7th World Conference on Sport and the Environment - International ...

Report
Beijing also decided to move forward the deadlines of several existing environmental targets in the Beijing
“Environmental Master Plan” for 1997-2015, and the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Olympic
Games (BOCOG) also developed its own environmental plans and commitments.
All these initiatives were the subject of a review released earlier today by UNEP. The review is available
here to all the participants of this conference, and it will also be the subject of a detailed presentation by
the lead author, Mr. Paolo Revellino, on Saturday.
The only reference I want make to it today is to quote the words of the UNEP Executive Director Achim
Steiner in the Foreword:
“What this report shows is that the award of the Games has provided a formidable impetus to cleaning up
Beijing and improving its environment. While the city and the country have many challenges remaining,
I think we can all genuinely take heart from the commitment that has been applied. Where we have
comments or reservations, they have been stated clearly. But there is no doubt that, with less than one
year to go before the 2008 Olympics, Beijing is on track to deliver on its environmental promises”.
That, ladies and gentlemen, is the spirit and commitment that will need to be applied across the globe at
every level to meet the environmental challenges that have been squarely laid out today in UNEP’s Global
Environment Outlook report.
That would also normally be the end of my speech and the opportunity to wish you all a successful
conference, but there is one more pleasurable duty that I must fulfil before I step down.
Among the commitments Beijing undertook as part of its preparations for the 2008 Olympics was to have
an ozone-friendly games.
The excellent results achieved by BOCOG and the city of Beijing in phasing out ozone-depleting
substances (ODS) well ahead of China’s national deadline are impressive.
At the end of 2004, ozone-depleting substances, apart from HCFCs and HFCs (which are still used in the
car air conditioning sector), were completely phased out in Beijing, six years ahead of China’s Country
Programme deadline.
Furthermore, air conditioning and fire extinguishing systems in the Olympic venues are all ODS-free.
In recognition of this achievement, the Secretariat of the Vienna Convention for the Protection of
the Ozone Layer has honoured BOCOG with a public awareness award on the occasion of the 20th
anniversary of the Montreal Protocol.
The Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer has been an enormous and highly
successful global effort to eliminate ozone-depleting substances.
By the end of 2005, production and consumption of ozone-depleting substances controlled by
the Montreal Protocol had been reduced by over 95 per cent from historic levels, and the scientific
community can now detect a decrease in both atmospheric and stratospheric measurements of these
chemicals. This is expected to prevent millions of cancer cases and even more cases of cataracts.
Perhaps even more importantly the Montreal Protocol stands as an example of what can be achieved
when governments, the private sector and citizens of the world pull together for a common cause.
In deciding on these awards, the United Nations Environment Programme and the Parties to the Montreal
Protocol recognize that literally hundreds of millions of people around the world can and should take
credit for the success that has been achieved to date.
But it also recognizes that there are some global champions, who have been working with missionary
zeal, who deserve special honour.
So, it with great pleasure that I invite Mr. Liu Qi, President of BOCOG, and Mr. Wange Wei, Executive Vice
President and Secretary General of BOCOG, to receive the Montreal Protocol Public Awareness Award
for outstanding work in raising awareness about ozone depletion and the global effort to address it.
<strong>7th</strong> <strong>World</strong> <strong>Conference</strong> on Sport and the Environment
International Cooperation and Development Dept.
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