CAIRO: Tunisia will host a conference of Islamic environment ministers in early October to look at how environmental issues can be impacted from a governmental perspective. The 4th Islamic environment ministers conference will receive participants and ministers from over 30 organizations and countries, a statement from the conference said. “We believe that the environment and Islam can work together and would be a huge step toward creating a unified Islamic position on green ideas,” Adnan Binham, an Indonesian environment ministry official, told Bikya Masr. He hopes that through a more concerted effort, Islamic countries can “formulate a policy that will push the environment debate back to the top of agendas.” The Congress will be held under the high patronage of President Ben Ali, at the initiative of the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ISESCO), jointly with the Secretariat General of the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC), in association with the Environment and Sustainable Development Ministry. The 4th Islamic environment ministers' congress coincides with the UN's observance in 2010 of the International Year of Biodiversity and the International Youth Year. The Congress will take place on the eve of the 3 rd Congress of the Arab Women Organization (AWO) on “Arab Women, Essential Partners in Sustainable Development Action”, in October, 2010. The 4th Islamic Congress will address several issues including the future of environment and the congress of partners to the UN Convention on Biodiversity held in Nagoya, Japan and the international congress on climate changes held in Cancun, Mexico. Several issues related to environment and sustainable development in the Islamic world will be also discussed as part of the “Islamic Declaration on Sustainable Development”, (Jeddah, from June 10 to12, 2002) and “Jeddah Commitments for Sustainable Development”, coming out of the second Islamic congress of environment ministers (from December 13 to 15, 2006), as well as the general framework for sustainable development in the Islamic world coming out from the 3rd Islamic congress of environment ministers (Rabat from October 29 to 31, 2008). Participants will also focus on “the Islamic draft action program to make the most of clean development mechanisms”, “the draft environmental action program in Islamic countries” and the “project of the Islamic environmental network in Saudi Arabia”. The Congress will be marked by the elections of members of the Islamic Environment Board. BM
