Press Releases 2007
U.S. Embassy, UNDP and Ministry of Tourism and Environmental Protection of Montenegro Mark Earth Day
April 20, 2007
On the occasion of International Earth Day, the U.S. Embassy in Montenegro and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Montenegro will organize a presentation of the documentary "An Inconvenient Truth", at the Karver Bookstore, Podgorica, Obala Ribnice, on 23 April 2007 at 2pm.
From director Davis Guggenheim comes this Oscar Award winning movie about one man's commitment to expose the myths and misconceptions that surround global warming and inspire actions to prevent it. That man is former U.S. Vice President Al Gore. "The hottest ten years on record have occurred in the last 14 years", said Gore. "Our civilization is still in a state of "category five denial" over this issue. But the denial is beginning to give way. This deepening global climate crisis requires us to act boldly, quickly, and wisely. As it yields to widespread recognition that we face an imminent planetary emergency, we must guard against the illusion that the crisis is too big to solve. We have the solutions available. The only thing missing is political will- but that is a renewable resource."
"In particular, we believe that 2007 will be the year that climate change is widely recognized as a leading development issue", said Kemal Dervis, UNDP Administrator. "Although we do not know exactly what the environmental impact of climate change will be, or its precise impact on economic activity, it is clear that it will have much more dramatic effects on the poor countries, both because of geography and because of low income, making adaptation much more difficult. And, of course, the benefits so far from the economic activities that produce carbon emissions have gone disproportionately to rich countries. So climate change pushes distributional issues to the forefront."
The Republic of Montenegro ratified the Kyoto Protocol to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change in March this year. The Protocol specifies the mechanisms for implementation of a country's obligations under UNFCCC. The Clean Development Mechanism is of particular importance for Montenegro since it allows financing of environmentally sound projects through cooperation with developed countries
The film will be followed by a brief discussion including statements from the Minister of Tourism and Environment of Montenegro Predrag Nenezić and UNDP GEF Portfolio Manager Dijana Spasojević.
Please note that the film will have no subtitles in local language and discussion will take place in English.
For additional information, please contact Ms. Nadica Dujovic, UNDP, at 069 319 709 and Mr. Bernard Cobaj, U.S. Embassy, at 067 283 547.