Workshop Partner

Background

1. Presentations made at the workshop on Enabling Cleaner solutions – Industry and the Environment (Workshop partnered by Indian Environmental Association, Gujarat Pollution Control Board, United States Educational Foundation in India and Naroda Enviro Projects Limited)
2. Framework of deliberations at the International Conference with special reference to the thematic area: enabling cleaner solutions – industry and environment
   • Guiding Principles
   • Stakeholders relevant into industry-environment interface
   • Questions raised for enabling a focused discussion at the conference to generate appropriate feedback on elements of an action plan aimed at “education for a sustainable future” included the following.
     
3. Salient points with reference to the framework which emerged during the presentations and discussions at the seminar.
   
   • Papers presented on the 18th of January 2005
   • Papers presented on the 19th of January 2005
4. Inputs received from UNEP, Paris and the Wuppertal Institute, in response to the framework mailed.
   
   • Response from UNEP.
   • Response from Wuppertal Institute
     
5. Towards the international conference on ESF: The Second Indo-American Environmental Leadership Programme (IAELP) International Workshop on Waste Minimization – hazardous wastes

1. Presentations made at the workshop on Enabling Cleaner solutions – Industry and the Environment (Workshop partnered by Indian Environmental Association, Gujarat Pollution Control Board, United States Educational Foundation in India and Naroda Enviro Projects Limited)

18 January 2005

1. The horizon of preventive environmental management.
   Prof. Shyam R. Asolekar, IIT, Bombay and Dr. R. Gopichandran, CEE, Ahmedabad
2. People's right to know: enabling effective participation in environmental protection – industrial legal perspective. Dr. Gitanjali Gill, Campus Law School , University of Delhi
3. Strengthening partnerships between regulatory agencies, industry and the civil society.
   Prof. Manubhai Shah, Chairman Emeritus, CERC, Ahmedabad
4. Barriers faced by civil society in environmental action
   Prof. Bala Krishnamoorthy, Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies, Mumbai
5. The role of civil society in environmental protection
   Prof. Soli Arceiwala Charter President, Indian Environmental Association; Formerly, Chief, Environmental Health, WHO/UN S E Asia Region,
6. Capacity building for emission reduction and energy efficiency improvement: USAID interventions in India
   Mr. Smith Sreen, Environment Officer, USAID
7. Capacity building of communities to strengthen compliance
   Shri M.C. Mehta, Lawyer, New Delhi
8. Discussions on enabling mechanisms: Chairman Prof. Soli Arceiwala

19 January 2005

1. Rationalizing compliance through the regulatory framework
   Shri K.V. Bhanujan, IAS, presently Chairman, GPCB
2. Integrated Chemicals Management: an emerging framework
   Shri Atul Bagai, IAS, presently Coordinator, Regional Networking, Compliance Assistance Programme, UNEP ROAP, Bangkok
3. The roadmap for integrated environmental management
   Prof. Shyam R. Asolekar, IIT, Bombay and Dr. R. Gopichandran, CEE, Ahmedabad
4. Towards improving environmental performance of industry
   Shri Chandra Bhushan, Associated Director, Centre for Science and Environment, New Delhi
5. Capacity Building of Financial Institutions
   Dr. Sandip Ghosh, General Manager, NABARD, Ahmedabad
6. Capacity Building Opportunities with special reference to multilateral environmental agreements
   Shri Srinivas, Coordinator, Project Management Unit, Ozone Cell, New Delhi
7. Community participation in developmental initiatives
   National Hydroelectric Power Corporation, Madhya Pradesh
8. Discussions on the way forward with respect to capacity building of stakeholders in the industry-environment interface: Chairman Dr. Deepak Kantawala, Indian Environmental Association

2. Framework of deliberations at the International Conference with special reference to the thematic area: enabling cleaner solutions – industry and environment

•  Guiding principles

Deliberations on the

• means of improving access to information
• assessing preparedness of stakeholders to comprehend tools and techniques for implementation
• development of need based capacity building interventions

have to take into consideration the inter relatedness of environmental and economic imperatives at the local, regional and global levels.

Such aspects as the

• diversity and number of existing interventions
• lessons learnt from the above with reference to barriers to be addressed on a priority basis
• opportunities for evolving location and sector specific interventions have to also be integrated into the framework for action proposed.

An analysis of the unfinished agenda with reference to regulatory, fiscal and technological measures should provide the basis for defining preventive and improvement measures considering “information support and capacity building as two very important means of improving preparedness to act”. This framework obviously should employ a diagnostic approach aimed at enabling environmental action.

Some of the most important framework elements accordingly included:

• The vision statement and objectives proposed by the UNESCO implementation plan which highlights the role of strengthening awareness generation and improving understanding of the elements of sustainability.
• The Earth Charter emphasizes the significance of preventive action with implications in reducing externalities.
• Chapter 36 of Agenda 21 highlights training as a means of improving preparedness to act.
• The Millennium Development Goals integrates interventions at the policy and the programmatic levels for environmental sustainability with due emphasis on partnerships.
• The Key Action Themes of UNESCO duly recognizes the scope for synergizing environmental protection and production imperatives with the distinct focus on targeting preventive environmental practices.

A detailed analysis of some of the most important programmes / initiatives in progress aimed at capacity building of firm, financial institution and communities was carried out (Gopichandran et. al. 2005: Some important programmes on Information Support & Capacity Building of Industry, Regulatory Agencies, Financial Institution & the civil society on some elements of preventive environmental management: poster prepared for the international conference on ESF) nearly 50 such initiatives were identified, highlighting the need to significantly upscale such initiative covering a much wider range of sectors and locations.

•  Stakeholders relevant into industry-environment interface

  Small medium and large scale industry, the regulatory agency, financial institutions, representatives of the civil society, technology developers and suppliers, media, bilateral and multilateral institutions become the most important stakeholders in the specific context of the seminar. With reference to the framework indicated above, efforts were made to focus on the IEC strategies to ensure adequate participation from all the stakeholder groups. Participation in this context means the ability to

• make use of all relevant tools and techniques for gathering, interpreting, articulating and enabling environmental action.
• analyse gaps in information and strengthen means of generating and accessing relevant information to enable the development of need based approaches.

Questions raised for enabling a focused discussion at the conference to generate appropriate feedback on elements of an action plan aimed at “education for a sustainable future” included the following.

• What is the unfinished agenda in so far as awareness generation and capacity building of all the stakeholders mentioned are concerned vis-à-vis the need to arrest further deterioration of the environment, duly integrating the developmental agenda especially considering the interplay of several multilateral environmental agreements, local regulatory and community pressures ?
• What are the most important barriers, which have to be taken into account while developing the road map for awareness generation and capacity building of all the stakeholders?
• How can ‘stimulating transparency' be achieved when small and medium enterprise in particular are concerned about issues of transparency and losing out on market advantages?
• W hat are the predominant factors (growing pressure from the civil society to comply, product and process related compliance imperatives, trade parameters etc.) which industry cannot afford to overlook if it has to sustain production and respond with equal efficiency on environmental protection needs? 
• What are the specific cause -and -effects- correlates on which civil society can force compliance and move towards preventive environmental measures?
• Is it possible to capacity-build industries to realistically synergize industrial production and environmental protection?
• What are the mechanisms by which civil society can be adequately sensitized to such tools and techniques that enable participatory and effective environmental action tools and techniques which can be used by industry to not only benchmark but effectively move towards greater compliance regimes?
• What are the predominant tolls and techniques (from the legal perspective) which can be effectively used by the civil society to ensure that polluting firms / industry do not go scot-free and what are the barriers in capacity building of civil society?

3. Salient points with reference to the framework which emerged during the presentations and discussions at the seminar.

Papers presented on the 18 th of January 2005

  The first paper by Prof. Shyam Asolekar and Gopi emphasized the need to adopt a systematic approach in understanding ecosystem dynamics in a holistic manner. Natural systems and variations impacted by several interventions have to be understood comprehensively through systems approach.

• Without a systems approach, sustainability will not be possible. This understanding is critical for developing appropriate policy measures.
• It is important to institutionalize preventive environmental approaches for good governance considering the fact that preventive environmental management reflects a continuous application of integrative environmental strategies.
• Preventive environmental management is a process and not an event. Several skills and tools have to be employed by industry in particular, complemented by specific action by the other stakeholders. A synergy of the roles played by different stakeholders provides scope for a combination of tools.
• Considering the large unfinished environmental agenda with equal emphasis on end-of-pipe interventions and other preventive approaches, all the stakeholders have equal important roles to play.

The second paper presented by Dr. Gitanjali Gill was on the specific role public can play in complementing regulatory action, making use of legal tools. In this context it is important to educate people on the diversity of legal tools available and their applications.

• The right to know and access information is one of the basic principles of sustainable development.
• Agenda 21 and the Rio Declaration also highlight the right of access to information.
• Environmental norms are not self implementing. Public participation therefore has to be focused to complement implementation of laws to ensure compliance.
• One of the most important barriers is the lack of easy access to information from the government.
• The development and establishment of environmental laws in India in particular preceded the onset of public pressure, unlike the basis in western world.
• Information, knowledge based decision making, public advocacy and networking are four important elements of well guided environmental action.
• While the pollution control boards have the authority to verify the contents and performance of firms, the communities which live in the vicinity of the industry do not enjoy equal access to information. They are not aware of the industry which is being consented for establishment, the pollutants generated or the extent of damage they would suffer on account of the pollution.
• Right to life is also a right to healthy environment. It is therefore, important for people to know about the types of industries, pollutants and their impacts in order to engage in meaningful action. Under the present circumstances there are no means by which people will be able to verify information on compliance. Therefore, the right to environmental information has to be made more realistic by enabling access to information.
• Citizens also have the power to seek appropriate remedies.
• The only solace as of today is the public hearing process.
• It will be useful to draw lessons from the Emergency Planning and Community Right to Know Act of the USA .
• The Writs, the Civil Procedure Code and the Criminal Procedure Code enable action. The Writs incorporate the polluter pays principle and the precautionary principles in addition to the Public Trust Doctrine. People's Code are also gaining grounds in India . It is however, crucial to strengthen, community based interventions by creating awareness on the various legal tools and rights. In so far as legal education is concerned, it is important to run moot courts and mock trials.

The third presentation made by Mr. Manubhai Shah suggested

• It is important to take the opportunity of the present ongoing process of establishing the Right to Information Act in India to also introduce the Community Right to Know component.
• The Consumer Education Research Centre was engaged in providing information to the consumers on the performance of equipment with special reference to energy efficiency parameters claimed by the manufacturers. Rigorous analysis of parameters helped generate information by which it would be possible to verify the claims and according choose environmentally and economically sound products. This information therefore helped consumers exercise their right of choice through well informed understanding and provides an useful model of information support.
• In the context of the Hon'ble High Court of Gujarat through a suo moto initiative being engaged in rectifying the air environment of the city of Ahmedabad , the Association of auto rickshaw drivers of Ahmedabad played a very important role of sensitizing its members to not engage in such practices which pollute the atmosphere. This was a good example of stakeholder involvement on a specific techo-economic issue, highlighting the scope for sector specific interventions to guide cooperative action.
• Detail analysis of products with reference to the eco mark will also be undertaken soon to strengthen environmentally sound purchasing.

The fourth presentation by Prof. Arceivala highlighted four important barriers in the process of improving environmental action. They are (1) political interference in decision making processes, (2) populist policies and pricing, (3) poor implementation and (4) lack of awareness in the public on the scope for exerting appropriate pressure for remedial and preventive environmental action.

• The case of 800 advanced locality management activities in Mumbai speaks of well directive local action.
• A suitable mix of regulatory, fiscal, technical and scientific measures has to be evolved to tackle the problems right at the base and not at a superficial level.
• Community environment has to be guided by a process by which “reason for action” is clearly highlighted. People must see reason for action and on this basis, should be guided to take action.

Mr. Smith Sreen of the USAID made the fifth presentation on the significance of demonstration projects, capacity building of industry and financial institutions on quantification, avoidance of omissions, improving energy efficiency, technology substitution and the promotion of the use of non conventional and renewable resources. Examples of the projects carried out by USAID in India were discussed. The most important learning was the need to strengthen action by up scaling outreach and awareness generation activities.

Prof. Bala Krishnamoorthy pointed out that it is important to take note of the changing nature of relationships amongst the stakeholders.

• The emergence of preventive environmental management and the sustainability index frameworks signifies a strong public-private interface on which participatory action needs to be strengthened.
• Public governance and environmental governance are guided by exchange of information, on account of which awareness building on appropriate tools is the need of the hour. Corporate citizenship models, socially responsible investment and the triple bottom line frameworks emphasize responsible action on the part of industry. Complementary action from public will help strengthen is a suitable response.
• Environmental communication and mis-communication are two important aspects of appropriateness of information.
• Media have also played a very important role in India by rating environmentally-green companies thereby highlighting the domain of information relevant to the public, not only for purposes of awareness but also for engaging in participatory corrective action.

Shri M.C. Mehta emphasized the need for creating awareness amongst the citizens on their environmental rights and duties, enshrined in the Constitution. The most important aspect in this context is recognizing the right to live in a healthy environment.

• One of the fundamental duties of citizens is to also protect the environment. In order to fulfill this duty it is important to have necessary capabilities and information on the ill effects to be tackled. Information on these therefore is vital for engaging in meaningful environmental action. Considering the fact that citizens could engage in precautionary and evasive action to avoid unnecessary loss of life, it is important for them to not only know about such measures but also about the pollutants and contaminants which cause such dire impacts.
• Citizens are apparently not aware of their right to seek action from the government on enforcing compliance of polluting firms without necessarily seeking the help of courts.
• They should also know about the fact that judgments passed by the Courts also become laws. Understanding this aspect is expected to help strengthen action.

Papers presented on the 19 th of January 2005

The inaugural address was presented by Shri K V Bhanujan . His presentation very clearly defined the importance of improving preparedness of stakeholders to engage in preventive action; understand emerging trends in compliance, productivity and responding to the societal demands for mitigating pollution at source and capacity building of all stakeholders to make use of appropriate tools and techniques to mutually reinforce action. Credibility of the stakeholders is of paramount importance to ensure successful implementation of interventions.

He observed that the framework of sustainable development was to resolve the link between the environmental and developmental imperatives. Unclear understanding of the correlates appears to be responsible for the continued prevalence of an antagonism amongst the stakeholders. It is important to recognize the solutions are apparently available from several sources. It is important to understand these solutions and suitably adapt them for successful implementation at the local level. It is therefore equally important to educate all the stakeholders about the solution and the process of adaptation. Two of the best examples of successful public-private partnerships are the development and establishment of the common affluent treatment plants and the sanitary landfills for disposal of hazardous industrial wastes. While these initiatives by themselves are indicative of willingness for look for viable solutions, the need for improving their performance cannot be over emphasized. The most important aspect to be recognized in this context is the fact that pubic-private partnerships are evident in the end-of-pipe level of management and not at the preventative stage.

It cannot be disputed that the level of commitment of Industry to environmental protection deserves significant improvement and that the present level of commitment is not very satisfactory. Industry should therefore vow to reframe from polluting to the maximum extent possible and thereby diligently prevent pollution at source. This therefore calls for a very systematic analysis of barriers in compliance, followed by the development sector wise charters with respect to time frames and periodic reduction of risks. Such commitments have to mandated to strengthen compliance.

Business should look at profit, social responses and environmental protection in an integrated manner giving due importance to all the three aspects. Despite the fact that the level of awareness at the global level on the integrated nature of productivity and compliance is significantly high, the local industry does not appear to be fully prepared to understand the implications of becoming cleaner. In this context it is equally important to ask if the polluters are paying enough for mitigation.

Solution lies in participatory action, where every stakeholder plays her or his specific role clearly. “Educating the Educated” becomes a very important challenge in this context. The credibility of the players is of vital importance to ensure that the interventions are received properly. Capacity building to improve abilities to perform making use of relevant tools and techniques is of paramount importance.

The second presentation was made by Shri Atul Bagai of the UNEP, ROAP, Bangkok .

He pointed out that, judicial action has played a very important role in ensuring compliance with environmental norms even the recently emerging International chemicals management framework has emerged from consultations with Industry towards understanding the link between the production and consumption sectors. Preventive aspects appear to be the main stay of such emerging regimes.

Scientific evidences through discoveries have guided the development of policy, based on which environmental agreements have emerged at the global level. Significant contributions have also been made by environmental action at the local level, duly integrating the problems and opportunities for improvement relevant to the local context. It is however important to carefully analyse the implications of proposed interventions and avoid apparently conflicting implementation frameworks. This care is necessary to guide industry appropriately and in a timely manner to adopt suitable alternatives. A typical example in this context is the case of some alternatives which were considered relatively safer to the ozone layer but were later found to be contributing to global warming. In this context, the scope for education and capacity building of small and medium enterprises in particular on the use of alternatives becomes significantly large.

Parliamentarians and the political leaders, world over have a very important role to help generate rapid and favorable responses from the stakeholders, and adequately support policy making processes. Capacity building of parliamentarians to negotiate as part of deliberations at the regional and global levels is yet another very important area, which has to be addressed on a priority basis. This also calls for a systematic coordination of functions enabled by information exchange amongst the various ministries and decision making systems. Of particular relevance is the fact that several countries in South and South East Asia do not even have over arching environmental legislations as yet. It is equally important to strengthen infrastructure and use it well and optimally so at the national and regional level. This is to ensure that the stakeholders receive a well coordinated response on the alternatives and the way forward for strengthening participatory environmental action.

The third presentation was made by Dr. Shyam Asolekar of IIT, Mumbai . He commenced by highlighting the need to address the issue of developing appropriate mechanisms, making use of relevant tools and techniques on the basis of qualitative and quantitative assessment of relevant parameter in the process of transitioning to sustainability. The significance of capacity building of all the stakeholders cannot be overemphasized in this context.

Effectiveness of a regulatory program depends largely on the ability of the stakeholders to motivate and initiate action particularly employing the preventive environmental management framework. Effectiveness also depends on the necessity, implementability and enforceability of environmental standards.

A schematic of the roadmap for the implementation of an integrated preventive environmental management framework was presented very clearly highlighting the interrelatedness of several underlying principles and commitments within a constitutional framework. The process of development of strategies and programs including tools, techniques, capacities and interventions, recognition of significant obstacles and driver and mid term assessments for integrating learnings was presented; considering the need for evolving location- and systems- specific interventions.

Constitutional Basis
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The fourth presentation was made by Shri Chandra Bhushan, Associate Director, Centre for Science and Environment, New Delhi . The focus of his presentation was the need to develop hybrid interventions duly recognizing the fact that command and control regimes have to continue to be the main stay of governance. Economic tools including market based instruments can complement command and control regimes.

The two most important imperatives for industry in particular are the need to become remarkably more efficient in making use of resources (including water, other materials and energy), minimizing wastes and adopting preventative strategies; in addition to duly recognizing the need to acknowledge the demands of the rest of the society for a cleaner environment by diligently reducing externalities. Rising economic and social aspirations, trade imperatives and consumer demand, coupled with regulatory demand for compliance appeared to be some of the dominant drivers for change.

Some of the most important interventions to strengthen environmental action are

• Capacity building of regulators on emerging tools and techniques for effective assessments, monitoring and reporting,
• ensuring adequate transparency in function,
• reengineering civil society action to move from brash activism to knowledge based environmental action
• reforms in financial sector to tax environmental inefficiency and provide adequate support for becoming cleaner
• integrated policy and regulatory reforms guided by scientific research
• inspired leadership to guide action on the basis of credibility

The fifth presentation was made by Dr. Sandip Ghosh of the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development . He pointed the need for a harmonization of norms with respect to management of resources and impacts considering the fact these aspects are simultaneously in the domain of several ministries. Of equal importance is the need to recognize the time scale over which projects on the management of natural resources are implemented. Spatial and temporal correlates accordingly become relevant specially when local communities have a significant stake in sustaining interventions. It is important for financial institution to identify ways and means by which programmes on the management of natural resources are augmented through adequate capacity building of local communities and representatives of the civil society. Such a capacity building process will strengthen action at the local level.

The sixth presentation was made by National Hydroelectric Power Corporation, Madhya Pradesh. The principle focus of his presentation was the initiatives taken by the National Hydro Power Corporation on the significant allocation made by governmental projects on environmental management duly considering the socio-economic imperatives of communities influenced by the developmental projects.

The seventh presentation was made by Shri Srinivas, Coordinator, Project Management Unit, Ozone Cell, Government of India . He highlighted the need for the industry to recognize the fact that compliance is emerging as one of the most elements of multilateral environmental agreements. Funding played a very important role in enabling phase out of ozone depleting substances, particularly in the medium and large scale sectors while the small scale sector has not received due attention. Several emerging trade regimes tend to use environmental parameters as a barrier while multilateral environmental agreements tend to enable trade integrating the larger goals of development without compromising on the environmental imperatives, relevant at the local level. Resolving some of these mutually exclusive approaches appear to be a challenge. The most important challenge in this context is to bring small and medium enterprises under the purview of regulations without compromising on their production or environmental performance.

While cleaner production has been proposed as an integrated tool for improving production and environmental performance, several experiences have shown that cleaner production does not necessarily mean economic viability. Addressing the need for strengthening the identification, adaptation and capacity building for use of indigenous and locally relevant technological interventions becomes an important area for immediate attention. As a corollary to the above the price of technologies proposed for improvement of production and environmental protection from overseas becomes a barrier in transitioning to cleaner production regimes, specially under several technology transfer initiatives. It is therefore important to assess limitations of technologies, capacities to handle alternatives and evolve location and sector specific interventions. Most importantly unless the polluter-pays-principle is adequately strengthen and implemented uncompromisingly, it may not be possible to achieve success in environmental protection using the cleaner production intervention alone.

Some of the most important questions and opportunities for enabling an appropriate response to the demands of multilateral agreements and of local demands for a cleaner environment without compromising on production are:

How to make it economically more rewarding to become cleaner through suitable fiscal and regulatory measures?

Is it possible to comprehensively understand barriers and the preparedness of industry to technically relate itself to alternatives?

Cluster based approaches to partially offset costs in becoming cleaner may be an interesting option. Indigenous technologies and capabilities have to be given adequate attention. Eco-industrial development and intensive and extensive information sharing between the government, industry, research institution and the regulatory agencies are equally important means of integrating production and protection imperatives.

A detailed discussion on the information needs of the different stakeholders and the means of delivering the information followed these presentations. The discussion was coordinated by Dr. Deepak Kantawala of the Indian Environmental Association. The framework of needs and approaches which emerged has been presented in the following.

Plenary Results - “Enabling Cleaner Solutions : Industry and Environment”
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4. Inputs received from UNEP, Paris and the Wuppertal Institute, in response to the framework mailed.

  Response from UNEP

  Mr. Rajendra Shende of UNEP in his paper titled “Unfinished Agenda-Communication Challenges in SME Sectors for a Sustainable Future”, for the CEE International Conference, has pointed out that

1. The DESD has emerged after a decade of rude awakenings about the damages suffered by the earth over the past few years.
2. Appropriate tools and periodic capacity buildings to understand limitations of ecosystems and develop compatible interventions of scale and socio-cultural relevance have to be developed.
3. Cleaner production and preventive environmental management become very important means of transition to sustainability.
4. Protection of global commons through multilateral agreements also calls for systematic capacity building.
5. Some of the most important barriers to be overcome in improving preparedness to act include the lack of enabling legislation and policy framework, technical and financial assistance, apart from inadequate community approaches and partnerships.
6. Two of the most important action areas where UNEP and CEE could partner include

• i. Development of IEC strategies for SMEs to get on to the part of sustainable production.
• ii. Main stream financial institutions in communication programmes and their own capacity building on appropriate tools.

Response from Wuppertal Institute

Unfinished agenda with respect awareness generation and capacity building of SMEs includes

• Development of equivalents of management systems, environmental labels and assessment for SMEs
• Customization of tools at the regional and sectoral contexts
• Development of easily accessible information on effectiveness and efficiency of existing tools
• Billed civil society networks to come out tools of assessment, compliance and reporting.
• Adequate recognition of management initiatives taken by SMEs.
• Inadequate preparedness of financial institution to asses risks and opportunities
  

Towards the international conference on ESF: The Second Indo-American Environmental Leadership Programme (IAELP) International Workshop on Waste Minimization – hazardous wastes jointly organized by the United States Educational Foundation in India, New Delhi, Centre for Environment Education and Centre for Environmental Planning and Technology – 9 to 11 December 2004.

The International Workshop stated above helped gain insights on the information and capacity building needs of not only the Industry but also of the regulatory agencies and other decision makers in Governments of the South Asian region in particular. Technology suppliers and Financial Institutions were also identified as two other very important stakeholders, whose capacities also have to be significantly built to enable participatory action.

The Workshop focused particularly on the issue of management of hazardous wasted of Industry origin, considering the situation prevailing in India , Srilanka , Nepal , Bhutan , Bangladesh and Pakistan . The need to evolve mutually reinforcing regulatory and fiscal measures based on a comprehensive understanding of the barriers encountered in implementation was highlighted. Appropriate means of augmenting voluntary measures including due recognition of diligent measures and involving communities in monitoring and reporting, have to developed on a priority basis. This is to prevent any back sliding of initiatives a compilation of the presentations made at the workshop is presented.

Click here to view the concept paper that formed the basis for the workshop discussions...