News

On 1 February, the Lithuanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs hosted  a discussion on the implementation of the resolution on environmental effects related to waste originating from chemical munitions dumped at sea, adopted by the United Nations’ General Assembly in December 2010.

Lithuanian diplomats, officials from Lithuanian Ministry of Environment, environmental experts, representatives of research institutes and scientists took part in the discussion.

The event was opened by Lithuanian Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs Asta Skaisgirytė Liauškienė, who  invited Lithuanian institutions and scientists to focus on achieving the objectives of the resolution.

Lithuania has convened the International Scientific Advisory Board which gathers together representatives of global environmental organizations and scientists. Web-site http://www.seadumpedcw.org/ is dedicated to the problems of sea-dumped chemical munitions, it is managed by the Marine Research Centre of Environmental Protection Agency.

During the discussion the head of the Center Algirdas Stankevičius shared information about places where chemical weapons were dumped and research was currently carried out.

Scientist Janina Baršienė from Vilnius University Ecology Institute paid attention to the fact that sea-dumped chemical munitions may constitute security, ecological and genetic threats.

During the event, the influence of the non-governmental organizations to the decisions of state was discussed, it was also agreed to strengthen cooperation between state institutions and academic sector.  In the opinion of the participants, this would be the way to reach the best results in the implementation of the resolution.

During the discussion, it was also proposed to establish inter-institutional working group to promote the implementation of the resolution  as well as to coordinate scientific and other events.

The UN General Assembly will assess the implementation of the resolution in 2013.