US-AEP supports partner organizations
that promote discussion of the policy issues and approaches that best
condition the prospects for environmental progress in Asia.
Conference:
Economic Recovery &
Environmentally Sustainable Industry in Asia: Compatible Goals? |
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Catalyzing an
International Policy Network
US-AEP efforts to catalyze a
network of organizations and individuals to address the challenges of
improving industrial environmental performance include a collaboration
with the Greening of Industry Network, based at Clark University in
the United States with a European programming base at Twente
University in the Netherlands. The Greening of Industry Network is an
international network of academics, businesses, NGOs, public interest,
labor, and government members from over fifty countries with a common
interest in developing industrial strategies that emphasize the goal
of sustainable development.
With its presence in North America and Europe firmly established,
the Network recognized the need to expand its presence in Asia. In
1997, the Network carefully surveyed more than 30 Asian policy
organizations with strong interests in the issues associated with
industrial transformation and a commitment to the policy challenges in
Asia. Subsequently, US-AEP sponsored the participation of policy
experts from research institutions, government agencies, and NGOs from
seven Asian countries at the Network's annual conference.
Chulalongkorn University in Thailand emerged as the most promising
base to elaborate and promote the Network�s transformation policy
agenda. Chulalongkorn is the oldest university in Thailand and
maintains an exceptional regional and international reputation. It
leads a government-supported national consortium of universities
working on environmental issues, including a collaboration with the
New Jersey Institute of Technology. Additionally, the University
supports major collaborations with U.S. universities in the areas of
business and engineering, including the Kellogg and Wharton business
schools, Universities of Michigan and Oklahoma, and Case Western
University.
This emerging partnership between the Greening of Industry Network
and Chulalongkorn University is expected to become fully operational
in 1998. A series of policy-oriented workshops in Asia supported by
US-AEP over the next year are among the partnership�s early
activities. |