The International Olympic Committee (IOC), in partnership with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Qatar Olympic Committee will hold the 9th World Conference on Sport and the Environment from 30 April to 2 May 2011 in Doha, Qatar. Under the theme of “Playing for a Greener Future”, the Conference will assess recent environmental success stories concerning the sports movement, reflect on future challenges and discuss sport’s contribution to the 2012 UN Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD) or the Rio+20 Earth Summit. Keynote speakers will include IOC President Jacques Rogge, Executive Director of UNEP Achim Steiner, and the President of the Qatar Olympic Committee, HRH Prince Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani.The Conference comes at a strategic moment, just ahead of the 2012 Rio+20 Earth Summit, which will be held in June next year, and the London 2012 Olympic Games, events which both have sustainability at the heart of their agendas. It will bring together representatives from the sports world, environmental organisations, universities, governments, intergovernmental organisations and the private sector.
The winners of the 2011 IOC Sport and Environment Awards, which recognise outstanding initiatives in the area of sustainable sport and environment, will also be announced during the event.