AECEN UPDATE
Overview
• Background on AECEN
• 2008 AECEN Achievements
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Country Activities
Regional Activities
International Activities
AECEN Secretariat Support
• 2008 AECEN Forum Objectives
AECEN Mission
• Established in 2005
• Mission – To promote improved compliance with
environmental policies, laws and regulations through
the exchange of innovative policies and practices
AECEN Membership
• 12 Members
• 10 national agencies – People’s Republic of China, India,
Indonesia, Japan, Nepal, Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka,
Thailand, Vietnam
• 2 sub-national agencies – Laguna Lake Development
Authority of the Philippines, and West Bengal Pollution
Control Board of India
• West Bengal joined AECEN in 2008
• Other participating countries – Korea and Pakistan
Network Activities
• Rapid country program
assessments
• Country pilot and twinning
activities
• Regional forum
• Asian Justices Forum on the
Environment
• Targeted studies
• Regional capacity building
• Website
Regional Principles
• Promote effective compliance
and enforcement programs
• Reflect national experiences in
Asia and worldwide
• Provide framework for AECEN
activities
• Developed with member inputs
Pilot Projects – Objectives
• Projects address priority
challenges of member
agency
• Demonstrate best practices
with potential for regional
replication
• Build capacity in key program
areas
• Achieve measurable results
on the ground
Pilot Projects – 2008 Achievements
• Philippines and Thailand
Compliance Assistance Centers
o Expanded operations and reach of
virtual centers for pig farms and
slaughterhouses
o Establishing physical centers
• West Bengal Compliance
Assistance Center
o Established first center in India
targeting metal production industry
o Partnering with World Bank to build
infrastructure and capacity
Pilot Projects – 2008 Achievements
• Sri Lanka Wastewater Pollution
Charge Program
o Amended laws, developed
guidelines and completed capacity
assessment
o Targeting textile industry
• Vietnam Inspector Training
Program
• Established national training manual
to standardize inspections
• Planning national training initiative
Member-to-Member Twinning Program
• Twinning partnerships
o Focused technical exchange between two Members
o Collaborative engagement leads to measurable results in one or
both countries
o Small grants program with significant member cost share
• Launched at 2007 forum in Beijing
• Solicited grant proposals from Members
• Established 3 twinning partnerships
New Member Twinning Partnerships
• Japan – Thailand Partnership
o Natural resources damages policy and guidelines in Thailand
o Coordinated by Institute for Global Environmental Strategies
• Singapore – Indonesia Partnership
o Inspection and investigation capacity in Indonesia
o Coordinated by Indonesia Center for Environmental Law
• Philippines – Sri Lanka Partnership
o Wastewater pollution charge program capacity in Sri Lanka
o Technical exchanges with Laguna Lake Development Authority
Asian Justice Forum on the Environment
• Builds on Global Judges
Symposium convened at the
World Summit on Sustainable
Development in 2002
• Objective: strengthen human
and institutional capacity of
courts on the environment
• Key partners: UNEP, EEPSEA,
Vermont Law School
Asian Justice Forum – 2008 Achievements
• Philippines established 117 environmental courts
• Philippine Judicial Academy and US EPA trained
Philippine judges with new environmental law
curriculum
• AECEN and EEPSEA conducted regional training on
natural resources damages
• AECEN and UNEP organized roundtable on judicial
capacity building to set action agenda on capacity
building
New Targeted Studies
• Secretariat initiated 2 new studies to provide future
programming priorities in response to Member interests
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Institutional Capacity Benchmarking
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Strengthening Legal and Policy Frameworks for Addressing
Climate Change in Asia
• Developed with partner organizations
• Secretariat to present preliminary findings at forum to gain
member feedback
• Complete studies in 2009
Institutional Capacity Benchmarking
• Evaluate institutional capacity of
selected member agencies to
perform mandated compliance
and enforcement responsibilities
• Seek to establish regional
capacity benchmarks to support
agency resource requests
• Conducted member survey with
assistance from Vermont Law
School
• Present findings at AECEN forum
Climate Change and Enforcement
• Evaluate climate change law and
policy, as well as enforcement
• P.R. China, India, Indonesia,
Japan, Philippines and Thailand
• Identify country and regional
advances and gaps
• Cooperation between USAID,
UNEP and IGES
• Present findings at CAI-Asia BAQ
workshop and at AECEN forum
International Cooperation and Training
• AECEN members presented results at 8th
Conference of International Network for
Environmental Compliance and Enforcement
(INECE) in April, 2008
• AECEN members shared experience on capacity
challenges and benchmarking at OECD workshop in
September, 2008
• AECEN members presented findings from climate
change study at Clean Air Initiative-Asia Better Air
Quality conference in November, 2008
Knowledge Management
• Conducted member survey
on communications
• Upgraded website
capabilities with support from
ADB
• Enhance best Practices
Inventory with assistance
from ADB
• Solicit feedback from
members at AECEN forum
2008 Forum Objectives
• Share innovative approaches in Indonesia on strengthening
environmental compliance and enforcement
• Identify best practices for effective decentralization of
environmental compliance and enforcement
• Conduct focused workshops on priority topics
o Agency institutional capacity
o Natural resources damages assessment
o Climate change and enforcement
• Present progress on twinning initiatives
• Solicit Member feedback on activities and priorities
AECEN Partners
• United Stated Agency for International Development
• U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
• Asian Development Bank
• The World Bank
• United Nations Environment Programme
• Institute for Global Environmental Strategies
• Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development
• Vermont Law School
• Economy and Environment Program for Southeast Asia
• Clean Air Initiative for Asian Cities
• Asia Pacific Jurists Association
• International Network for Environmental Compliance and Enforcement
• Environmental Compliance and Enforcement Network for Accession
Thank you!