SUSTAINABLE ENVIRONMENT KEY TO ECONOMIC GROWTH, POVERTY REDUCTION, SAYS FIRST ATLAS OF GREATER MEKONG SUBREGION

SUSTAINABLE ENVIRONMENT KEY TO ECONOMIC GROWTH, POVERTY REDUCTION,

SAYS FIRST ATLAS OF GREATER MEKONG SUBREGION

(Reissued as received.)

MANILA/BANGKOK, 19 April (UNEP) -- Environmental degradation remains one of the most pressing challenges in the countries sharing the Mekong River -- a region rich in resources but with a high poverty rate.  With wise stewardship of the environment and natural resources, the countries can ensure sustainable livelihoods for their people.

That is the message of the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) Atlas of the Environment, the first book of its kind celebrating the GMS, jointly published today by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

The Atlas provides comprehensive environmental information, the scarcity of which is a major constraint on sustainable development planning and decision-making in the subregion.  About 250 million people, most of them in rural areas, inhabit the five countries and one province of the subregion:  Cambodia, YunnanProvince of the People’s Republic of China, the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Myanmar, Thailand and Viet Nam.

Extensively illustrated by photographs, maps, remote-sensing images, tables, graphs and text, the Atlas showcases the wealth of the region’s natural resources -- including water, minerals, energy, wetlands, forestlands, biodiversity, protected areas, agriculture and fisheries -- and the efforts being made to tackle the region’s environmental problems.  It also discusses the relationship between the environment and the peoples of the GMS.

In recent decades, the environment, along with poverty, has moved to centre stage as a critical issue.  There is now wider realization that these concerns are closely related and that poverty reduction and environment protection are mutually supportive in the long run.

In the Foreword of the Atlas, ADB President Tadao Chino and UNEP Executive Director Klaus Toepfer note that:  “The Atlas clearly demonstrates how the countries of the subregion are bound by shared natural resources, the commonality of the challenges facing these countries, and the need for subregional cooperation in conserving the environment to enable them to pursue sustainable development goals.”

They also cite the commitment of the leaders of the GMS countries to this objective as shown in their 2002 Summit Declaration which said:  “We must and will better protect our environment.  We will take responsibility and leadership for the sustainable management of our natural and shared resources.”

The book forms part of a major effort to promote regional cooperation on the environment under the GMS Programme, which ADB has assisted since the Programme’s inception in 1992.

At a launch of the Atlas in Manila this morning, Mr. Chino called on all stakeholders in the GMS region to work hand in hand for the preservation of the environment for the benefit of future generations.  The ADB and UNEP are working closely with environmental issues and help provide for a sustainable future for the subregion.

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