Asean prepares action plan for environment

The ASEAN has laid the foundation for the preparation and eventual implementation of a plan of action to sustainably address the common environmental concerns in the region’s major cities.

This was made possible during the ASEAN regional seminar on sustainable urban planning and environmental management held in Jakarta City, Indonesia last Nov. 7-9, with representatives from the Philippines, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Singapore, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Myanmar, Brunei Darussalam, and Malaysia.

Jerry Capulong and Luis Fidel Ronquillo of the Environmental Management Bureau of the Department of Natural Resources represented the Philippines.

The plan of action seeks to address the common environmental challenges being faced by the major cities of the ASEAN member nations (AMOs).

One of them is ameliorating the effects of the economic crisis that hit AMOs in 1997 that left environmental management of lesser priority in finding allocation.

Another challenge is achieving the aspirations of ASEAN Vision of 2020 and the Hanoi Plan of Action (HPA) adopted by the ASEAN Heads of State/Government in December 1997 and December 1998, respectively.

Vision 2020 is reflective of the desire of ASEAN to pursue more sustainable paths to development, while the HPA outlines the initial course of strategies and action plans for the period 1999 to 2001 to help realize the vision.