(BEIJING, March 19) -- The Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad (BOCOG) has urged its staff and the concerned departments of the Beijing Municipality to abide by the concept of scientific development to fulfill the environmental goals set by Beijing in its bid to hold the 29th Olympic Games.

BOCOG Executive Vice-President Liu Jingmin stressed the point at a recent meeting in relation to a review by the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP).

In 1994, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) proclaimed that the environment would be the third pillar of the Olympic Games, beside sport and culture. In 1996, the Olympic Charter formulated a series of environmental guidelines for the IOC, which went on to establish a special body: the Commission for Sport and Environment. The IOC and UNEP jointly adopted the Olympic Movement Agenda 21 and published the "IOC Guide on Sport, Environment and Sustainable Development", thus encouraging all candidate and host cities to take environmental issues to heart.

Beijing, the host city of the 2008 Olympic Games, put forward a comprehensive urban environmental protection plan when bidding for the Games. As a result, the IOC has hailed Beijing as the first city to hold Olympic Games based on the concept of sustainable development. After winning the bid, the Beijing municipal government and BOCOG have made steady and remarkable progress in implementing the plan.

In recent years, the UNEP has supported BOCOG in many ways. In 2005, the two parties signed a memorandum of understanding, in which they pledged to cooperate in environmental technologies and policies, and ozone layer protection, as well as to jointly promote environmental education and awareness.

Mr. Paolo Revellino, a UNEP consultant, has been commissioned to carry out a survey and review of BOCOG's environmental work during the past six years from February to July.