Asia-Pacific environmental officials to discuss resource efficiency

The Ministry of Environment (MOE) and the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) jointly hold the ‘9th Policy Consultation Forum of the Seoul Initiative Network on Green Growth (SI Policy Forum)’ at Sheraton Seoul D Cube City Hotel, Korea from July 16 to July 18.

The forum to be held under the theme of ‘Resource Efficiency Improvement and Sustainable Development’ will draw about 100 participants such as environmental officials from 23 countries in the Asia-Pacific region including the Philippines and Cambodia and domestic experts from industries and academia.

The forum consists of five sessions, in which 20 speakers including environmental experts from home and abroad and representatives from international organizations will give presentations. The themes of each session are 1) resource efficiency policies in Asia-Pacific; 2) promotion of green industry for resource efficiency; 3) best practices of resource efficiency; 4) technology transfer demonstrating resource efficiency; and 5) review on pilot project of SI Network 2013.

In the fifth session, participants will introduce and share the results of a capacity-building project on asbestos damage management in Thailand, a research project on water quality improvement in farming areas in Fiji and a domestic waste separation and sorting project for sustainable waste management in Sri Lanka.

On the 18th, participants will go on a study tour to Mapo Resource Recovery Facility and Sudokwon Landfill Site to look around the operation status of Korea’s resource recovery facilities.

After adopted at the 5th Asia-Pacific Ministerial Conference on Environment and Development in 2005 as Korea proposed to disseminate green growth throughout the Asia-Pacific region, the SI Policy Forum has been annually held since 2006.

The SI network is mainly composed of 1) policy forum, 2) capacity building, 3) pilot project, and 4) network building among Asia-Pacific countries.

Jo Hee-song, Director of International Affairs Division of MOE noted that the forum will serve as a venue for introducing Korea’s resource circulation policies to Asia-Pacific countries and suggesting ways to raise resource efficiency and achieve sustainable growth