1.6.3 International Agreements

Helping to shape the framework for global environmental protection and resource conservation is an important part of German development policy. German experts work actively with players from other countries on the elaboration of international agreements. For instance, they made key contributions to the drafting of the Statement of Forest Principles, the Kyoto Protocol, the Framework Convention on Climate Change, the Convention on Biological Diversity and many other international agreements. As a part of its contribution to fostering renewable energies, Germany hosted the international Renewables 2004 conference in Bonn, at which an International Action Programme was adopted.

All of these agreements have a common purpose: to protect the environment and make sustainable use of natural resources. One aspect is that resource consumption must be curbed worldwide, especially in the industrialised countries. Yet this must not deprive poorer countries of the basis for their further development. This is why Germany cooperates closely with the other industrialised nations as well as with the developing countries in efforts to implement environmental and resource conservation measures.