MR urges concerted efforts for a green Asia

Asian nations should make joint efforts to deal with the pressing problems of climate change and resource shortage when energy demands keep rising as the continent becomes an important driver of the world economy, President Mahinda Rajapakse told the Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) in China today.
President said that the world has also seen the emergence of many challenges, including the fight against terrorism that pervades the world today, the continuing spread of nuclear weapons, the widening gap between the rich and the poor, international trafficking in drugs, women, and children; and in recent years the most alarming problem of the depletion of the earth's natural resources; and the destruction of the environment.

“With all the wealth that industrial progress has produced, today, we are gravely threatened by global warming and climate change.

In the face of these challenges that mock our most determined attempts to solve them within established frameworks, we must fashion our policies to enable continued development while addressing the challenges posed. This Boao Forum has a critical role to play in this regard,” he said.
“However in meeting the challenges posed by globalization today, as well as the challenges faced by the environment, we see the need for a new definition of man’s relationship with nature and the environment. We need to look back at our traditional values, and also look forward to what today’s scientific knowledge can give us to restore our good relations with nature, President