As you look around most of the big cities in Asia, including Manila, the environmental problems are impossible to ignore. Biologically dead rivers, mounting piles of garbage and smoke-filled air are common sights. The United States faced a similar dilemma at the height of its industrial growth, prompting the creation of strict environmental regulations and a corresponding environmental industry that provides environmental technology, equipment and services to meet those regulations. Billions of dollars have been spent cleaning up the pollution and upgrading existing factories to meet the standards. America is now in a position to share the lessons it has learned with Asia, so Asian countries can avoid these costs by "leap-frogging" to a cleaner, more efficient industrial base.

In 1992 the US government created a new program to do just that, called the United States-Asia Environmental Partnership (US-AEP). The program combines the resources of many government, private sector and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to address environmental problems in ten key Asian economies. US-AEP’s Philippine office has many programs in place to help American and Filipino firms pursue environmental projects and business relationships.

Assistance for U.S. and Philippine Firms
In 1993, US-AEP opened an office within the US Embassy Commercial Service in Makati. Under the direction of Commercial Service head Carmine D’Aloisio, the US-AEP office helps Philippine firms assess their needs to reduce water and air pollution and solid and hazardous waste, and then identifies US companies that can supply the answers. A database of over 2,200 U.S. firms interested in doing business in Asia is searched to match the request with the right credentials. Over 440 trade leads have been processed by this system, which have resulted in over $68 million in confirmed sales and improved environmental conditions in the Philippines.

What motivates Philippine firms to seek these environmental solutions? Although the enforcement of environmental regulations is rather weak here, some erring companies have been shut down by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR). DENR often publicizes the names of the companies it shuts down, and NGOs announce dubious awards for the dirtiest on Earth Day. Also, many of the innovative, first class firms realize that good environmental management is essential for producing good quality products, reducing production costs, and maintaining a "good corporate citizen" reputation. Many American multinationals play a leadership role by following the highest environment standards. They predict that enforcement of regulations will become stricter in the Philippines and other emerging markets as these economies become more developed, so it is better to anticipate this trend rather than play catch up later.

US-AEP also encourages environmental trade by bringing delegations of Philippine executives to trade shows and conferences to make contact with the suppliers of the latest environmental technologies and services. The director of the US-AEP office, Dr. Alma Madrazo, takes delegations of 30 to 40 people to three major trade shows each year, with resounding satisfaction and success, according to the delegates. In 1998, the Water Environment Federation held its first ever conference and trade show in Asia. The regional show, called WEFTEC Asia ’98, was held in Singapore in March and attracted more than 1,300 government officials and industry representatives from around the region and the world. WEFTEC ’98 will be held in Orlando, Florida on October 5-10, while Waste Expo will be held June 8-12 in Chicago, followed immediately by the Air and Waste Management Association’s Annual Convention on June 14-18 in San Diego.

These trade fairs give business professional access to cutting edge technologies, but only take place once a year and are limited to the number of people who can afford to travel. Therefore, US-AEP helped form two new professional associations in the Philippines, namely, local chapters of the Water Environment Federation, and the Air and Waste Management Association. Members of the local chapters receive technical publications and updates from the international group, conduct workshops and training programs for their members and attend the associations’ conferences in the U.S. and Asia.

Project Financing Key to Doing Business
Although the environmental problems in the country are numerous and urgent, solving them takes much more than a technical solution. Project development and financing are key ingredients needed to move from talk to action. Last year, US-AEP helped two of its US clients, Operations Management International (OMI) and Ecology and Environment, Inc., secure grants from the US Trade and Development Agency (TDA) to undertake detailed feasibility studies. With assistance from Commercial Counselor D’Aloisio, these grant agreements were signed during the APEC forum held here in 1996. OMI has since completed a study for a private sector water supply project in Cavite, which will provide a reliable water supply system to this rapidly industrializing province. Ecology and Environment’s study focused on reducing industrial air pollution throughout Metro Manila, where the air pollution levels in many areas are twice as high as the national standard. Both projects are quickly moving toward the investment and implementation stage.

US-AEP is placing special focus on water supply, wastewater and solid and hazardous waste management projects because of the huge need for this type of infrastructure in the Philippines and other Asian countries. The US-AEP office has an urban environmental infrastructure specialist who tracks upcoming projects and assists US firms and their Filipino partners in pursuing them and finding financing. The American Consulting Engineers Council (ACEC) is encouraging their 5,000 members to consider these project opportunities and build partnerships with Asian firms. Top officials from ACEC visited Manila in December 1997 to officially open their Asia Regional Office in the Thomas Jefferson Building. ACEC is currently negotiating a memorandum of agreement with the Consulting Engineers Council of the Philippines to enhance US-Philippine partnerships.

Transfer of Cutting-Edge Technology
Commercialization of cutting-edge environmental technologies is the key to sustained growth of the environmental industry and cost-effective solutions to the Philippine’s environmental problems. De La Salle University and the University of California at Hayward have joined forces to promote the transfer and commercialization of such technology through the newly established Philippine Institute for Environmental Technology and Sustainable Development. UC Hayward will work with other US partners, including Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, to promote two-way exchanges of faculty, students, scientist and environmental experts to promote technology exchanges and the development of environmental curricula. Training courses and conferences will also be offered for De La Salle students and working professionals in the Philippines. The partnership between the two universities was made possible through a grant from the State Environmental Initiative, which was created by US-AEP and the Council of State Governments to facilitate partnerships between the 50 US states and Asian countries.

Another initiative is underway to promote "clean" technologies in the agroindustry sector. US-AEP has recruited top food processing companies throughout Asia to join a high-profile Pan Pacific Agroindustry Council, a forum for highlighting best practices in pollution prevention and environmental management in the sector. The founders’ meeting was held May 17-19 in Orlando, Florida where the group discussed their objectives for the council and observed the innovative environmental technologies currently being used at Disney World.

Fostering Dialogue Among Stakeholders
Philippine companies that would like to know more about clean technologies specific to their sector have joined with other stakeholders to form the Philippine Pollution Prevention Roundtable (PPPR). Roundtable meetings also facilitate dialogue between government regulatory agencies (such as DENR), the private sector, and community groups regarding specific pollution problems and government regulations of concern to them. PPPR was formed after four Philippine professionals attended an annual meeting of the U.S. National Pollution Prevention Roundtable, which is working with US-AEP to encourage Asian countries to join the international pollution prevention network. PPPR held its first national roundtable on October 8, 1997 and plans to hold sector and region-specific roundtables in 1998.

Dialogue between industry, government and the community is essential for the country’s environmental problems to be solved. The Butuanon River, which runs through Mandaue City in Cebu, is heavily polluted with industrial wastewater, household sewage and solid waste. Given Cebu’s severe water shortage, the local government was very concerned about the state of the river and requested assistance from US-AEP. A technical expert from the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has been fielded by US-AEP to work with a multisectoral group in Mandaue to discuss the problem and various solutions and draft a management plan. The polluting industries located along the river have been especially involved in the project: they formed an industry association and pledged to install wastewater treatment facilities and other pollution prevention measures to reduce their organic discharges by as much as 95 percent, which will allow them to meet all of the DENR regulations.

To enhance the efforts of those active in the Butuanon River project, US-AEP organized an environmental exchange program in which local government, industry and NGO representatives met with their counterparts in the US to learn more about watershed management, wastewater treatment technologies and environmental policies and regulations. The delegation believes their exposure to successful projects in the U.S. will broaden their perspective and help them develop an effective and holistic approach to rehabilitate the Butuanon River watershed, the river itself, and the adjacent coastal area.

These efforts are part of a growing trend in the Philippines and throughout Asia to consider the environmental impacts of economic growth. By working together, U.S. and Philippine firms can help create cleaner, more efficient industries and transform the country into a "green" tiger.