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Regional Cooperation on Environment Is Key to Sustainable Development in Mekong, Says First Atlas of GMS

Posted on: Monday, 12 April 2004, 06:00 CDT

MANILA, Philippines, April 12 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Rich in resources yet with high poverty incidence, the countries sharing the Mekong River must join forces to conserve the environment, pursue sustainable development, and improve their people's livelihood.

That is the message of the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) Atlas of the Environment, the first book of its kind celebrating the GMS, jointly published today by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP).

Extensively illustrated by photographs, detailed maps, remote sensing images, tables, and graphs, the Atlas showcases the wealth of the region's natural resources and the efforts being made to tackle the region's environmental problems.

The Atlas champions the environment-the rivers great and small that define the bountiful watersheds and deltas filled with forests and wetlands that support the subregion's great biodiversity. It highlights the subregion's dependence on renewable natural resources to provide sustenance to the rural population, while providing for exports of fish, rice, and timber. The Atlas also celebrates the people of the GMS, and their great cities. It reminds us that the GMS's indigenous peoples and local communities are important in maintaining biological diversity and preserving indigenous knowledge systems.

"The Atlas clearly demonstrates how the countries of the subregion are bound by shared natural resources, the commonality of the challenges facing these countries, and the need for subregional cooperation in conserving the environment to enable them to pursue sustainable development goals," write ADB President Tadao Chino and UNEP Executive Director Klaus Toepfer in the Foreword.

The book forms part of a major effort to promote regional cooperation on the environment under the GMS Program, which has been assisted by ADB since its initiation in 1992. The GMS covers Cambodia, Yunnan Province of the People's Republic of China, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Myanmar, Thailand, and Viet Nam.

Nearly 55 million people -- one fifth of the combined population of the region -- still live in poverty. Despite the abundance of natural resources, the GMS economies are among the least developed in the world.

"It is the poor, with their limited assets and greater dependence on common property resources, who suffer first when the natural environment is degraded. In places where the environment has deteriorated, their livelihoods and future opportunities have been undermined," the Atlas says.

Natural resources provide both income and subsistence to many, the Atlas points out. It examines the environment and available natural resources such as water, minerals, energy, wetlands, forestlands, biodiversity, protected areas, agriculture and fisheries. In addition, it discusses the interaction between the environment and the GMS people.

Remote sensing images from satellite of mountains, forest, river, wetland, and marine ecosystems in the subregion offer an insight into the challenges facing biodiversity and planning for protection. Using a range of colors, the images, for instance, shows deforestation taking place near rivers and the effects of agricultural expansion, both through shifting cultivation and plantation development.

The Atlas refers to practices that have a negative impact on the region's vast resources. It argues that the unsustainable land use and harvesting practices are taking their toll on the region's abundant resources. Fisheries are being heavily exploited, while wetlands are being converted to agricultural land or extensive shrimp faming. This is leading to the disappearance of indigenous species of plants and animals. Environmentally unsound harvesting practices and the export of timber and wildlife have had a significant impact of the subregion's biodiversity.

Opportunities for expansion of cropland are limited, as new areas of good arable land are scarce because of high population densities in some GMS countries or because of hilly and mountainous terrain unsuitable for agriculture. Meanwhile, forests have been degraded or destroyed over extensive areas in some parts of the subregion. Yet abundant energy resources are still underused.

The region has also suffered its share of urban and industrial pollution. Poor sanitation due to inadequate sewage and solid waste management affects water quality in adjacent water bodies, which leads to contamination of ground water. The basic sewage and drainage systems in many of the subregion's larger urban areas have also not been well maintained, according to the Atlas.

Notwithstanding these environmental problems and disturbing trends in exploitation of natural resources, it is not too late. Opportunities abound, and with wise stewardship of their environment and natural resources, the GMS countries will continue to provide sustenance and sustainable livelihoods for their people. ADB is working with the GMS Program, Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the Mekong River Commission, UNEP, World Bank, our bilateral development partners and civil society to address these environmental issues and help provide for a sustainable future for the subregion.

President Chino and Executive Director Toepfer note that the GMS leaders have resolved to take stronger action to work toward sustainable development. He cites the joint declaration of the GMS Leaders, adopted in 2002 at their first Summit, marking the first decade of cooperation under the GMS Program, says: "We must and will better protect our environment. We will take responsibility and leadership for the sustainable management of our natural and shared resources."

The Asian Development Bank is dedicated to reducing poverty in the Asia and Pacific region through pro-poor sustainable economic growth, social development, and good governance. Established in 1966, it is owned by 63 members -- 45 from the region. In 2003, it approved loans and technical assistance amounting to US$6.1 billion and US$177 million, respectively.

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