The Vice Minister of Environment, Jeong Yeon-man, and the Vice Minister of Oceans and Fisheries, Son Jae-hak pledged to strengthen collaboration between two ministries through regular cooperative channel at the Policy Consultation Meeting between the Ministry of Environment (MOE) and the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries (MOF) on January 20.
MOE and MOF built consensus on the need of close cooperation to make sustainable environment through integrated control of land and ocean pollutants, biodiversity conservation and so forth.
To this end, two ministries will establish a policy consultative body co-headed by the two vice ministers to gradually lower administrative barrier between the ministries and maximize policy gains.
At the first consultative meeting, the vice ministers, director generals and directors from two ministries attended to choose agenda items for future cooperation.
First, the ministries agreed to come up with measures to forbid discharge of waste water and sludge into oceans and control feces contamination sources in land to prevent ocean pollution due to land borne pollutants.
Also, the ministries will minimize land and groundwater pollution during disposal of dead fish in land and shore up cooperation for holding events including the 12th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD COP 12) and World Wetlands Day.
The vice ministers said that the consultative body will create synergy for harmonious development of land and ocean environment policies and they will strive to achieve integrated administration centering on the public.