Environment and Natural Resources Minister Patali Champika Ranawaka, at the Asia-Pacific Network for Global Change South Asia Sub Regional Meeting yesterday in Colombo, said: "We have to provide right directions and guide the future programme to suit local conditions as this is the first meeting for our sub region."

In the global context, our generation is living in an era where deteriorating environmental trends have far-reaching economic, social and health implications.

A global change by making a paradigm shift away from the present unsustainable production and consumption practices, is the only way forward to ensure the continued existence not only of humankind, but also of the other living beings of the planet earth.

The Asia and the Pacific Region is of special importance in understanding the nature and dimensions of global environmental problems.

This Region has a population of nearly three billion -nearly half of the World’s total human population. Its economic growth rate is the highest of any region in the world. At the same time, it should be noted that 14 countries in the region are under the category of least developed, including Nepal and Bangladesh, he said.

"As we all are aware, over the last century, human activities have contributed on a massive scale to global environmental change.

Therefore, conducting research activities on long-term global changes in climate, ocean and terrestrial systems and on related physical, chemical, biological and socio-economic processes, is of vital importance," he added.

He said the Asia-Pacific Network for Global Change Research (APN), as an inter-governmental network, has the potential for promoting research that would lead to the strengthening of links between science and policy making in the Asia-Pacific Region.

In context of the Asia and the Pacific Region in particular, focusing on securing the stability of ecological systems while promoting socio-economic development is a special need.

Ranawaka said that it is essential to ensure that APN would focus research activities aiming at promoting the establishment of a new global environmental governance system based on the polluter pays principle to achieve the expected outcome of the desired global change.