Mekong leaders' new 10-year plan

December 23, 2011
THE NATION

As the Greater Mekong Sub-region (GMS) meeting was wrapped up on Tuesday in the Burmese capital of Naypyidaw, leaders pledged that they would jointly work toward a more integrated, prosperous and equitable region, while respecting the environment.

Leaders from the six GMS countries, China, Cambodia, Laos, Burma, Thailand and Vietnam, also endorsed a new 10-year Strategic Framework guiding economic cooperation in the sub-region.

While endorsing the new framework, the leaders agreed to focus more attention on the linkages across different sectors, notably between energy, agriculture, food security and the environment, and also recognised climate change not only as an environmental concern but also a broader development issue.

"Leaders from the Greater Mekong Sub-region are showing progress towards restructuring their economies to reflect the true role natural capital plays in underpinning their economies and the well-being of about 320 million people," Dr Geoffrey Blate, WWF Greater Mekong's senior adviser on Landscape Conservation, said. "The new framework signals a commitment to green the region's economies."

GMS leaders acknowledged that rapid development and growth have placed the region's diverse ecosystems increasingly at risk. Under the framework, GMS countries have agreed to work together to conserve biodiversity, restore ecosystems, and integrate conservation into development planning. The framework commits countries to control greenhouse-gas emissions and collaboratively address the impacts of climate change.

"Greater Mekong countries have affirmed that healthy economic growth goes hand in hand with healthy and productive ecosystems," Blate added. "By investing in biodiversity conservation and the maintenance of natural capital, the sub-region can expand options for economic growth and ensure long-term sustainability in the face of global environmental change, including climate change."

At the parallel GMS Business Summit, business leaders from the region discussed how to improve the region's competitiveness, and focused on ways to make regional transportation systems more efficient and securing support for small and medium enterprises.

At the business summit, Blate conveyed two important outcomes of the workshop on "Investing in Natural Capital", held in Vietnam last month, including an agreement on the need to develop a regional green economy vision to support the new framework, and the critical role of involving the private sector.

U Win Aung, president of Burma's Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry, said: "The GMS Business Forum and the wider business community have responsibilities to facilitate regional cooperation and to lead the transition to green economy in the sub-region."

GMS countries indicated that the framework has been designed to address global and regional challenges. The regional master plan, which will be crafted to implement the framework, will be oriented to address shared social and environmental concerns amongst the countries.

The Greater Mekong region is one of the most biologically diverse regions and around 80 per cent of the population depends on the capacity of healthy natural systems to sustain key ecosystem services such as clean water, food and fibre.