MONUC holds environmental workshop in Kinshasa

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Kinshasa, 3 December 2009- An environmental workshop was held for MONUC and UN agency staff today by MONUC’s Environmental Affairs unit, with the support of the UNHQ, UN Environment Programme (UNEP), UNESCO, the Swedish Defence Research Agency and the DRC ministry for the environment. The aim of the workshop was to highlight areas where MONUC and UN agencies in the DRC can do more to protect, preserve and enhance the environment in which they work, and to develop a long term environmental plan.

According to the head of MONUC’s Environmental Affairs unit Joyce Mulinde, the environmental initiative comes from UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, “who earlier announced that 6 November each year would be the international day for preventing the exploitation of the environment in war and armed conflict.”

She said that MONUC’s goal was to reach the 7th millennium development goal of ensuring environmental sustainability by “establishing joint efforts such as monitoring the proportion of water and energy resources used, assessing environmental degradation and implementing new measures to protect the environment.”

Ms. Mulinde underlined that it was “important to realize that the workshop is a quick survey of what is an extremely broad assessment, which will mainly concentrate on the problems that exist.”

She called on everyone to lead an environmentally responsible life by recycling where possible, and by conserving energy at home and at work through such simple procedures as conserving office paper and turning off lights and appliances when they are not needed.

MONUC’s Environmental Affairs unit focuses on the ‘cause and effect’ relationship between the sources and consequences of environmental pollution, with a particular emphasis on water, energy and natural resources, and how planning can be improved within the mission for the effective conservation of the environment.

Ms. Mulinde said that the Environmental Affairs unit had already made an evaluation of various sections within the mission, such as warehousing, supply, fuel unit, refuse disposal and sanitation services, in an effort to highlight environmental conservation and to improve work practices.