In the Greater Mekong Subregion, 200 million people in rural areas depend on their surrounding environment for food, water, energy, and income. Forests, wetlands, mangroves, farmlands, and other ecosystems account for between 20% and 55% of the subregion's wealth.
The Working Group on Environment (WGE) provides overall leadership and direction for the subregion's Core Environment Program.
These natural ecosystems – and the food, water, energy and other vital elements they provide – lie at the heart of the development of the Greater Mekong Subregion. How these natural resources are protected, managed, and enhanced will determine the long-term sustainability of its environment and economic development.
Overexploitation of natural resources, pollution, vulnerability to climate change, and ever-increasing natural disasters are threatening these ecosystems. In addition, environmental degradation is posing risks to sustained long-term growth, and could cost a whopping $55 billion in foregone services over the next 25 years if left unchecked.
Unless there is better planning and management, the subregion’s resource-intensive development approach could lead to food shortages, price shocks, health hazards, and environmental damage that impact thousands of families and put businesses at risk.
To address these issues, the six GMS countries are partnering to protect and enhance their natural capital through the GMS Core Environment Program with the vision of a poverty-free and ecologically rich subregion.
The program is administered by the Asian Development Bank and overseen by the GMS Working Group on the Environment, made up of representatives of the GMS environment ministries. The work is coordinated by the GMS Environment Operations Center, which is hosted by ADB’s Thailand Resident Mission.
With support from this program, countries in the Greater Mekong Subregion are working to meet the increasing demand for food, energy, water, and other natural resources, while at the same time ensuring that resources are available for future generations. This includes balancing rapid growth with sustainable practices, and protecting vital water resources, controlling floods, preserving biodiversity and critical ecosystems, and mitigating the impacts of urban expansion.
At the 5th GMS Environment Ministers' Meeting in Chiang Mai from 30 January to 1 February 2018, the ministers endorsed the Core Environment Program Strategic Framework and Action Plan 2018-2022.
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This joint statement was issued at the 3rd GMS Environment Ministers' Meeting on 28 July 2011 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
This is the summary of proceedings from 16th Semi-Annual Meeting of the Greater Mekong Subregion Working Group on Environment (WGE-AM 16) held on 25 June 2010, as well as the pre-WGE session on 24 June 2010, in Hanoi, Viet Nam.
MANILA, PHILIPPINES (13 December 2010) - The Asian Development Bank is supporting the governments of Cambodia, Lao People's Democratic Republic and Viet Nam in a community-driven initiative to conserve more than 1.9 million hectares of threatened forest land, home to over 170,000 mostly poor, ethnic minority people.
In his opening remarks, Dr. Tai welcomed all meeting participants to Ho Chi Minh City and began his address by bringing the meeting to the significance of each offer inputs to the strategic direction that the GMS Core Environment Program and Biodiversity Conservation Corridors Initiative is taking.
This is the meeting summary from the 4th Semi-Annual Meeting of the Greater Mekong Subregion Working Group on Environment (WGE-SAM 4) held in Bangkok, Thailand on 25 November 2009.
In this issue of the Journal of Greater Mekong Subregion Development Studies, we feature five articles that concern some of the more pressing issues of cooperation in the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) - trade facilitation and trade logistics, the trade impact of cross-border transport infrastructure, tourism corridor development, and biofuels and rural renewable energy. The diversity of the topics tackled in this volume reflects the multifaceted challenges of regional cooperation.
This is the summary of proceedings from the 14th Annual Meeting of the GMS Working Group on Environment (WGE AM14) held on 2 July 2008 in Luang Prabang, Lao PDR.
The Second GMS Environment Ministers Meeting (EMM-2) was held in Don Chan Palace Hotel in Vientiane, Lao PDR on 29 January 2008. The overall theme of the meeting was “Sustainable Natural Resource Use for Economic Competitiveness.”
The meeting took stock of achievements of the GMS Core Environment Program (CEP) since its inception last April 2006 and discussed emerging environment, conservation and poverty reduction issues such as climate change, global warming and their effects on socio-economic growth and development.
This joint statement was issued at the 2nd GMS Environment Ministers' Meeting on 29 January 2008 in Vientiane, Lao People’s Democratic Republic.
The GMS Working Group on Environment 2nd Semi-Annual Meeting (WGE SAM-2) was held on 28 November 2007 via videoconference at ADB resident missions in Cambodia, PRC, Lao PDR, Thailand, Viet Nam and ADB Headquarters as the host. WGE representatives from Myanmar extended their apologized for not being able to attend the meeting. The participants list is attached as Appendix 1. It was recognized that it was the first time videoconferencing was tried for a WGE meeting and some basic meeting rules were established to enable a smooth discussion.