Geneva seeks to integrate eco-concerns with economic activity.
The urgent need to integrate environmental concerns into the mainstream economic activities is being felt today more than ever before. Some of the Network s earliest initiatives are focusing on building an effective communications infrastructure. Says Aniket Ghai, who conducted the feasibility study for the project GEN, that the concept of a forum for sharing ideas and cooperating on environmental projects had been floating for nearly a decade, and with particular vigor after the Rio Conference. However, it was not until the beginning of 1999 that GEN came into existence, allowing groups to pool their resources to achieve common goals. The initial emphasis, explains Ghai, is on working together to promote awareness of the global environment and the steps people can take to protect it.