• NGO workshop examines business collaboration efforts.
• Ambassador witnesses MOA for rehabilitation of Butuanon River.
• Technology Fund generates $333 million in sales.
• Michigan firm introduces pollution prevention technology in India.
• EPA helps to strengthen BAPEDAL and its regional offices.
• WEF holds regional information exchange meeting in Manila.
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Twenty-nine nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) from nine Asian countries gathered in Jakarta, Indonesia, March 4-5, to discuss the interim results of their NGO-Business Environmental Partnership incentive grant activities, a program sponsored by US- AEP and implemented by The Asia Foundation (TAF). The group discussed the value of working collaboratively with businesses and the industrial sector to improve industrial efficiency and the environment and to increase their knowledge of Clean Technology and Environmental Management (CTEM). The participants, including some business partners, commented on the importance of cross-country networking, sharing experiences and ideas for replication of the grant activities in other industries and countries, and building NGO capacity to influence policy favoring cleaner business. While preparing for the second round of concept papers to be submitted to US-AEP this spring, TAF will follow-up recommendations of the mid-term workshop, including dissemination of NGO- Business case studies for grantees to replicate and use to seek outside funding for CTEM and NGO-Business activities.

On March 8, 1997, U.S. Ambassador to the Philippines, Thomas C. Hubbard, was the guest speaker and witness to the signing of a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) for the rehabilitation of the Butuanon River Watershed. The MOA was signed by the Butuanon River Watershed Management Board and the Butuanon River Industrial Community, which is composed of 35 companies operating near the waterway. The signing ceremony at the Montebello Hotel in Cebu City, was attended by Mr. Rhett Pelaez, Presidential Assistant for the Visayas, Congresswoman Nerissa Soon Ruiz, Mayor Alvin Garcia of Cebu City, and several local political officials. The Ambassador praised the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which, through US-AEP's Environmental Action program assisted in river sampling and industrial inspection, training of government and industry staff in these techniques, and preparation of a plan to restore and manage the watershed.

The Environmental Technology Fund, in operation since 1992 and implemented by the National Association of State Development Agencies (NASDA), has facilitated $333 million confirmed environmental technology sales. To date, NASDA has awarded 211 grants to organizations in 46 states that have sponsored trade missions and demonstration projects in Asia for over 300 U.S. environmental firms. NASDA also manages US-AEP's Overseas Program Fund (OPF), a mechanism for reverse trade missions (bringing Asian decision makers to the United States for one-on-one meetings and site tours), multiple U.S. company missions to Asia to attend conferences, meetings or site tours, and single U.S. company missions to Asia when a demand or buyer is clearly identified. Since the commencement of the fund in January 1994, NASDA has sponsored 49 OPF projects involving 489 U.S. companies and 644 Asian delegates. A recent written survey of these U.S. companies and Asian delegates confirms the sale of more than $1.9 million, with more confirmed sales anticipated as the percentage of respondents rises.

Marine Pollution Control Corporation (MPC), sponsored by the Spill Control Association of America, received a US-AEP Environmental Technology Fund grant to demonstrate in India its high capacity pumping systems, oil absorbant materials, and chemical products that remedy oil and chemical spills. Pumping systems that MPC will exhibit this year include its hydraulic submersible pump which can handle 1,500 to 3,000 gallons per minute for both low and high density liquids, and its US-patented KMA 333 stainless steel submersible pump. US-AEP's Environmental Technology Fund is managed by the National Association of State Development Agencies (NASDA).

During a recent trip to Indonesia, Mark Kasman and Orlando Gonzalez of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) met with BAPEDAL officials to formulate technical assistance projects and training curricula in line with US-AEP's Environmental Action program. Based on discussions with Mr. Sapta, Director of Human Resources Management and Institution Development, US-AEP will fund four environmental management training modules: Principles of Environmental Compliance and Enforcement; Principles of Environmental Policy; Risk Assessment; and Managing an Environmental Organization. The EPA team was also asked by Nabiel Makarim, BAPEDAL Deputy Minister, to develop technical assistance programs for the organization's new regional offices. Vicki MacDonald, US-AEP/USAID Indonesia, accompanied the EPA team as it met with provincial and local environmental representatives in each region. Sister-region relationships were established between EPA and BAPEDAL regional offices as a result of these meetings. EPA regional office in Boston was paired with Pekanbaru, Riau; San Francisco with Denpasar, Bali; and Seattle with Jakarta-Surabaya, Java.

A series of seminars on water and wastewater management, sponsored jointly by US-AEP and the Water Environment Federation (WEF), were held in Manila, Philippines, on March 5-8, 1997, as part of the WEF Asia/Pacific Regional Information Exchange Meeting. WEF President-Elect C. Dale Jacobson facilitated the meeting with Marsha Shutty, Manager of International Development. The highlight of the regional gathering was a technical seminar, 'Alternative Approaches to Wastewater Management,' organized by US-AEP/ Philippines and theWater Environment Association of the Philippines (WEAP), a member organization of WEF. Public- and private- sector environmental experts from the U.S., India, Thailand, Australia, New Zealand, and the Philippines spoke at the seminar, which was attended by 77 participants representing local industries and multinationals.