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US-AEP
assists in planning First Asia Pacific CP Roundtable.
John Butler, Director of US-AEP's Policy
and Framework Affairs, and Kevin McDonald, International Coordinator for the
National Pollution
Prevention Roundtable (NPPR), participated in the second planning
meeting for the First Asia Pacific Roundtable on Cleaner Production (APRCP),
to be held on November 12-14 in Bangkok, Thailand. Participants included the
Thai Government's Pollution Control Department, which is sponsoring the
regional event, the Thailand Environmental Institute, United Nations
Environment Program, United Nations Industrial Development Organization, and
the Asian Development Bank, among others. Based on the intensive planning
effort, the APRCP is shaping up to be an excellent forum to amplify several
key US-AEP priorities: cleaner technology initiatives in target industrial
sectors, incorporating environmental considerations into industrial
development policies, and voluntary business standards. The APRCP will also
highlight progress made within the region in creating country-level
pollution prevention roundtable organizations, and practical techniques for
advancing the roundtable development process.
Plans
underway to establish P2 roundtable in Malaysia.
Dena Weissbach, Director of
US-AEP/Malaysia, and Kevin McDonald, International Coordinator for the
National Pollution
Prevention Roundtable (NPPR), met with government and non-government
organizations, June 18-19, to discuss establishing a Malaysian Pollution
Prevention Roundtable organization. Weissbach and McDonald discussed
potential partnership opportunities with ENSEARCH, Malaysia's chief
non-governmental environmental management and research organization. It is
hoped that ENSEARCH will assist in forming a core group of senior
professionals from varied sectors to chart the direction and priorities of a
Malaysian Pollution Prevention Roundtable. Weissbach and McDonald also
received positive responses from the Department of the Environment and the
Malaysian Chamber of Commerce and Industry Association.
NGO-Business partnership promotes community participation in India.
Under a US-AEP
NGO-Business Environmental
Partnership grant EXNORA International is partnering with shop owners,
farmers, consumers, and government agencies to establish a solid waste
management program for Koyambedu, Asia's largest market complex in Chennai,
India. Over 2,600 shops, covering 300 acres, now generate 80 to 100 tons of
organic waste each day. Through this program, roughly one-third of the waste
will be recycled using biological processes, such as composting and
vermiculture. Vendors, community leaders, and volunteers are being trained
to properly collect, transport, and compost the waste. And farmers from
nearby villages are donating plots of land to be used as compost yards. This
EXNORA project is also supported by the Chennai Metropolitan Development
Authority, the government agency that developed the market complex. EXNORA
expects that these collective efforts will transform into a sustainable
partnership, one that will foster not only environmental improvement through
clean technology, but also socio-economic benefits such as employment,
skills development, and self-reliance. US-AEP's NGO-Business Environmental
Partnership is managed by The Asia
Foundation.
MD firm to
sign licensing agreement with Taiwanese company.
US-AEP awarded an
Environmental Technology
Fund grant to i3, Inc., sponsored by the Maryland Department of Business
and Economic Development, to finalize a partnership agreement with Technic
Automation Corporation (TAC) of Taiwan. The agreement will include the
provision of a manufacturing license, technical support, training for TAC's
engineers on the use of the full-size APS system, manufacturing drawings,
and case-by-case assistance. The APS technology is designed to continuously
purify acid plating solutions such as those in the hard chromium plating
industry. Companies that use this technology include job shops (metal
finishing companies) and captive shops (in-house chromium plating
operations). US-AEP's Environmental Technology Fund is implemented by the
National Association of State Development Agencies.
Sri Lankan
investor helps to uplift living standards.
Gamini Ramasinge, Chairman and Managing
Director of Malindu Timber (Pvt.), continues to support NAREPP/USAID's
Community Based Resource Management (CBRM) project in Dandeniya Watte, Sri
Lanka, by investing in clean technology for the production of bricks. Last
year, NAREPP/USAID identified Ramasinge as an investor who could provide
employment to villagers and materials for housing, while reducing the
severity of the pollution by using cleaner technologies. Ramasinge was
featured in Update (February 17, 1997) for participating in US-AEP's
Environmental Exchange Program and for purchasing U.S. clean technology for
the production of woodwaste boards. Brick making is a new investment for
Malindu Timber, who recently purchased a $6,000 machine for the production
of inter-locking bricks from Gridcore Systems International (Long Beach,
California). Gridcore's technology eliminates the burning process and use of
lime and reduces the percent of cement used in conventional brick making.
Farewell to
Mary Boomgard
Mary Boomgard leaves both US-AEP and the
USAID/Indonesia Rural Housing Urban Development Office much richer for her
four years of exemplary service and devotion. Mary started the Urban
Environmental Infrastructure program for US-AEP and proved to be the model
for how to develop partnerships and leverage resources to achieve a more
viable environmental infrastructure climate for water and sanitation
services. Given her high-level contacts, her technical background of
environmental issues, and her knowledge of the intricacies of project
finance and development, Mary's expertise was sought out on a variety of
issues outside of her primary assignment. We greatly appreciate Mary's
willingness to give of herself so that all US-AEP partners could benefit
from her knowledge and insight on Indonesian development needs and the
environmental marketplace. Since her hiring in September 1993, Mary has been
the mainstay of US-AEP's field activities and her work ethic and technical
knowledge brought laudable praise from her peers, businesses, and government
officials around Asia to USAID and US-AEP.
In the News
A new world survey compares the views of
27,000 people in 24 countries on environment-related health concerns,
whether the environment should be protected at the expense of the economy,
how well national governments and industry are doing on the issues, and
other matters. The survey, a collective effort of research firms in each
country and coordinated by Canada's Environmental Monitor Inc., compares
attitudes and beliefs towards the environment in 1992 and 1997 and predicts
environmental issues will quickly return to the top of the public agenda.
Results of the survey will be released at "Earth Summit+5", a special
session of the UN General Assembly (New York, June 23-27). Contact: Doug
Miller (416) 368-6092, E-mail: dmiller@synergistics.ca |
