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OPENING
CEREMONY:
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Above
photos: COP-7 opened with cultural performances.
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Above photos L-R: The dais during
the opening ceremony with Nobel Laureate Wangari
Maathai; Moody Awori, Vice-President of the
Republic
of
Kenya; Andrew
Kiptoon, Permanent Representative of
Kenya
to UNEP;
Hama
Arba Diallo, Executive Secretary of the UNCCD and Bakary
Kante, Director for Environmental Conventions, UNEP (DEC).
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Andrew
Kiptoon, (above left) Permanent Representative of
Kenya
to UNEP, opened COP-7 and welcomed
participants to Nairobi. He called for a minute of silence to commemorate the recent
passing of Rosa Elena Simeón Negrín, Cuba’s Minister for Science, Technology and the Environment and COP-6
President and Joke Waller-Hunter, Executive Secretary of the UN
Framework Convention on Climate Change, as well as the victims of
the recent natural disasters.
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On behalf
of UNEP Deputy Executive Director Shafqat Kakakhel, Bakary
Kante, (above left) Director for Environmental
Conventions, UNEP, welcomed participants to UNEP headquarters,
and thanked
Kenya
for offering to host COP-7.
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Hama
Arba Diallo, Executive Secretary of the CCD, expressed his
gratitude to the Government of Kenya for hosting COP-7, and
suggested that this may help to strengthen ties to UNEP in the
development of the Convention.
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Wangari
Maathai, (above left) the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate,
emphasized that if we want a peaceful world, we have to manage
our environment in a responsible, sustainable and equitable
manner. |
Moody Awori, (above rigth) Vice-President of the
Republic
of
Kenya
, welcomed delegates to
Kenya
. He reminded them that a large part of the country is arid and
fragile. |
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OPENING
PLENARY:
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José
Autonio Diaz Duque,
(above left) COP-6 President and Cuba’s Vice Minister for Science, Technology and the Environment,
reviewed the achievements made at COP-6 and said that the
decisions made at COP-6 strengthened the implementation of the
Convention and contributed to desertification control and
poverty reduction.
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Stephen
Kalonzo Musyoka, Minister of Environment and Natural
Resources of Kenya, thanked delegates for electing him as
COP-7 President, congratulated the outgoing COP-6 President and
other Bureau members on the contributions that they have made,
and expressed appreciation to the CCD Secretariat for the
excellent preparations for COP-7.
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ELECTION
OF OTHER OFFICERS:
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Above photos L-R: CRIC-3 Chair Mohamed Mahmoud Ould El Ghaouth
(Mauritania) sought clarification on whether two citizens of one country can be
elected to the Bureau;
Cherryl
Gordon, (Jamaica) proposed delaying the election of other Bureau
members pending resolution on this matter; following a short consultation, Viorel
Blujdea (Romania) has been nominated and elected as Chair of the Committee
on Science and Technology .
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