OSCE PA adopts resolution to tackle environmental, economic issues

PanARMENIAN.Net - The OSCE Parliamentary Assembly’s economic and environmental committee adopted a resolution at its Istanbul Annual Session calling for binding limits on greenhouse gas emissions, new fees to make short-term stock speculation more expensive, and the utilization of green growth initiatives as an alternative to economic austerity.

The resolution urges greater international co-operation in tackling environmental and economic challenges in the lead-up to the 40th anniversary of the Helsinki Final Act in 2015 and recommends that the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe makes the economic and environmental dimension a central pillar of the Helsinki +40 process.

“In the 40 years since the Helsinki Final Act was adopted, while we have seen many important strides made towards closer international co-operation in the economic sphere and to protect the natural environment, the bottom line is that the international community has too often failed to adequately address various environmental crises including water management, biodiversity loss, air pollution, over-fishing, and of course, climate change,” the author of the resolution, Doris Barnett of Germany, said.

“Rekindling the spirit of co-operation that brought together Cold War adversaries 40 years ago should be at the top of the international agenda, and in that regard, the coming anniversary of the Helsinki Final Act is a welcome opportunity to re-establish the commitment to the economic and environmental dimension of security,” she said.

On climate change, the measure calls for countries to agree on binding limits on greenhouse gas emissions at November's COP19 meeting in Warsaw.

The measure urges governments to cooperate to protect water supply as a prerequisite for economic and social progress; focuses on cities to increase mass transit investments to address climate change and protect quality of life; and recommends that governments tax stock trading, particularly high-frequency trading, to make short term speculation more expensive.

The resolution will now be voted on by the full Assembly for inclusion in the OSCE PA's Istanbul Declaration, which helps shape OSCE and national policy.

The OSCE Parliamentary Assembly is comprised of 323 parliamentarians from 57 countries spanning, Europe, Central Asia and North America. The Assembly provides a forum for parliamentary diplomacy, monitors elections, and strengthens international cooperation to uphold commitments on political, security, economic, environmental and human rights issues.