Global civil debates Climate Change were held at the Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University (TSU) on June 5.
Deputy Rector of TSU, Professor Ioseb Salukvadze; French Ambassador to Georgia, Renaud Salins; Minister of Environment and Natural Resources Protection of Georgia, Gigla Agulashvili and UN Resident Coordinator in Georgia, Niels Scott attended the event.
“A very important event is being held at the Tbilisi State University and it is dedicated to the challenges related to climate change. Today we mark World Environment Day and I am glad that the university hosts this meeting in Georgia. Similar events are simultaneously being held in many other countries of the world and it is very interesting that Georgian population from various regions is participating in the discussions,” Deputy Rector of TSU, Ioseb Salukvadze said.
“The today’s event is being held in over 100 countries and thousands of people are participating in it. Our involvement in similar events helps realize that the problem is global, it cannot be local by its content and everyone should take care of the earth. Thus, the participation of our citizens in this process is extremely important. We will promote this process, because the problems facing us cannot be solved only through using administrative resources, participation of the state institutions or non-governmental sector. Each and every person is the most precious attainment in this process,” Minister of Environment and Natural Resources Protection of Georgia Gigla Agulashvili said.
French Ambassador to Georgia, Renaud Salins said that “an international conference on climate change will be held in Paris in December and its aim is to promote the mitigation of global warming processes. The today’s debates are the preparation for this conference, in which the civil society is also involved. We think that this issue should not be discussed only by the government, but the society has to actively get involved in it.”
UN Resident Coordinator in Georgia Niels Scott said that “World Environment Day is marked today and very important debates are being held worldwide.” He said that Georgia plays “a very important role” in this process. He also said that the today’s debates aim at discussing the ways to improve the environment and encourage the society to get involved in this process in order to receive different environment next year.
The representatives of various agencies participated in the debates and citizens had an opportunity to express their opinions about the challenges of climate change.
About 10 000 citizens are participating in the largest ever public debates on climate change in 100 countries of the world. The event aims at promoting public involvement in Solutions COP21 planned in Paris in 2015.
In Georgia, global civil debates were organized by CENN (Caucasus Environmental NGO Network) and Geo-Eco Alliance. Partners of the event are: Embassy of France to Georgia; Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University and Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources Protection of Georgia.
