SEOUL, March 29 (Xinhuanet) -- An international meeting on Asia-Pacific environmental issue adopted a declaration here on Tuesday,vowing to improve environmental sustainability in the region.

    The 5th Ministerial Conference on Environment and Development in Asia and the Pacific (MCED) held a plenary session Tuesday afternoon in downtown Seoul, adopting the Ministerial Declaration on Environment and Development in Asia and the Pacific.

    This year's MCED, whose theme is "Achieving Environmentally Sustainable Economic Growth in Asia and the Pacific", kicked off its ministerial meeting on Monday and ended earlier Tuesday.

    Delegates of 52 members of the Economic and Social Commission in Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) attended the meeting, among them 23 are ministerial officials.

    The Ministerial Declaration first reaffirms the Asian-Pacific region, as the fastest growing region in the world with two thirdsof the global population and the largest number of people suffering poverty and hunger, has a critical role to play in promoting global sustainable development.

    The declaration says ministers for environment and development of the members and associate members of the ESCAP realized that toreduce poverty is the greatest challenge facing Asia and the Pacific region and an indispensable requirement for sustainable development, particularly in the developing countries.

    Moreover, "the ministers acknowledged that increasing consumption and production resulting from unsustainable economic growth is placing increasing stress on the carrying capacity of the region, as well as elsewhere in the world," the declaration says.

    However, the declaration says such situation can be "improved through the integration of economic development, social development and environmental protection," the so-called three mutually reinforcing pillars of sustainable development.

    The declaration also calls on countries and regions in the Asia-Pacific to shift the development pattern from a "grow now and clear up later" form to one of "Green Growth," which underscores environmentally sustainable growth.

    In order to realize "Green Growth," the declaration also offers22 pieces of advice.

    Meanwhile, the MCED also adopted a Regional Implementation Planfor Sustainable Development in Asia and the Pacific (2006-2010) and Seoul Initiative on Environmentally Sustainable Economic Growth. Enditem