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The 7th Northeast Asian Conference on Environmental Cooperation (NEAC)
20-22 October 1998, Cheju, KOREA
- The 7th Northeast Asian Conference on Environmental Cooperation (NEAC) was held on 20-22 October 1998 in Cheju, Korea.The conference was organized by the Ministry of Environment and the Cheju Provincial Government.Participants from the People's Republic of China, Japan, Mongolia, the Russian Federation, and the Republic of Korea as well as representatives from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Economic and Social Commission for the Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) (listed in Appendix I) attended this Conference.
- With the mutual understanding that NEAC acts as a forum for the exchange of information and views on environmental issues of the Northeast Asian region, and aims at strengthening environmental cooperation in this region, heads of delegations made keynote speeches.Participants introduced their countries' recent efforts to tackle environmental problems and agreed that NEAC has played an important role in promoting environmental cooperation and sustainable development in the region.A Korean representative proposed the initiation of a Northeast Asian Ministerial Conference for promoting and systematizing cooperation in Northeast Asian and for determining its main long-term directions.
- The subjects discussed at the 7th NEAC were as follows:
- Cooperation for the Preservation of Migratory Birds and their Habitats
- Ground Water Preservation and Management
- The Development and Application of Sustainable Development Indicators
- Hazardous Air Pollutant Management
- At the session on Cooperation for the Preservation Migratory Birds and Their Habitats, each country introduced its international and domestic efforts to research, monitor, and protect migratory species and their habitats.Special mention was made of the recent successes in transboundary regional protection and the need for similar projects in the future.A Japanese proposal to recognize the importance of the Asia-Pacific Migratory Wildbird Conservation Strategy, which was formulated at the 6th Conference of the Parties to the Ramsar Convention in March 1998, and to encourage participation in its network was agreed upon by the participating countries of the Conference.
- At the session on Ground Water Preservation and Management, recognizing the importance of groundwater as a critical, finite resource that must be protected and properly managed to ensure sustainable use, current groundwater protection, use, and management policy was presented by representatives from each country.Most presentations focused on current technology for withdrawing groundwater resources and the need for surveys on current groundwater resource quantity and quality and for the development of new technologies for the effective utilization of this critical resource.A Korean representative proposed multi-lateral information exchange on technology development, pollution control, and policies.
- At the session on the Development and Application of Sustainable Development Indicators (SDIs), presentations on the current state of development of sustainable development and environmental indicators were made by representatives from each participating country and Cheju Province, Korea.All countries agreed on the importance of SDIs in measuring progress and formulating policy for sustainable development.Case studies on the selection, development, and application of SDIs were presented for consideration.Discussion about the relation between the current definition of sustainable development and the Conference's environmental focus lead to a proposal - made by Russian and Chinese representatives and agreed upon by the participating countries - that, in order to produce concrete action plans, the topics of the following Conference should be narrower than those of the present Conference and that the presentation papers should be prepared according to guidelines recommended by the Secretariat.It was suggested that case studies on sustainable development in each participating country be selected and carefully developed for the following Conference.
- At the session on Hazardous Air Pollutant Management, recognizing the fact that hazardous air pollutants (HAPs) have an adverse effect on the environment and human health, the participating countries explained the current state of air pollution in their territories, identified current regulations on HAPs, summarized approaches to risk management, and introduced probable directions for the future development of HAP monitoring and regulation.It was pointed out that the definition of HAPs and the stage of development of air pollution management policy varies in each country.
- It was recognized that a compendium of laws, regulations, policy statements, etc.relating to freshwater management, including groundwater management, could be useful for promoting its sustainable management within and outside the Northeast Asian region.The UNEP representative stated that UNEP would, within available resources, support NEAC in its efforts to promote the environmentally sound management of groundwater and the publication of such a compendium.The ESCAP representative highlighted the unique characteristics of the forum, namely, its nature as a forum for discussing technical issues and its flexibility in terms of participants and discussion topics, and recommended that these characteristics be further encouraged.The participating countries noted that the UNEP representative informed the Conference that the ASEAN countries had approached UNEP about assisting in the development of a regional agreement on long-range transboundary air pollution.A Korean representative suggested that the participating countries seek to formulate a similar regional agreement in Northeast Asia as well.
- The participants expressed their deep appreciation to the Ministry of Environment and the Cheju Provincial Government for their warm hospitality and their successful organization of the 7th NEAC.
- The participants welcomed the offer by the Japanese delegation to host the 8th NEAC in 1999 in Japan.The exact dates and venue will be decided later by the Japanese side.
