National Case Studies of Environmental Reporting in Asia and the Pacific

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National Case Studies of Environmental Reporting
in Asia and the Pacific

• Angkana Rawichutiwan
• Thailand Environment Institute (TEI)
• 9 September 2008

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Outline

• Regional overview
• National case studies
• China
• Thailand
• Pakistan

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Regional Overview

• Environmental assessment in Asia and the Pacific.
• National state of environment (SoE) reporting
  process in 11 countries China, Japan, Thailand,
  Vietnam, Pakistan, Bhutan, Kazakhstan,
  Turkmenistan, Australia, New Zealand, and Samoa.
  

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Key areas

• The legal basis and historical background
• The scope, content, and conceptual framework
• The uses and constraints of SoE reporting in
  public communication and policy making

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Regional Overview

• The diversity of the result reflects
• the institutional agreements within the
  countries
• the difference in legislative or policy
  requirements and
• the various constraints each country faces

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1. Assessment and reporting frameworks

• Legal basis
• Required by national environmental legislation
  China, Japan, Thailand, Vietnam, Pakistan,
  Bhutan, and Australia
• General obligation Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, and
  Samoa
• No specific legislation New Zealand
• The 1998 Aarhus Convention parties Kazakhstan
  and Turkmenistan

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1. Assessment and reporting frameworks (cont.)

• History of reporting
• Japan 1972
• Australia 1986
• Most countries 1990s
• Frequency of reporting
• Every 5 years Australia and New Zealand
• Every year China, Japan, Thailand, and Vietnam
• One report Pakistan (in 2005)

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2. Coverage and dissemination

• Thematic and issue-based reporting
• Theme-based China, Pakistan, Bhutan, Kazakhstan,
  Turkmenistan, Australia, and New Zealand.
• Issue-based Japan
• Both Thailand, Vietnam, and Samoa.

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2. Coverage and dissemination (cont.)

• Conceptual frameworks and indicators
• Pressure-State-Response (PSR) framework.
• Driver-Pressure-State-Impact-Response (DPSIR)
  framework.
• No explicit framework or adapted framework.
• Language
• Dissemination

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3. Uses

• SoE reports do not contain any recommendations
  China, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, and New Zealand.
• SoE reports contain recommendations Thailand,
  Vietnam, Pakistan, Bhutan, Australia, and Samoa.

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4. Constraints

• In preparing the reports
• Financial and technical weakness.
• A lack of accurate, national consistent
  environmental data.
• A lack of an agreed set of national environmental
  indicators.
• Limited human and financial resources.

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4. Constraints (cont.)

• In response to the recommendations and findings
• Inconsistencies in environmental laws and
  application
• Weak monitoring and enforcement
• A lack of proper economic incentives
• The integration of environmental concerns into
  wider sectoral policies is incomplete.

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The examples of national case studies of
environmental reporting

• 1. China
• 2. Thailand
• 3. Pakistan

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China (Northeast Asia)

• Assessment and reporting framework
• Article 11 of Chinas Environmental Protection
  Law.
• Since 1991, the Ministry of Environmental
  Protection (MEP) has published SoE reports
  yearly.
• SoE reports are structured on the
  Stress-Status-Response conceptual framework and
  are available on the internet.

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China (cont.)

• 2. Findings and recommendations
• Chinas SoE report of 2006, released in 2007.
• The overall environmental quality has remained
  stable.
• The report does not contain any recommendations.

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China (cont.)

• 3. Policy responses
• Limited use as a decision-making tools.
• 4. Constraints
• Responsibilities for data collection, management,
  and dissemination are scattered.
• The level of integration of different information
  sources is still weak.

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Thailand (Southeast Asia)

• Assessment and reporting framework
• It is required by environmental legislation that
  SoE report be submitted at least once a year.
• SoE reports are theme-based and structured on
  Pressure-State-Response framework.
• The reports are available on the internet.

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Thailand (cont.)

• 2. Findings and recommendations
• SoE report of 2006 states overall decline in
  Thailands environment and makes numerous
  recommendations.
• 3. Policy responses
• Framed by the National Environmental Quality
  Management Plan (EQMP) for 2007 2011.

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Thailand (cont.)

• 4. Constraints
• A lack of financial and technical capacity in
  data organizing, processing, and reporting.
• A lack of continuity and clear goals in
  government policies.

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Pakistan (South Asia)

• 1. Assessment and reporting framework
• An annual national SoE report is required to be
  prepared and published by the 1997 Pakistan
  Environmental Protection Act.
• Only one SoE report is produced in 2005 due to
  resource constraints.
• The report is theme-based and structured on the
  Pressure-State-Impact-Response (PSIR) framework.

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Pakistan (cont.)

• 2. Findings and recommendations
• SoE report of 2005 identifies key environmental
  issues of concern water quality and
  availability and air quality.
• The report makes a series of recommendations
  focusing on the resource, capacity, and knowledge
  constraints.

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Pakistan (cont.)

• 3. Policy responses
• Framed by the National Environmental Policy (NEP)
  for 2005-2015.
• 4. Constraints
• Gaps in institutional design the regulatory
  framework and incentives and accountability.
• Capacity limitations.

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Thank you