Saturday in the central Japanese city of Kobe to discuss environmental issues in the run-up to the G8 summit scheduled for July 7-9 in Hakkaido.
In his opening speech at the meeting, Japanese Environment Minister Ichiro Kamoshita said environmental problems such as the global warming have become major political issues worldwide in recent years.
The G8 summit, which focused mostly on political and economic issues, has showed increasingly great concern for the environment, he said.
Kamoshita said that the earth, which is indispensable for the existence of mankind and other living beings, is now faced with grave crises caused by human activities.
But we must believe that with our wisdom, we are able to build a low-carbon, environmentally-friendly society, he said.
The Japanese environment minister also conveyed condolences to those affected in the May 12 devastating earthquake in China's Sichuan province and Myanmar's cyclone-hit areas, pledging Japan's maximum efforts to help the disaster-hit areas recover at an early date.
Three major issues of biodiversity, climate change and 3Rs (Reduce, Reuse and Recycle) are on the agenda of the three-day conference.
Environment ministers and relevant officials from the European Commission, 10 developing countries, including China, India, Brazil, and eight international organizations are also invited to be present at the gathering.
Source: Xinhua
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