Policies, Goals and Objectives


mechanism on the environment in North-East Asia. TEMM’s first action plan was implemented between 2010 and 2014 and a new 5 year action plan was adopted in 2015 with nine priority areas such as air quality improvement, conservation of water and marine environment, climate change response.. There has been discussion on international cooperation towards the expansion of green markets and promotion of the green economy and environmentally sustainable cities. TEMM has carried out capacity-building projects that include ecological conservation in northwestern China, a joint environmental education project, a tripartite environmental education network, and a freshwater pollution prevention project.


The area of resource use and efficiency was missing from the MDGs and many relevant agreements such as the Basel, Stockholm and Rotterdam Conventions and UNFCCC. A lagging policy response on improving resource use and efficiency at the global level is caused by a complex set of factors. Among others, Asia and the Pacific’s regional diversity is an important determinant because the bulk of production and consumption is concentrated in a handful of resource-hungry economies including Australia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Republic of Korea, Thailand and Viet Nam (UNEP 2013). Most of these countries have undertaken unilateral resource efficiency strategies and plans, for economic reasons, to minimize wastes and protect the environment within their territory.


Commitments to sustainable consumption and production in the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development’s Agenda 21 and the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation, and adoption of the 10-Year Framework of Programmes (10YFP) on sustainable consumption and production, can be considered a global recognition of the need for resource efficiency. Sustainable waste management, promotion of reduce, reuse and recycle (3Rs), adoption of sustainable lifestyles and a life-cycle approach are some of the policy tools being employed by various countries at different levels. In the aftermath of the 2008 economic crisis, pursuit of a green economy has become a spotlight of policy discussion and was a notable outcome of the Rio+20


United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development’s The Future We Want. Increasing regional integration such as ASEAN+3, TEMM, the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi- Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC), Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS), Pacific Islands Forum (PIF), Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO), and Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), can be used as formal mechanisms to strengthen the promotion of region-wide green integration.


In Asia and the Pacific, the green growth agenda is encouraging governments to shift unsustainable production and consumption patterns on to more sustainable pathways. These policies may appear in different forms, but in essence they signal a transformative change to reduce pressures on the environment and improve resource efficiency by promoting sustainable consumption and production, the 3Rs, sustainable energy for all, a low-carbon pathway, changing to low-impact lifestyles and leapfrogging to a circular economy. Examples that indicate shifting regional priorities towards a resource-efficient society include the 2010 Ministerial declaration on environment and development in Asia and the Pacific, the Sustainable 3R Goals for Asia and the Pacific for 2013–2023, the 2009 Manila Declaration on Green Industry in Asia, and the 2007 ASEAN Declaration on Environmental Sustainability.


A rapid transition from a traditional to a green economy requires all agreements to be respected and stronger policy instruments to be introduced. While the development of legal frameworks and international cooperation for improving resource efficiency in Asia and the Pacific are moving forward, challenges remain with respect to policy implementation and systems operation (IGES 2012). Resource efficiency aspects are conceptually well reflected in the national strategies of emerging economies such as Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand and Viet Nam, but concrete resource efficiency policies similar to those of China, Japan or the European Union (EU) Member States have not yet been developed (Aoki-Suzuki 2016). Green policies could provide incentives such as new market opportunities,


131


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84  |  Page 85  |  Page 86  |  Page 87  |  Page 88  |  Page 89  |  Page 90  |  Page 91  |  Page 92  |  Page 93  |  Page 94  |  Page 95  |  Page 96  |  Page 97  |  Page 98  |  Page 99  |  Page 100  |  Page 101  |  Page 102  |  Page 103  |  Page 104  |  Page 105  |  Page 106  |  Page 107  |  Page 108  |  Page 109  |  Page 110  |  Page 111  |  Page 112  |  Page 113  |  Page 114  |  Page 115  |  Page 116  |  Page 117  |  Page 118  |  Page 119  |  Page 120  |  Page 121  |  Page 122  |  Page 123  |  Page 124  |  Page 125  |  Page 126  |  Page 127  |  Page 128  |  Page 129  |  Page 130  |  Page 131  |  Page 132  |  Page 133  |  Page 134  |  Page 135  |  Page 136  |  Page 137  |  Page 138  |  Page 139  |  Page 140  |  Page 141  |  Page 142  |  Page 143  |  Page 144  |  Page 145  |  Page 146  |  Page 147  |  Page 148  |  Page 149  |  Page 150  |  Page 151  |  Page 152  |  Page 153  |  Page 154  |  Page 155  |  Page 156  |  Page 157  |  Page 158  |  Page 159  |  Page 160  |  Page 161  |  Page 162  |  Page 163  |  Page 164  |  Page 165  |  Page 166  |  Page 167  |  Page 168  |  Page 169  |  Page 170  |  Page 171  |  Page 172  |  Page 173  |  Page 174  |  Page 175  |  Page 176  |  Page 177  |  Page 178  |  Page 179  |  Page 180  |  Page 181  |  Page 182  |  Page 183  |  Page 184  |  Page 185  |  Page 186  |  Page 187  |  Page 188  |  Page 189  |  Page 190  |  Page 191  |  Page 192  |  Page 193  |  Page 194  |  Page 195  |  Page 196  |  Page 197  |  Page 198  |  Page 199  |  Page 200  |  Page 201  |  Page 202  |  Page 203  |  Page 204  |  Page 205  |  Page 206  |  Page 207  |  Page 208  |  Page 209  |  Page 210  |  Page 211  |  Page 212  |  Page 213  |  Page 214  |  Page 215  |  Page 216  |  Page 217  |  Page 218  |  Page 219  |  Page 220  |  Page 221  |  Page 222  |  Page 223  |  Page 224  |  Page 225  |  Page 226  |  Page 227