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The 4th Asia-Pacific NGO Environmental Conference

Singapore Declaration on Cooperation between Environmental NGOs of the Asia-Pacific Region


The Fourth Asia-Pacific NGO Environmental Conference in Singapore involved 90 participants from 15 countries of the Asia-Pacific region. Participants included NGO leaders, academics and experts in environment-related fields of science, humanities, education, policy, economics, etc. A diverse range of environmental issues was highlighted during the two-day meeting, some of them more serious than before due to the recent economic crisis faced by Asian countries. They include

- present status and future of the environment
- management approaches and strategies
- involvement of the public, government and research institutions
- national, regional and global problems
- sustainable development
- role of NGOs
- resource and energy uses, policies and measures
- global governance, CO2 emission, climate change and role of civil society
- coral reefs and marine environment protection
- forest conservation
- gender perspectives
- empowering local communities in management.

Participatory forest management is becoming one of the emerging agenda in Asian forest management because of the efficiency of sustainable forest management as well as improved quality of human life. Even in the countries where local peoples' participation is institutionalized through legal systems, there are some obstacles to be overcome in the process of implementation. In the other countries where people-oriented forest management systems are criticized to be defective, the legal systems to support and secure it should be developed as soon as possible.

The energy-climate problem could only be solved through participation of stakeholders. The stakeholders include people, community, businesses and government agencies at all levels-local, regional and global. Participatory action is key to ensuring efficient use of energy resources and long-term sustainability. In particular, two focal areas are increasing energy efficiency and promotion of renewable energy technologies. The interim objectives for achieving the ultimate goal could be to have appropriate climate-friendly institutional and financial mechanisms and policies to facilitate the process.

Marine resources continue to be heavily exploited due to market demands. Compounding the problem is degradation of marine habitats though unmanaged land-use practices and unsustainable use of the marine environment. Community-based participation is useful in areas where governing agencies lack management capacity. Integrated coastal management still requires to be widely adopted.

The participants of the conference, recognizing that there are vast differences throughout the region in

• public attitude to environmental protection
• governmental attitude to environmental management
• environmental management priorities
• levels of environmental awareness and education
• environmental management capacities
• the role of NGOs and their effectiveness
• positions in global environmental negotiations such as climate change and biodiversity but also recognizing the many common environmental and development issues and problems in the region such as
• the need for development to raise the standard of living of the poor in all our countries
• the need to maintain a clean and healthy environment
• the use of natural resources in a sustainable manner
• the direction of Agenda21, the agenda for sustainable development in the 21st century, as the basis of action for environmental protection and development
• the need for all countries in the Asia-Pacific to seriously implement Agenda 21 at all levels in their countries from national, provincial and local levels

hereby resolve that the Asia Environmental Council

• encourages all environmental NGOs take an active part in their respective countries in ensuring the implementation of National Agenda21
• seeks to ensure that efforts of national governments and international agencies to promote economic recovery do not compromise the pursuit of ecologically sustainable development
• continues to develop linkages with environmental NGOs in the Asia-Pacific region and to establish an extensive network
• strengthens its secretariat to perform an effective coordinating function for promoting information exchange and international cooperation among different countries
• commissions comparative studies on partnership arrangements between NGOs, government, academic community and the public, in order to identify workable models that can be adopted by other countries taking into account the different socio-economic settings
• facilitate joint projects between NGOs with a particular focus on trans boundary environmental issues
• facilitate the development of common Asia-Pacific positions for global negotiations such as the conventions on climate changes and biodiversity
• encourage appropriate policies and measures for climate-friendly resource uses such as energy, agriculture, transport, and technology development and cooperation, and also undertake joint demonstration projects
• create awareness that interim objectives for achieving the ultimate goal of increasing energy efficiency and promotion of renewable energy technologies is to have appropriate climate-friendly institutional and financial mechanisms and policies to facilitate the process

and further resolve that as individuals

• within our various organizations, we actively participate in this process of information exchange, cooperation and collaboration
• we support environmental management in the spirit of the 1992 Rio Declaration.

These resolutions should be reviewed at the Fifth Asia-Pacific NGO Environmental Conference to be held in New Delhi, 4-6 October 2000.