US-AEP�s Annual Meeting will take place this year from October 9-October 13 at the Radisson Barcelo Hotel, 2121 P Street, NW, Washington, DC. For detailed information, see our web site for members at https://www.usaep.org/inside 

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and US-AEP co-sponsored a Roundtable discussion at the Rocky Mountain Institute in Aspen, Colorado, September 13-15.

The roundtable brought together thirty policy professionals from North America to review the ADB�s draft Environmental Outlook 2000, including Peter Kimm, David Angel, Mike Rock, Vic Kimm, Lyuba Zarsky, and Owen Cylke. Our excellent representation reflects the growing collaboration between ADB and US-AEP, and our own framing exercise.

The sessions discussed industrial, urban, energy, and natural resource issues. Participants reached a consensus that the world�s environmental future will be determined by events in Asia. The ADB�s Environmental Outlook 2000 paints a bleak picture -- substantiating the US-AEP�s argument that nothing short of a �clean revolution� will be equal to the challenge. Of note was David Angel�s presentation on the integration of environmental policy into various agency agendas, a major focus of both the Environmental Outlook and Asia�s �clean revolution�.

US-AEP in Sri Lanka recently assisted the Ministry of Forestry and Environment in bringing together distinguished visitors to a workshop to discuss air quality monitoring programs and future activities.

Sponsored by UNDP, the main speaker was Dr. Ajith Kaduwela, Senior Scientist, Air Resource Board of the California Environmental Protection Agency (CalEPA). Workshop participants discussed the importance of eliminating leaded gasoline, as well as establishing a coordinating center for air quality at the Ministry of Forestry and Environment. In addition, Dr. Sumith Pilapitiya, Acting Director of the World Bank (WB), spoke about efforts to improve air quality using the WB's Environment Action Plan.

During a US-AEP sponsored tour to attend the Air and Waste Management 2000 conference, Dr. Kaduwela met with Mr. Priyantha Samarakkody, Team Leader (Air Quality Monitoring), Sri Lanka National Building Research Organization (NBRO). While in Sri Lanka, Dr. Kaduwela helped NBRO identify locations for 40 passive-air quality monitoring stations in the greater Colombo area.

US-AEP�s Environmental Exchange Program (EEP) continues to sponsor an active tour and activity schedule. Recently US-AEP/Hong Kong and EEP arranged meetings in the U.S. from September 7-15 for Lily Yam, Hong Kong Secretary of Environment and Food. Secretary Yam visited Sacramento, San Francisco, San Diego, Chicago, and Washington, DC to view environmental policy and political process in the U.S. She discussed waste management strategies and means to involve communities in environmental issues. The Secretary met with federal, regional, state, and local officials -- including USEPA, CalEPA, FDA, USDA, environmental NGOs, and the Department of State, and visited a number of solid waste and wastewater facilities. Speaking at a lunch in Washington DC, hosted by the US-China Business Council, she outlined the top environmental priorities for Hong Kong, including air pollution control, wastewater, and solid waste treatment. 

NOVO Environmental Technology Services, Pte. Ltd. consultants Ms. Lau Dee Dee and Ms. Lily Lien Cheng, visited the U.S. to meet with Arthur D. Little, Inc., Ecosense, Inc., and Green Seal, Inc. from September 9-16. The U.S. companies provide consulting and training services on environmental accounting. The exchange focused on the possibility of joint venturing between one of the companies and Singapore. During the exchange NOVO received the NGO community�s perspective on environmental accounting from the Tellus Institute and the Northeast Waste Management Officials' Association (NEWMOA), industry�s perspective from Polaroid Corp., and the federal government�s perspective from the USEPA. 

[The Environmental Exchange Program is administered by the Institute for International Education.]

The California-Philippine Agro-Fueled Distributed Power Generation Project, an SEI project administered by the Council of State Governments (CSG), hosted a two-day conference on "Public Policy Coordination On Biomass For Rural Development" in Lapu-Lapu City, Philippines on September 14-15. The meeting�s objective was to capture cross agency benefits for the Philippine rural sector by developing a coordinated policy on biomass. 

Representatives from seven Philippine government departments summarized their biomass policies and activities. A declaration recognizing the need for coordinated government policies on biomass utilization to increase agricultural productivity  and rural incomes, to enhance environmental quality, and to generate sustainable energy and materials use for rural communities was issued by participants.

Conference participants will also work towards a strategy for inter-agency collaboration on biomass focusing on R&D, an information clearinghouse, promotion, and finance. In addition, they established an Inter-Agency Core Group to discuss future activities and collaborative efforts based on the following initial action agenda: (1) to integrate the optimum use of biomass in existing programs and projects; (2) to jointly establish baseline information or a database on biomass; and (3) to share information and involve other sectors, especially the business sector, in activities of the Inter-Agency Core Group.

The Washington Policy Group will host a Policy Forum on Tuesday, October 10. Mr. C. Lawrence Greenwood, Jr., U.S. Senior Official for the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum (APEC), who is preparing for President Clinton�s participation in the 8th APEC Economic Leaders� meeting in Brunei Darussalam in November, will discuss �The U.S. Role in APEC 2000.� 

The October 10 Policy Forum will take place at the venue for US-AEP�s Annual Meeting: the Radisson Barcelo Hotel, 2121 P Street, NW, starting at 12:30 p.m. For more information, contact Brenda Bateman at (202) 835-0333, ext. 104 or bbateman@usaep.org.

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