The Environment Ministers of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) met in Paris on 28-29 September to discuss climate policy, water management and food waste. Hungary was represented by Deputy Minister of Agriculture István Nagy.
“The decrease in biological diversity that can be observed at a global and European level can also be detected in Hungary”, Mr. Nagy declared. He designated as a target the enforcement of long-term environmental, social and economic interests in contrast to short-term economic interests. “Our aim is to include criteria relating to the preservation of biological diversity in local government-level decision-making and planning”, he added.
Mr. Nagy told the press that in addition to Hungary’s previous 1 billion forint (EUR 3.2M) pledge to the Green Climate Fund, the Hungarian Government has also made available a further 1 billion forints for bilateral and multilateral inter-governmental climate policy purposes.
The Deputy Minister announced that in October the Ministry would be launching a national project that assesses ecosystem services of key importance based on economic criteria. He also stated that the Government had adopted the country’s second Water Catchment Management Plan. With relation to the Hungarian Fisheries Operational Programme, Mr. Nagy explained that it includes important measures concerning the management of Natura 2000 areas and the rehabilitation of natural waters. Since 2014 it has been possible to designate waters that are important from a gene preservation or conservation perspective as special purpose waters, providing fish and other useful aquatic animals and their habitats with a new, special category of protection, he added.
Citing a recent UNESCO report, Mr. Nagy called attention to the fact that if people do not change their use of the environment then some 50 countries will have to introduce water restrictions by 2050. He mentioned that during the review of its National Climate Change Strategy, Hungary was placing special emphasis on the promotion of water-efficient irrigation technologies, encouraging the efficient use of water stocks and on researching new methods of efficient water usage.
He pointed out that Hungary will be hosting the Budapest Water Summit on 28-30 November under the chief patronage of President of the Republic János Áder. The goal of the conference is to facilitate a new kind of integrated approach to sustainable water management by concentrating on solutions and practical assignments.
The agenda of the Paris summit also includes food waste. In Hungary, work to combat food waste has already begun at government-level. In cooperation with the Hungarian Food Bank Foundation, the Ministry of Agriculture established the Food Bank Forum in October 2014. The Forums working groups are working to find the most effective ways to reduce the quantity of waste food.