7th Meeting of the Canada-China Joint Committee on Environmental Cooperation held in Sanya, China
On November 12, 2011 Canadian and Chinese officials participated in the 7th Meeting of the Canada-China Joint Committee on Environmental Cooperation (JCEC) in Sanya, China. The Canadian delegation was led by Ms. France Jacovella, Director General of Multilateral and Bilateral Affairs at Environment Canada and included officials from Environment Canada and the Canadian Embassy in Beijing as well as the private sector. The meeting was co-chaired by Mr XU Qinghua, Director General of International Cooperation at China’s Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP) and the Chinese delegation was comprised of officials from the MEP and its related academies and research institutions.
As a forum for advancing bilateral environmental cooperation, the JCEC provides an opportunity for high level policy dialogue, an exchange of knowledge on environmental matters, and a review of bilateral achievements, as well as a venue to identify potential areas for further cooperation. The JCEC has typically met once a year, chaired successively by either Party, alternatively in Canada and in China. Discussion at the 7th JCEC Meeting focussed on an assessment of results and lessons learned from activities completed under the bilateral workplan for 2010-2011 as well as the elaboration of cooperative activities for 2012 in a number of areas of mutual interest, including biodiversity, environmental emergencies, water, environmental technology, mercury emissions and ecolabelling. At the conclusion of the meeting officials agreed to a provisional workplan that will guide bilateral cooperation in 2012.
On the margins of the JCEC, Canadian officials also participated in workshops on biodiversity and environmental emergencies that provided an opportunity for bilateral expert exchange on best practices and innovations in environmental management in both countries. In addition, on November 9, a delegation from Environment Canada met with officials from Shaanxi Province and participated in a site visit to an environmental emergencies response warehouse in Xi’an, Shaanxi Province. During this visit Canadian delegates provided an overview of the Canadian program for environmental emergencies and learned about the context for environmental emergencies management in China.