APEIS
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CONTENTS
APEIS
  Background and Objectives  
  Framework and Target Audience  
  Expected Outcomes and Products  
  Capacity Building and Information  
  Commitments and Partnership  
  Application of APEIS Products to Policy-making  
  APEIS Meeting the Needs of Policy-makers  
IEM (Integrated Environmental Monitoring)
IEA (Integrated Environmental Assessment)
RISPO (Research on Innovative and Strategic Policy Options)
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What is APEIS?
About APEIS
Implementation Plan for the First Phase(FY2002-2004)
Design
Background and Objectives
Environmental innovation, including technological, social and policy innovation, is vital to breaking through the vicious cycles of environmental degradation and poverty, and to consequently achieving sustainable development in the Asia-Pacific region. The Asia-Pacific Environmental Innovation Strategy Project (APEIS) seeks to develop and promote practical, science-based tools and policy options for enhancing environmental innovation, and thus sustainable development, in the region. In particular, these tools and options are directed to improving the ability of policy-makers to make informed decisions on challenges related to the environment and development. In addition, APEIS aims to promote capacity building and international cooperation in the region.

The first phase of APEIS runs for three years from April 2002 to March 2005. It is primarily funded by the Ministry of the Environment of Japan, augmented with contributions from participating research institutions.
APEIS is an Asia-Pacific initiative to help realize the Plan of Implementation of the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD), which urges to:

Assist developing countries, through international cooperation, to enhance their capacity in their efforts to address issues pertaining to environmental protection including in their formulation and implementation of policies for environmental management and protection, including through urgent actions at all levels to:
(a) Improve their use of science and technology for environmental monitoring, assessment models, accurate database and integrated information systems;
(b) Promote and, where appropriate, improve their use of satellite technologies for quality data collection, verification and updating and further improvement of aerial and groundbased observations, in support of their efforts to collect quality, accurate, long-term, consistent and reliable data. [WSSD Implementation Document]
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Framework and Target Audience
APEIS is composed of three sub-projects:
Integrated Environmental Monitoring (IEM)
Integrated Environmental Assessment (IEA)
Research on Innovative and Strategic Policy Options (RISPO)
Each sub-project is designed to provide a scientific basis for decision-making and to establish on-going communication between scientists and policy-makers. Thus, the target audience of APEIS is policy-makers in the Asia- Pacific region; however, the project will also convey its products to other stakeholders and the general public.
Table1:Structure of APEIS
Supervisory bodies (Meetings)
ECO ASIA Ministerial Meeting for policy discussion based on outcomes of scientific activities and provision of policy guidance
ECO ASIA Panel Expert meeting to review, endorse and coordinate the overall project and to coordinate between scientific activities and policy makers
Research Coordination Committee (RCC) Meeting of scientists to coordinate between each sub-project and to develop a draft overall research plan
Sub-projects
Integrated Environmental Monitoring (IEM)
Integrated Environmental Assessment (IEA)
Research on Innovative and Strategic Policy Options (RISPO)
Support functions
Networking & Capacity Building
Information Sharing and Outreach
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Expected Outcomes and Products
APEIS will produce two types of products:
1) knowledge-based tools and 2) policy options.
Each type is explained below.
APEIS will develop a set of scientific knowledge-based tools to assist decision-making process, in particular to assist in analyzing and understanding present conditions and future trends related to the Asia-Pacific economy and environment. These tools include:
An integrated monitoring system for early warning of environmental disasters (such as dust storms, floods, forest fires and oil spills) and for long-term tracking of environmental degradation (such as desertification, salinization and deforestation).
Integrated assessment computer models to evaluate the complex interaction between socio-economic activities, environmental policies, and the natural environment.
A strategic database containing information and indicators related to economic and environmental activities.
A “good practices” inventory of cases that illustrate innovative and successful use of environmental-friendly approaches and instruments.
As its second type of product, APEIS will also develop a set of innovative policy options in selected areas. Such options may advocate use of advanced technologies; they may combine existing and already tested instruments; or they may integrate traditional and emerging knowledge in novel ways. The areas where options will initially be developed are:
Eco-Markets and Eco-Industry: specifically, innovative financing for renewable energy, international markets for recyclable materials, and improved environmental performance of small and medium-sized enterprises;
Urban Systems: specifically, environmentally sustainable transport systems;
Community Resources: specifically, use of local biomass energy, and community-based tourism;
Stakeholder Networking: specifically, environmental education by non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and local/indigenous knowledge-based resource management systems.
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Capacity Building and Information
Capacity building lies at the core of APEIS. Capacity building activities will focus on enhancing the use by developing countries of scientific tools and their application to policy. Besides capacity building, APEIS also places high priority on information sharing and outreach to raise stakeholder awareness, transparency and accountability. A wide range of information will be made available to targeted audiences through websites, CD-ROMs and printed materials.
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Commitments and Partnership
APEIS is committed to working with a wide variety of individuals and organizations in the Asia-Pacific region and beyond. The project has registered its activities as a Type II Partnership Initiative in the WSSD, as well as an ‘action' under the Portfolio of Water Actions of the Third World Water Forum. Close links are being forged with other projects at the regional and global levels such as the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA), the Asia-Pacific Network for Global Change Research (APN), and the Global Environment Facility (GEF)'s “National Performance Assessment and Subregional Strategic Environment Framework in the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS).” APEIS will also seek opportunities to cooperate with other relevant regional and global activities.
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Application of APEIS Products to Policy-making
APEIS products contribute to key aspects of the policy-making process.The environmental monitoring data of IEM can provide early warning of environmental disasters such as dust storms and forest fires, as well as detection of slowly worsening environmental degradation such as desertification, salinization and other ecosystem changes due to human pressures. Such data can also help develop preparedness policies for both environmental disasters and degradations. To ensure sustainable water supply, watershed ecosystems must be protected as a whole because they naturally capture, filter, store and release water. The IEM integrated model offers a scientific tool for exploring policy options related to sustainable watershed management, which may include the efficient and recycled use of water and nutrients, and adaptation to climate change impacts.
(Box 1).
The environmental assessments of IEA can provide policy-makers with the ability to visualize the consequences of environmental policies and the benefits of environmental innovations such as changes in consumption patterns, development of the eco-industries, and deployment of advanced technologies. Sophisticated models help policy-makers understand the complicated relationships between economic growth and environmental protection, as well as understand the power of innovation to steer human activities in a sustainable direction. For example, the IEA models can help policy-makers visualize the Earth's climate a hundred years into the future
(Box 2).
The IEA models can provide the basis for understanding the consequences of different policy options and can facilitate open and transparent discussion among stakeholders
(Box 3).
RISPO products provide policy-makers with tested ideas and strategic policy options for achieving sustainable development. When developing policy to address an environmental problem, one of the best approaches is to consult past experience. The Good Practices Inventory offers a list of lessons identified and categorized from various past practices in the Asia-Pacific region. The Strategic Policy Options, which are a combination of good practices validated with pilot studies, offers practical solutions in selected area that can serve as models for actual policy development
(Box.4).
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APEIS Meeting the Needs of Policy-makers
The success of APEIS depends on the extent to which its products and results are of actual use to policy-makers. To encourage use by policymakers, APEIS seeks to enhance interactions between scientists and policy-makers. The followings are some of its proposed interactive demonstration activities with policy makers in the second year (April 2003 to March 2004). They are designed to develop close and continuous communication between sub-project team members and policy makers on a test basis.
APEIS (IEM) proposes to work with some of the Chinese governmental agencies in providing scientific data and information for exploring the sustainable management of the Changjiang River basin,in particular, under the framework of the Task Force on Integrated River Basin Management of the China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development. The State Environmental Protection Administration and the Changjiang Water Resources Commission might be partners in this project. Another proposed area is the development of IEM regional information system for the dissemination of IEM monitoring data and products. Collaboration with policy-makers, a main user of this system, in its development will help make it user-friendly.

APEIS (IEA) proposes to proactively demonstrate its Strategic Database to policy-makers and seek advice on how to make it more user friendly. IEA will:(i) provide preliminary future estimates of environmental and economic change to policymakers;(ii) seek input on changes to the estimates;(iii) transform the suggested changes into quantitative forms and simulate the changes; (iv) provide revised estimates to the policy makers; and (v) continue this process until a clear understanding of the area under consideration is reached.
Through this process, the most promising policy options for each country can be thoroughly discussed. Another possible area is the tailored modification and application of IEA models for country-specific purposes.An example of this type of work, which is now being discussed, is the development of a model for assessing the environmental and socio-economic impacts of Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) under the Kyoto Protocol in Thailand in collaboration with the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment of Thailand.

APEIS is pleased to explore further activities with other governmental organizations.
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E-mail APEIS@env.go.jp