Marked the closing of the UNEP-China Trust Fund project “South South Capacity Building for Ecosystem Management in the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS)”
Beijing, 29-30 September 2016- The high-level Workshop on Ecosystem Management Capacity Building for Lancang-Mekong Cooperation was co-organized by ASEAN Environment Cooperation Centre (CAEC) and UNEP- IEMP. The Workshop was attended by several high- level officials- including Ms ZHOU Guomei, Deputy Director General of Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP) China; Ms ZHANG Jieqing, the Deputy Director General of CAEC; Ms XU Hui, Director of Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) China, Dr LIU Jian, Director, UNEP-IEMP. The speakers appreciated the role played by Chinese leadership in steering the Lancang-Mekong cooperation.
During the Workshop, delegates discussed the strategic framework, priority areas, co-operation mechanisms for the Lancang-Mekong cooperation. The key highlights include:
- Acknowledged the importance of healthy and productive ecosystems for implementing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the region
- Supported the process being undertaken to strengthen ecosystem management, capacity building and mainstreaming of ecosystem conservation
- Focused on strengthening cooperation in areas of common interests through collaborative research and joint implementation of activities
- Expanded the ecosystem management platform/network for cooperation among Lancang-Mekong countries
- Enhanced political, legal, financial, technical/field experience to create enabling conditions to further regional collaboration
- Launched a centre that functions as an exchange platform of policy dialogue, training/environmental education, demonstrating successful pilot projects and promoting joint research
- Discussed that Lancang-Mekong countries should prioritize areas in creating green developmental incentive and assessment of capacities of countries to implement SDGs etc
The representatives who attended the workshop included: MEP, MFA, Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MONRE) of Lao PDR, Thailand and Vietnam, UN Environment, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) among others.
