Three years in the making, the Environmental Center for Livestock Waste Management Center (ECLWM) at the National Pingtung University of Science & Technology (NPUST) in Taiwan held its grand opening December 7-9. The opening of the center coincided with the Third International Symposium on "Innovative Livestock Waste Management Technologies for Today and the Future." Top government officials from Taiwan, as well as international experts from industry and academia, attended the three-day symposium.

US-AEP Managing Director Dr. Randy Yamada collaborated with NPUST President Dr. Shan-Da Liu to establish ECLWM at the university, and helped to secure the support of consortia of U.S. universities and companies. US-AEP�s Environmental Exchange Program (EEP) played a large role in the creation of ECLWM, supporting exchanges for American university and company officials to travel to Taiwan, and for NPUST officials to travel to the U.S. to meet with potential partners. U.S. companies have donated equipment to create a demonstration facility at NPUST, and university professors have provided expertise for training courses.

In addition, an International Technical Advisory Committee (ITAC) was formed to provide recommendations on possible ECLWM activities. ITAC members include representatives from Hong Kong, Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan, Thailand, and the U.S. One of the first activities recommended by ITAC is a training course for a Malaysian delegation on swine waste management.

The establishment of ECLWM will help address the pressing problem of managing livestock waste in Asia and the United States in both an environmentally sound and cost-effective manner. Mr. Robert Strotman, chief of the Commercial Section of the American Institute in Taiwan and participant at the symposium, called ECLWM "one of the best examples of cooperation between government, industry, and academia." [EEP is administered by the Institute of International Education.]

In December, US-AEP provided the first disbursement of a $25,000 grant, administered by the International Resource Group, to a Thai nongovernmental organization (NGO) in support of the "Green Fleets" program. The Thai Environmental and Community Development Association, or "Magic Eyes," is working with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on reducing fuel consumption and emissions in private vehicle fleets in Bangkok. EPA is also working with the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration on their city vehicles.

The grant to Magic Eyes, a Thai NGO with 15 years of experience in environmental activities and promotional programs, will support the first phase of the Green Fleets project involving ten of Thailand�s leading corporations. Experts from EPA and successful Green Fleets programs in the U.S. will share their technologies and approaches with the participating corporations, not only in terms of air pollution reduction but also in reduction of costs. Later phases of the project will include creating a Green Fleets Manual and expanding the project nationally.

The workshop, held in Hanoi November 29 - December 1, was sponsored by the World Bank, the Vietnamese Ministry of Transportation, and the United States Environmental Protection Agency. Experts from around the world convened in Hanoi to discuss how their respective countries were able to phase out or initiate the process of phasing out leaded gasoline. These experts presented information on the adverse effects of lead on health and the environment and offered advice that will help Vietnam expedite its efforts in phasing out leaded gasoline.

The workshop was a follow-up to two prior US-AEP events: a study tour supported by US-AEP�s Environmental Exchange Program, which sent three Vietnamese delegates to Thailand to study Bangkok�s phaseout of leaded fuel; and a stakeholder meeting organized by US-AEP�s Office of Technology Cooperation in Hanoi. According to Dr. Tran Van Hoc, a participant on the EEP study tour to Bangkok, "Vietnam knows that it needs to phase out leaded gasoline, but it didn�t know how to do it or how long it would take. After participating in the EEP exchange, we were aiming to phase out leaded gasoline in six years, and after this workshop, we hope to achieve this a lot quicker."