Prefeitura de São Paulo

Mayors and delegates from 80 major cities, and environment-friendly companies and organizations around the world started a four-day conference in Seoul to tackle climate change, Monday. The "Climate Change Exhibition,'' held at COEX in southern Seoul, opened "The Third C40 Large Cities Climate Summit.''

"I hope this gathering will become a starting point to turn the climate change crisis into an opportunity to overcome it,'' Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon said at the opening ceremony of the exhibition. "The meeting will review the fundamental spirit of the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group, which was established to address global warming.''

About 100 eco-friendly companies and organizations worldwide will display gas reduction technologies, new and renewable energy and other green technology at the Expo, which will be held in conjunction with the summit.

The C40 Seoul Summit itself starts Tuesday at the Shilla Hotel, featuring keynote speeches by former U.S. President Bill Clinton and Anna Tibaijuka, the executive director of the United Nations Human Settlements Program (UN-HABITAT). Clinton is expected to highlight practical ways to reduce greenhouse gases, a major cause of climate change threatening the environment.

Two plenary sessions and eight parallel sessions will take place. The first plenary session is "Climate Change and the Economic Crisis: The Financial Benefits Associated with Greenhouse Gas Reduction'' and the second, "Bold Moves Toward a Low-Carbon City.''

Mayors from 80 cities in 41 countries, including London, Tokyo, Toronto, Sydney, Jakarta and Sao Paulo, are attending the summit. They will adopt the "Seoul Declaration,'' wrapping up the summit Thursday. In related news, Mayor Oh narrated "Home,'' a documentary composed of aerial shots of the Earth showing the diversity of life on Earth and the ecological balance violated by humanity and directed by Yann Arthus-Bertrand.

"I accepted the narration request to promote a movie highlighting the importance of environmental issues with cultural sensibility,'' Oh said. "It was especially meaningful because I recorded it prior to C40, which will make Seoul one of the leading cities tackling climate change.'' The mayor will donate the five million won he earned from participating in the movie to environmental organizations fighting climate change.

Source: Korea Times - www.korea.co.kr