Trade unions around the world should work together to urge
businesses, governments and society as a whole to conserve
resources and protect the environment to ensure sustainable
development, President Hu Jintao said Monday.
"Realizing sustainable development and making conservation
efforts are related to the fundamental interests of people around
the world and to the immediate interests of its vast number of
workers," Hu said at the opening ceremony of the 2008 International
Forum on Economic Globalization and Trade Unions.
"As key forces in promoting sustainable development, the world's
trade unions and their members must actively engage in this great
campaign that requires immediate effort and will contribute to the
well-being of future generations," Hu said.
Wang Zhaoguo, chairman of All-China Federation of Trade Union
(ACFTU), said the Chinese government "actively participates in
building an ecological civilization" against climate change,
pollution and the energy crunch.
For instance, last year it launched a national action plan
against climate change, the first of its kind adopted by a
developing country.
And since 2006, it has assigned detailed goals for energy
conservation and the reduction of emissions.
Calling on unions to engage in environmental protection, he said
developed countries should shoulder the bulk of responsibility for
environmental issues and give more support to the developing
world.
Developed countries should "render more financial and technical
support to developing countries and enhance their capacity in
developing their economies, eradicating poverty and raising their
levels of ability to cope with climate change," Wang, who is also a
member of the political Bureau of the Central Committee of the
Communist Party of China, said.
More than 60 leaders of 37 trade unions from 25 countries are
taking part in the two-day forum, jointly sponsored by the ACFTU
and World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU), which began Monday in
Beijing.
George Mavrikos, general secretary of the WFTU, said: "The issue
of climate change needs to be the center of attention for trade
unions all over the world. We know the causes of the problems and
we can demand the application of measures and policies to tackle
today's ugly situation."
Instead of taking charge of climate change, some developed
countries actually put obstacles in the way of developing
countries, Mavrikos said.
AD Nagpal, secretary of India's Hind Mazdoor Sabha, said
environmental sustainability begins in the workplace, with cleaner
technologies, better health and safety conditions and improving the
ways in which resources are used.
"This means participatory management systems at work, involving
workers in the decision-making processes, investing in cleaner
technologies and not outsourcing hazardous jobs to unskilled,
unprotected workers or merely dumping waste into the sewers,"
Nagpal said in a speech to the forum.
(China Daily January 9, 2008)
