Activities

REF 2004: "Sustainable Development and Environmental Governance: Implementing Access to Information, Public Participation, and Justice"

29-30 January, 2004, Bangkok

The second meeting of the Regional Environmental Forum focused on principles of access to information, public participation and justice in environmental governance. The conference will include an introductory workshop on implementation of Access priniciples, as well as a sharing of country experiences with The Access Initiative.

Click here for presentations and proceedings from REF 2004!

Please contact Ms. Somrudee Nicro at the Thailand Environment Institute (TEI) for more information.

REF Survey

In preparation for the 2002 Regional Environmental Forum (REF) for Mainland Southeast Asia, CICP, TEI, and WRI conducted a survey on perceptions of trends in the region's environmental governance. The 2002 REF survey, conducted from June to September 2002, was distributed to independent experts from the region's six countries - Cambodia, China, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam. In total, 30 experts were polled in the survey, which provided context for discussions in the 2002 REF.

REF Activities

The 2002 REF focused on developing a common framework for discussing trends in the region's environment, and on identifying priorities for improving management of the region's precious natural resources. The 2002 REF comprised four main activities:

• Presentation and discussion of environmental governance issues in a national context in each of the region's six countries;
• Discussion of three cross-cutting thematic issues:
  - i) environmental information and policy performance,
  - ii) multi-level decision-making and public participation, and
  - iii) transboundary issues and regional cooperation;
  
• Development of policy recommendations for national and regional policymakers;
• Discussion of the potential role of a regional civil society grouping in improving national and regional policymaking.

REF Products

• An introduction detailing the proceedings of the workshop;
• A consensus statement authored by 2002 REF participants;
• Six country papers detailing the state of environmental governance in each of the region's six countries, revised based on feedback from REF participants;