he pattern of development in the AsiaPacific region has resulted in considerable adverse effects on the environment, including pollution, deforestation, and land degradation. The importance of protecting the environment from the pressure of development and population growth, the need to remedy past environmental degradations and depletion of natural resources, and the need to promote sustainable development are widely acknowledged by international and bilateral agencies as well as by the countries in the region. Thispaper briefly touches on the roles of the international agencies that deal with environmental and sustainable development issues in the Asia-Pacific region, particularly the key United Nations (UN) agencies and multilateral banks, as well as regional and subregional environmental programs. Problems and emerging issues Many countries in the region have achieved comparatively high rates of economic growth, but in the process have exploited, degraded, and depleted resources such as land, water, forests, fisheries, and minerals. The environment has suffered as a result of agricultural development, industrialization, and urbanization, which have compounded the growth and structural changes of the countries' economies. As the consequences of envimnmental degradation become evident, and as environmental awareness rises, pressure to rehabilitate and better manage the environment throughout Mi and the Pacific is likely to increase. Therefore, an understanding of the constraints and emerging issues affecting sustainable development there is essential. Constraints to sustainable development include biogeographic factors, policy and market failures, population pressure and poverty, weak institutions, lack of skilled and trained human resources, and lack of funds. For instance, policy and market failures have been identified as major causes of environmental degradation. Log exports may not lead to deforestation, but inappropriate policies on logging do. Population growth or density per se does not lead to migration to forested areas or to forest encroachment, but the failure to provide adequate employment or the absence of secure property rights over the resources will ultimately lead to resource depletion. Population pressure, poverty, and environmental degradation are skongly linked, particularly in poor counbies where high population growth exacerbates the inability of the resource base to sustain the population at existing levels of technology development. Poverty is reinforced, which leads to further socioeconomic deterioration. Population growth must be brought down to acceptable levels if economic growth is to be translated to improved living standards. Weak institutions and untrained human resources have thwarted countries' efforts to design economic incentives for sustainable development. That is why some Asian countries may support market-based economic incentives and have adequate environmental legislation, but their institutions cannot adequately monitor and enforce existing statutes. Illegal practices flourish in an atmosphere of weak or nonexistent enforcement; therefore, to establish a strong environmental structure, countries must strengthen and upgrade institutions involved with human resources from the national to the local level. The various causes of resource depletion and environmental degradation have affected all the developing economies of the Asia-Pacific region. Deforestation,resulting in 2276 Environ. Sci. Technol.. Vol. 27, No. 12, 1993
K A Z l F. J A L A l Asian Develapment Bank, 1099 Manila, Philippines erosion and the loss of biological diversity, stands out as the most critical issue. It is considered the single most serious environmentalproblem in Malaysia,Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines, the People's Republic of China (PRC), and India. Urban congestion and population are critical issues in the Philippines, Indonesia, PRC, Thailand, and India. Water resources problems-including water shortage, groundwater depletion, flooding,and water pollution--are critical in Bangladesh, Indonesia, Thailand, and India and are a moderate priority in the Philippines. Industrial pollution has become very serious in PRC and India and is an issue in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Thailand. Land and soil resource problems-including deforestation, salinization, soil erosion, and waterloggingcritical in India, Nepal, Pakistan, PRC, and the Philippines. Marine and coastal resource degradation are considered serious in Sri Lanka and the Pacific Islands; sea-level rise is a priority concern in Bangladesh and the Pacific Islands. Waste disposal is a major issue for developing counbies in the Pacific Islands as well as in PRC. Selected agencies' activities Several international agencies have undertaken initiatives and activities in support of sustainable developCongested street in Hong Kong
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ment efforts in the region. Although the main players are the governments, the contribution of international agencies is crucial to supplement national efforts to achieve the countries' expectations. International agencies involved in sustainable development include the UN agencies and bodies, the multilateral development banks (MDBs),and the regional and subregional intergovernmental environment progams. Among early UN efforts was the International Biological Program, which was initiated by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO] in the 1960s. Its central theme was biological productivity and human welfare. Other UN agencies such as the Food and Agriculture Organization, the World Health Organization, the World Meteorological Organization, and the International Atomic Energy Agency were also involved in programs dealing with environmental problems, although they were not necessarily classified as environmental programs at the time. In 1972, the UN Conference on the Human Environment held at Stockholm brought environmental problems to the forefront; as a direct result of that conference, the General Assembly established the UN Environment Programme (UNEP). Since then, UNEP has been the lead global agency in initiating and coordinating environmental actions implemented by various agencies and bodies within the UN family. Some of UNEP's major past activities include the accumulation of scientific information on the greenhouse effect: the promotion of worldwide interest in deforestation and marine pollution: assistance in the formulation of a plan to counter desertification and regional marine pollution: and the development and conclusion of the Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer, the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer, and regional conventions and protocols on coastal and marine environmental conservation. UNEP and the World Health Organization have collaborated for more than a decade through UNEP's global environmental monitoring systems, which monitor water and air quality worldwide. UNEP also initiated the Global Resources Information Database, located in the Asia-Pacific region, which involves a network of regional centers that assemble, process, and distribute Environ. Sci. Technol., Vol. 27. No. 12. 1993 2277
environmental databases on regional and global scales. The Regional Commissions of the UN system also started focusing their activities on environmentally sound economic and social development at an early stage. In 1973, the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) convened a meeting of representatives of countries and intergovernmental bodies active in environmental preservation i n t h e region; these representatives prepared the Asian plan of action on the human environment. To integrate environmental considerations into the Commission’s activities, the Environmental Coordinating Unit was created in the Secretariat with the assistance of UNEP in 1978. Environmental programs and work priorities are focused on four major elements: institutional and legislative aspects of environmental protection and management, promotion of environmental awareness, management of the terrestrial ecosystem, and the protection of marine and related ecosystems. Through ESCAP and the UN Development Programme, countrywide projects on deforestation and promotion of cooperation in training and research on desertification control were initiated under the Desertification Control in Asia and the Pacific Program. ESCAP also has assisted coastal and marine countries; promoted regional cooperation through its coastal environmental management plan; established a regional network of journalists, the Asian Forum of Environmental Journalists; assisted several countries in developing and strengthening environmental legislation and institutions; and organized two ministerial conferences, one for the Pacific in 1982 and the other for Asia in 1985, which strengthened the political will to cooperate on environmental matters; convened regional, subregional, and national workshops and seminars on the environment; and published technical guidelines and reports, including the well-known “State of the Environment Report on Asia and the Pacific” (1985, 1990). The UN Development Programme has also actively promoted sustainable development activities in the region, directly and through other international and UN agencies. More recently, the UN Development Programme’s role has been strengthened by the mandate it received from the United Nations Conference
on Environment and Development to undertake activities relating to Capacity 21, a program in support of Agenda 21 that assists countries to formulate policies and legislation and to build up indigenous capacity for sustainable development. Other UN agencies’ activities Other UN agencies and bodies that provide specialized sustainable-development assistance in the region include the United Nations Centre of Science and Technology, the United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund, UNESCO, the United Nations Industrial Development Organization, the International Labor Organization, the International Maritime Organization, the World Meteorological Organization, and the International Atomic Energy Agency. Another category of international agency active in environmental activities in the region is the MDBs. Since the early 1970s, the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank have attempted to deal with the environmental effects of their respective projects. In 1990, 10 institutions, including UNEP, the World Bank, and the Asian Development Bank, adopted environmental policies and procedures relating to economic development, thereby clarifying the necessity for environmentally sound development. The Secretariat is in the form of a committee called the Committee of International Development Institutions on the Environment. The MDBs have prepared guidelines to integrate environmental concerns at different stages of program and project planning and appraisal. At the regional level, MDBs have collaborated with other international and bilateral agencies as well as UN agencies in promoting sustainable development activities. The Asian Development Bank and the World Bank, the two major multilateral banks working in this region, have in the past five years made loans for environmental restoration and technical assistance projects and have adopted specific environmental procedures as integral components of their regional development activities. The Asian Development Bank is promoting national strategies that include environmental considerations in economic development and systematic environmental procedures for dealing with loan projects. The bank is also providing technical assistance to the developing countries for in-
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stitution building and increasing environmental awareness. The bank’s lending on environmental projects has reached about $1 billion-20% of its total lending operations. The bank also has provided $20 million of technical assistance for pollution control in the industrial and power sectors, biodiversity conservation, urban environment improvement, land and soil resource conservation, and marine and coastal resources management. Subregional programs such as the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Environment Programme, the South Asia Cooperative Environment Programme, and the South Pacific Regional Environment Programme are all intergovernmental (as opposed to agency or interagency) collaboration efforts to deal primarily with subregional transboundary environmental problems. At the regional level, such intergovernmental collaboration is facilitated mainly by ESCAP. Although all of these agencies undertake environmental activities in line with their specific mandates, their members realize that the region would benefit from interagency cooperation. Such cooperation provides not only a mechanism for sharing possible solutions to environmental problems, but also an opportunity to pool resources to achieve the goals of sustainable development. Thus, coordination mechanisms have been established to prioritize problems and implement environmental programs at subregional and regional levels. At the regional level, the Interagency Committee on Environment and Development in Asia and the Pacific was established in 1991 to ensure that there is a common voice among governments and international agencies in the region on environmental priorities. The Committee is a unique regional body whose primary task is to help coordinate environmental and sustainable development activities among some 20 international and intergovernmental agencies in the AsiaPacific region. It is expected to help international agencies promote SUStainable development through the exchange of information and ideas and, by avoiding duplication of efforts, make the best use of each agency’s limited financial and human resources. Future developments Each international agency in the region will continue to be involved
in envuonmenm unprovemeni activities. It is expected that the UN Development Programme will continue to be a prime mover in capacity and institution building of government agencies in their task of promoting sustainable development as well as sustainable development network activities. ESCAF’ will pursue technical and advisory activities as well as promote environmental media activities and convene larger regional, ministerial-level meetings on environmental collaboration. UNEP will provide overall direction in the management and conservation of the region‘s environmental resources. The Food and Agriculture Organization is expected to intensify its programs, focusing primarily on sustainable agriculture, rural development, and concern for land degradation and tropical forest conservation. The World Health Organization will undertake activities related to environmental health and sanitation. MDBs will increasingly assume as their primary task the channeling of financial resources and technical
suppon io environmenrai prolecis. MDB funding and technical assistance for environmental projects have increased several times in the past and are expected to continue to be a major source of support for environmental programs in the region. The various intergovernmental environment programs will continue to promote subregional cooperation among the governments on transboundary environmental problems and the development of appropriate legal instruments. Sustainable development measures The root cause of environmental problems in the Asia-Pacific region is poverty, which is caused in turn by a lack of development and by environmentally unsound development. Although the countries and international agencies are committed to promoting sustainable development, two measures are essential: Reduce poverty to resolve environmental problems associated with the lack of development, and intemate environmental considerations into development programs and
projects (see rigure IJ. international agencies together with governments will have a major role to play in both measures, particularly in the transfer of “green” technology, in increasing and strengthening human resources, and in channeling financial resources to environmental projects.
Kazi F. Idd is chief of the office of Environment far the Asia Development Bonk in Manila, the Philippines. He received a Ph.D. and M.S.degree in environmental sciences and engineering from Harvard University and a B.S. deeree in civil eneineerine from Dhakta Universityin BoGghdesi ‘
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