- Union minister of environment has attended the 5th BRICS Minister of Environment Meeting held in Sao Paulo,Brazil.
- The meeting acknowledged the importance of urban environmental management for improving the quality of life in cities.They agreed to work together to resolve the multifaceted environmental issues faced by cities in the five-nation association.
- The key themes of urban environmental management such as (a) contaminated areas and soil remediation (b)water quality (c)circular economy in context of sustainable consumption and production (d) marine litter and biodiversity were agreed to be integrated into BRICS cooperation initiatives.
- The declaration highlighted key initiatives taken by BRICS such as (a)Partnership on Urban Environmental Sustainability Initiative to share knowledge on issues such as waste management, sanitation, urban air quality among others (b)BRICS Environmentally Sound Technology Cooperation Platform for innovations, knowledge sharing and (c)Clean River of BRICS program for improvement of river ecology and combating marine litter.
- Addressing the meeting,Union minister has said that India has reduced energy intensity by 25% and 78GW of renewable energy has also been achieved.Further,the forest cover has also increased by nearly 15,000 sq km.
- BRICS is an association of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, the five fastest emerging nations.The BRICS Leaders Summit is convened annually.
