Friday, February 17, 2012

Environment to become fourth strategic pillar for BIMP-EAGA

 KOTA KINABALU, Jan 25 (Bernama) -- The Brunei Darussalam-Indonesia-Malaysia-the Philippines - East ASEAN Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA) ministers have adopted environment management as one of the strategic pillars for sub-regional cooperation in lieu of the global issues on climate change.

"The Philippines successfully pushed for the inclusion of environment as a  new strategic pillar in addition to the three major pillars of the sub-region," said the Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA) Chairperson Luwalhati, Antonino in a statement, here today.

The other three strategic pillars of BIMP-EAGA are food basket/food security, ecotourism, and enhancing connectivity.

Antonino, who also serves as the Philippines Signing Minister for BIMP-EAGA, further stated that the new environment pillar will significantly lay the foundation for food security and ecological integrity in the sub-region.

The Working Group on Forestry and Environment had recently crafted a list of possible projects under this strategic pillar. An exploratory study on establishing a carbon trading bank for BIMP-EAGA countries, to be led by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) in partnership with MinDA, was also proposed. Other proposed projects include the setting up of a coordinating link between the major environment working group in BIMP-EAGA, such as the Heart of Borneo, Coral Triangle Initiative, and Sulu-Sulawesi Marine Ecoregion.

Brunei Darussalam will also lead an integrated coastal resources management and development training workshop.

"We are advancing the country’s environmental priority programs and project for Mindanao through our watershed management program or the MindanaNOW (Nurturing our Waters), which we intend to expand across the sub-region," Antonino said.

MindaNOW is MinDA’s flagship environmental undertaking that pushes for the adoption of river basin and watershed as key platforms for planning. It seeks to provide an enabling mechanism for achieving environmental integrity and sustainable economic development.

Meanwhile, the Philippines will host the first BIMP-EAGA Equator Asia Air Access Forum and Airlines CEO Summit, spearheaded by the Department of Tourism (DOT), Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC), and MinDA.

This activity slated for the first quarter, aims to gather top transport and tourism officials from the sub-regions, to look at the market potential of each identified travel points.

The Philippines identified Davao, Zamboanga, and Puerto Princesa aspriority travel points for air services, while Zamboanga-Muara (Brunei), Brooke’s Point-Labuan (Malaysia)-Muara and Davao/GenSan-Bitung were identified for the sea linkages.  



Green Sabah says: Its good to hear that the BIMP-EAGA ministry have decided to make environmental management one of their plans, this shows that they are not only concerned about the economic growth but also environmental protection as well.

8 comments:

nickko said...

to achieve environmental integrity as what has been planned by the members of BIMP-EAGA is only possible when all citizens are aware of the role they play in protecting the environment and are inculcated with the civic responsibility to care for it.

DorianG said...

It about time that there are some form of cooperation among the participating nations of BIMP-EAGA to protect the environment.

DorianG said...

Hopefully with the implementations of environment management will have an impact on the legislation as well as enforcement

Mohd Ishak said...

Usaha yang baik daripada BIMP-EAGE untuk meletakkan alam sekitar sebagai salah satu faktor yang perlu diperlindungi.

Mohd Ishak said...

Diharapkan pertubuhan besar yang lain juga akan mengutamakan alam sekitar, tidak kira swasta ataupun awam.

running man said...

This is a positive sign to see the increasing awareness on environmental protection.

TuhauBam said...

mmenjaga alam sekitar adalah tanggungjawab bersama.

eco business said...

Great sing!

Post a Comment