Celebrating World Environment Day on 5 June 2009, Union of Municipalities of Marmara (Turkey) and Consulate General of Sweden in Istanbul co-organised the conference "Sustainability in Municipality Services". Speaking at the conference, Swedish Consul General in Istanbul Torkel Stiernlöf, emphasised the importance of environmental friendly growth and sustainable development policies.

"We expect high participation from Turkey in the conference on climate change which will be held on December 2009 in Sweden. We have to be careful about our consumption of energy in this rapid industrialisation process. We all have to take to energy saving measures. Climate and economy are not separate issues. They are very closely related to each other and this relation has a vital importance for us. We cannot consider economic development without considering environment. Also, economic crisis should not be an excuse for postponing the environment protection measures and environmental investments. If we do not take proper measures until the year 2030, we will be dealing with more severe economic damage than we had during the World War I, and the World War II. Turkey and the other European Union candidate countries should beware of environmental protection." said Mr Stiernlöf. He also stated that Sweden was the leader of the world in terms of recycling and renewable energy and also added that municipalities played a very important part in recycling, increasing the use of public transportation and cycling in cities.

The conference was organised in parallel with training session held on 4-6 June 2009, organised by Union of Municipalities of Marmara (UMM) with the support of Consulate General of Sweden which aims at training "EU experts" in Turkish municipalities.

Source: http://www.marmara.gov.tr/newsdetail.aspx?newsId=360