Environment ministers from the six Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) countries agreed that natural capital assets, such as forests and farmlands, are the basis for sustainable development in the region, at the close of the Fourth GMS Environment Ministers' Meeting (EMM4).
They also called for timely and effective investment in the protection and enhancement of these assets.
29 January 2015: Environment ministers from the six Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) countries agreed that natural capital assets, such as forests and farmlands, are the basis for sustainable development in the region, at the close of the Fourth GMS Environment Ministers’ Meeting (EMM4). They also called for timely and effective investment in the protection and enhancement of these assets.
EMM4, which took place on 29 January 2015, in Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar, also called for strong partnerships to raise awareness of natural assets, and highlighted the need to ensure that sustainability considerations inform policy and planning in the six GMS countries – Cambodia, the Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Lao PDR), Myanmar, China, Thailand and Viet Nam.
The GMS Environment Ministers’ Meeting takes place every three years, serving to direct investments made under the Asian Development Bank (ADB) GMS Economic Cooperation Programme. The meeting was preceded by several events on 27-28 January, including a natural capital forum, biodiversity landscapes forum, and a youth environment meeting.
EMM4 was organized on the theme ‘Increasing Investments in Natural Capital in the GMS,’ with the aim of promoting a green, inclusive and balanced economy. The ADB administers a pipeline of sub-regional projects of an estimated US$30 billion value.
A meeting document prepared for EMM4, ‘Investing in Natural Capital for a Sustainable Future in the Greater Mekong Subregion,’ noted that current development approaches in the GMS have led to large-scale degradation of natural capital in the region. The authors report examples including moderate to severe damage to 47% of available grazing land in Yunnan, China, and the loss of all but two percent of natural inland wetlands in the Mekong Delta. They recommend several measures to arrest degradation and restore natural capital, including: supporting the development of legal and institutional systems; building capacity to make use of tools such as natural-capital accounting, valuation and strategic environmental assessment (SEA); and targeting “high-priority landscapes” for public and private sector investment. [ADB Press Release] [Publication: Investing in Natural Capital for a Sustainable Future in the Greater Mekong Subregion] [EMM4 Presentations and Speeches]