Regional Forum 2004 |
Bangkok , Thailand – October 27-28, 2004
At a workshop on October 27 - 28, 2004, in Bangkok , the Thailand Pollution Control Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) co-organized a regional forum for senior Asian environmental officials and other stakeholders to explore strategies for establishing an Asian environmental compliance and enforcement network. Over 80 participants from the People's Republic of China, Indonesia, India, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Vietnam joined the forum, as well as experts from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Asian Development Bank (ADB), World Bank, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), International Network for Environmental Compliance and Enforcement (INECE), and Regional Environmental Center for Central and Eastern Europe (REC).
Recognizing the need for improved compliance with environmental laws, participating Asian countries at the Bangkok forum agreed to establish a regional network dedicated to sharing improved policies and practices on compliance and enforcement for countries throughout the region. In particular, participants unanimously endorsed the regional network and set an action agenda for its establishment that identified network objectives and activities, priority program areas, scope of implementation and organizational requirements. In addition, forum presentations and discussion included compliance and enforcement best practices, program indicators and lessons learned from other practitioner networks.
Based on the results of the Bangkok workshop, Asian leaders and development partners established the Asian Environmental Compliance and Enforcement Network (AECEN).