That is the message of the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) Atlas of the Environment, the first book of its kind celebrating the GMS, jointly published today by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP).
Sustainable Environment Key to Economic Growth and Poverty Reduction, says First Atlas of the Greater Mekong Subregion
Manila, Bangkok, 19 April 2004 - Environmental degradation
remains one of the most pressing challenges in the countries sharing the Mekong
River - a region rich in resources but with a high poverty rate. With wise stewardship
of the environment and natural resources, the countries can ensure sustainable
livelihoods for their people.
That is the message of the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) Atlas of the Environment,
the first book of its kind celebrating the GMS, jointly published today by the
Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the United Nations Environmental Programme
(UNEP).
The Atlas provides comprehensive environmental information, the scarcity of which is a major constraint on sustainable development planning and decision-making in the subregion. About 250 million people, most of them in rural areas, inhabit the five countries and one province of the subregion: Cambodia, Yunnan Province of the People's Republic of China, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Myanmar, Thailand and Viet Nam.
Extensively illustrated by photographs, maps, remote sensing images, tables, graphs and text, the Atlas showcases the wealth of the region's natural resources - including water, minerals, energy, wetlands, forestlands, biodiversity, protected areas, agriculture and fisheries - and the efforts being made to tackle the region's environmental problems. It also discusses the relationship between the environment and the peoples of the GMS.
In recent decades, the environment, along with poverty, has moved to center stage as a critical issue. There is now wider realization that these concerns are closely related and that poverty reduction and environment protection are mutually supportive in the long run.
In the Foreword of the Atlas, ADB President Tadao Chino and UNEP Executive Director Klaus Toepfer note that, "The Atlas clearly demonstrates how the countries of the subregion are bound by shared natural resources, the commonality of the challenges facing these countries, and the need for subregional cooperation in conserving the environment to enable them to pursue sustainable development goals." They also cite the commitment of the Leaders of the GMS countries to this objective as shown in their 2002 Summit declaration which said: "We must and will better protect our environment. We will take responsibility and leadership for the sustainable management of our natural and shared resources."
The book forms part of a major effort to promote regional cooperation on the environment under the GMS Program, which ADB has assisted since the Program began in 1992.
At a launch of the Atlas in Manila this morning, Mr. Chino called on all stakeholders in the GMS region to work hand in hand for the preservation of the environment for the benefit of future generations. ADB and UNEP are working closely with environmental issues and help provide for a sustainable future for the subregion.
Notes to Editors
The Atlas shows the GMS's current population of a quarter of a billion is expected to grow to 290 million by 2015. Economic growth over the next two decades is likely to come from increases in manufacturing and services, rather than agriculture.
Thailand, the economic hub for the subregion, looks set to double its demand in natural resources in the next quarter century as a result of such growth and rising consumption levels. Although agriculture employs 50% of Thailand's people, it accounts for 9% of GDP. Agriculture is currently practiced on 21% of the subregion's land.
Increasing agricultural productivity needed to meet rising populations and consumption brings with it the specter of further wetland conversion and forest encroachment and further compounding of salinisation, water pollution from nutrients and increased soil toxicity from chemical use.
Given the increasingly limited income opportunities in rural areas, rural-urban migration is expected to increase markedly. Provision for 50% more people in urban areas will be needed in less than 15 years.
Water and air pollution in the GMS are localized but raise significant issues, with basic sewage and drainage systems not well maintained, and serious air, surface and groundwater pollution in major metropolitan areas, particularly disposal of industrial effluents and toxic and hazardous by-products of the growing industrial sector.
The contribution of inland fisheries to the economy and welfare has been grossly underestimated. The 55 million or so people in the Lower Mekong River Basin (about a third of the subregion's area) consume an average of 56.6 kg of fish per person per year. Despite poor regulation, over harvesting, and destructive fishing practices, fisheries yields have been stable or even increasing, but urgent safeguards need to be put in place.
Forty percent of the subregion is classified as forestland but current rates of exploitation are unsustainable and deforestation is a challenge across the region.
Effective conservation of rich biodiversity regions like the Annamite Range rainforests - situated along the border of Lao PDR and Viet Nam and the only place where new species of large mammals have been discovered in the past 50 years - may require the establishment of transboundary protected areas.
Initiatives to protect other significant areas of biodiversity include the designation of the Tonle Sap Biosphere Reserve - home to many of Cambodia's 500 species of freshwater fishes. There are now 550 protected areas in the subregion, of which 380 have biodiversity conservation as a major function.
The atlas documents cross-border environmental issues such as hydropower developments along the Mekong and its tributaries, canalization and other navigational improvements in the Upper Mekong, conflicting maritime claims to offshore fisheries resources, and illegal cross-border trade in timber, wildlife and rare and endangered species.
The atlas assessed country progress in meeting the Millennium Development Goals, and shows more needs to be done to meet the targets committed to by governments. It shows one in five people still live in poverty and large gaps between the haves and have-nots in each country.
The atlas can be ordered through www.adb.org/Publications
Bangkok-based reporters are invited to a launch of the atlas at 7 pm this evening at the Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand's clubhouse, Manyeeya Center Building Penthouse, 518/3 Ploenchit Road, Bangkok.
For further information, please contact:
UNEP: Tim Higham, Regional Information Officer, UNEP, Bangkok at higham@un.org,.
tel. no. +66-(0)2-2882127, mob + 66 (0)9- 1283803.
ADB: Tsukasa Maekawa, ADB Press Officer, Manila at tmaekawa@adb.org, tel.no. 63-917-6251351
UNEP News Release ROAP 2004/6
(Issued jointly with ADB)