News and Events

Twelfth Meeting of the Greater Mekong Subregion Working Group on Environment (WGE-12)

The Twelfth Meeting of the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) Working Group on Environment (WGE-12) was held in Bangkok, Thailand on 25-26 April 2006.

The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MONRE) of Thailand hosted the meeting in cooperation with the Asian Development Bank (ADB). Co-chairing the meeting were

• Dr. Monthip Sriratana Tabucanon, Deputy Permanent Secretary, MONRE
• Mr. Urooj Malik, Director, Agriculture, Environment and Natural Resources Division of ADB's Southeast Asia Department, and
• Mr. Surendra Shrestha, Regional Director, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

The WGE-12 meeting was divided into the Technical Session held on April 25, and the Formal Session held on April 26. The Technical Session saw presentations from the GMS Environment Operations Center, the GMS countries, and the CEP partners on planned and proposed activities which were extensively reviewed and discussed by the participants.

The Formal Session reviewed ongoing activities, specifically pertaining to Strategic Enviroment Framework Phase II, and tackled the status, endorsements, and outstanding issues of the CEP for year one. WGE-12 ended with a list of resolutions and items for immediate action.

Read the WGE-12 summary of proceedings [ PDF: 36kb | 8 pages ] and WGE-12 resolutions [ PDF: 11.2kb | 1 page ].

Related event: Inauguration of the GMS Environment Operations Center

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To review the progress of the GMS Core Environment Program (CEP), and discuss its key activities and budget for year 1.

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Participants at the WGE-12 Technical and Formal Sessions included delegations from Cambodia, the People's Republic of China, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Myanmar, Thailand, and Viet Nam.

Observers and resource persons from the Governments of the Netherlands and Sweden, ADB, Asian Institute of Technology, IUCN - The World Conservation Union, Institute for Global Environmental Strategies, Mae Fah Luang University (Thailand), Mekong River Commission, Stockholm Environment Institute, UNEP, United Nations Centre for Regional Development, United States Agency for International Development, US Environmental Protection Agency, and the World Wide Fund for Nature also attended.

Around 60 participants attended WGE-12.

Delegates from the GMS countries

Observers from development partner organizations

WGE-12 Co-chairpersons

Mr. Urooj Malik, ADB	Dr. Monthip Sritana Tabucanon, MONRE
Dr. Surendra Shrestha, UNEP