February 14, 2005
The Ministry of the Environment and the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES) hosted the first International Workshop of the Water Environmental Partnership in Asia (WEPA) in Tokyo on 24-25 January 2005.
The workshop was attended by officials in charge of water policies from countries in Asian monsoon, including Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Lao, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam and Japan.
Participating countries of the workshop reconfirmed their proactive participation and further cooperation in the WEPA joint projects.
Due to the deterioration of water quality in Asian region, there is a growing concern over provision of safe drinking water and adverse impacts on human health and eco-system. It was reaffirmed that water quality management should be prioritized in the WEPA project which focuses on the water environment.
Participants discussed the contents of the four databases and possible schemes of information collection. Four databases to be developed under the WEPA are a policy-related information database, a database on activities by NGOs and community based organizations (CBOs), a database on technologies for water environment conservation and an information source database.
In terms of future activities of WEPA, it was corroborated that the secretariat of WEPA should be supporting the partner countries in providing necessary information. Besides this, in order to officially introduce prototype of WEPA database at the 4th World Water Forum to be held in Mexico in March 2006, it was agreed that information collection and arrangement in each country as well as cooperation among partner countries should be promoted.
[LINK]
| * | Chair's Summary of the 1st International Workshop of the Water Environment Partnership in Asia |