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UNITED NATIONS

In the wake of the recent forest fire disasters the world over, Klaus Toepfer, executive director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), has said that governments, UN agencies, on-governmental organisations and those directly involved in fire-fighting operations must strengthen their cooperation, in order to be better prepared and jointly respond to the growing emergencies of forest fires. He was addressing the fifth Association of South East Asean Nations (ASEAN) ministers meeting on haze in Kuala Lumpur. Toepfer is expected to brief environment ministers on the donor response to a joint appeal for emergency assistance to the region made by UNEP and the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs on the basis of recommendations made by fire-fighting experts.

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and United Nations Centre for Human Settlements (Habitat), has congratulated the UK government on their Transport White Paper unveiled recently, calling it good news for the global environment. The paper, which puts emphasis on reversing decades of growth in use of the private motor car through a combination of taxation measures and efforts to improve public transport systems, is an important signal to the rest of the world. The growth in use of the private car is paralysing our cities and having a serious impact on both the focal and global environment.

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