Asia Foundation support for a community-led water quality monitoring project in the Tui river in Bogd Soum is cited in a UB Post article about a plan to clean up waterways at project sites across Mongolia. Read the full article: “ADRA Mongolia Assists Communities to Clean up Waterways.
with Christopher Plante, Director, Environment Program, The Asia Foundation and Ray Williams, Director, Long-Term Energy Policy, PG&E.
While the debate over the causes of climate change has largely subsided, a new debate has emerged: what is the best climate change policy moving forward? More importantly, what is the most efficient and cost-effective policy? Join the World Affairs Council and a panel of economic and policy experts for a discussion on the economic costs and barriers to implementing a successful climate change policy. What are the foreseeable costs to individuals, businesses, and government? The panel will also compare climate change policies across developing and developed economies—specifically, taking a comparative look at China and California.
Monday, July 27, 2009
6:00 PM Please arrive early for registration
6:30 PM Program
World Affairs Council Auditorium
312 Sutter Street, Second Floor
San Francisco, California 94108
Co-sponsored by The Asia Foundation and the World Affairs Council of Northern California
As a friend of The Asia Foundation, please click here to register as a “member” through the World Affairs Council website.
Forbes.com published news of the Goldman Environmental Prize winners, each of whom are program partners of The Asia Foundation. Syeda Rizwana Hasan of Bangladesh and Yuyun Ismawati of Indonesia won the highly coveted prize honoring grassroots environmentalists. Read the full story “Goldman Environmental Prize Recipients Saluted by Asia Foundation.”
SAN FRANCISCO – The Asia Foundation applauds the Goldman Environmental Prize announcement today that two of its program partners, Syeda Rizwana Hasan of Bangladesh and Yuyun Ismawati of Indonesia, have each won the highly coveted prize honoring grassroots environmentalists. The $150,000 prizes recognize two outstanding individuals who have led local efforts that have achieved significant environmental impact. The award was created to further enable these leaders to continue their work. The winners will be awarded the prize at an invitation-only ceremony on Monday, April 20, 2009, at 5:00 p.m. at the San Francisco Opera House.
“For many years, both Rizwana in Bangladesh and Yuyun in Indonesia have been at the forefront of Asia Foundation environment initiatives,” said Christopher Plante, director of The Asia Foundation’s Environment Program. “Their dedication in the face of immeasurable challenges has inspired us, and we salute them for receiving this well-deserved recognition.”
Syeda Rizwana Hasan, 40, is a lawyer and executive director of the Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association (BELA), a non-profit, non-governmental organization established in 1992 to contribute to the development of sound environmental jurisprudence in Bangladesh. Since then, BELA has played a leading role in promoting environmental legal advocacy in Bangladesh, enhancing environmental policy, and extending the scope and enforcement of legal standards in environmental protection and resource management. The Asia Foundation is one of BELA’s original supporters. Since its first grant in 1993, the Foundation has provided institutional, programatic, and professional staff development assistance to BELA for a variety of public advocacy initiatives. These include advocacy efforts to sensitize public officials, Members of Parliament, and the judiciary to environmental issues, and support for BELA’s pioneering role in securing judicial commitment to public interest litigation in Bangladesh as an effective legal tool for protecting environmental rights. Achievements include landmark court decisions that: recognized the constitutional right to a clean environment; stemmed industrial pollution; banned smoking in public vehicles; ordered environmental compensation; and directed public agencies to take actions to protect the environment.
Ms. Hasan has filed numerous cases in which BELA has represented communities in cases involving encroachment on public property, air, water, and soil pollution. She has also played a crucial role in assisting with compensation for land expropriation, protection of laborers from hazardous working conditions, relocation of tanneries that discharge toxic chemicals into the environment, and maintenance of urban environmental facilities. More recently, Ms. Hasan has lobbied for critical legislation to protect Bangladesh’s environment and reduce the environmental health and safety hazards faced by workers in the ship-breaking industry. In March 2009, a BELA petition secured a High Court direction to the Department of Environment to ensure that all ship-breaking yards operating without environmental clearance close their operations within two weeks, together with an order prohibiting the import of any end-of-life ships that have not been cleaned of all hazardous materials such as asbestos, PCBs, heavy metals, and oil residues before arrival in Bangladesh.
Over the years, Ms. Hasan has facilitated scores of training programs for journalists, judges, government officials, lawyers, and concerned citizens to increase environmental awareness and support participatory law making. In 2003, the Foundation supported her participation in the prestigious Environmental Leadership Program of the University of California at Berkeley.
Yuyun Ismawati, 44, is founder and director of Bali Fokus Foundation, an Indonesian non-governmental organization working on environmental management, pollution control and prevention, and sustainable development issues since 2000. Ms. Yuyun’s environmental projects have received support from The Asia Foundation since 1996, during which time she successfully pressured major hotels in Bali to reduce solid waste and improve their recycling efforts. Living in one of the world’s premier tourist destinations, Bali residents were faced with consumption of natural resources and unregulated waste disposal within a finite space. Her promotion of “green tourism” became a model that has successfully been replicated in the resort areas of Ubud, Candi Dasa, and Hua Hin, Thailand. Ms. Yuyun work focuses on finding community-based solutions for adequate, safe, and sustainable waste management. The Asia Foundation continued to support Ms. Yuyun’s work with financial grants and technical assistance, such as presenting case studies at workshops in Asia and in the U.S. Ms. Yuyun has spearheaded numerous initiatives with funding from The Asia Foundation including the NGO-Business Environmental Partnership project.
Throughout her career, Ms. Yuyun has been a staunch advocate for the cooperation of businesses and the local community. In addition to bringing together over 30 hotel facilities to participate in an environmental audit, with Asia Foundation support, Bali Fokus produced an Indonesian-language handbook endorsed by the Ministry of Tourism and Culture for eco-auditing hotels. Working with the Bali Tourism Board and NGOs from 25 Indonesian cities, Bali Fokus conducted a national workshop on solid waste management in 2003. The workshop resulted in a new alliance on solid waste called “GarbaNet,” as well as a strategy for furthering a national solid waste management plan. More recently, Ms. Yuyun has been involved with national agencies in crafting Indonesia’s first-ever bill on waste management and the country’s strategy related to climate change issues. During this process, Ms. Yuyun has led steps to end Indonesia’s environmentally damaging practices such as incineration.
For over 50 years, The Asia Foundation has worked with local partners to protect Asia’s natural capital assets. The Foundation’s Environment Program improves environmental stewardship, economic development, and human health by building capacity for public participation; involving a broad range of stakeholders in adopting environmental management approaches that respect ecosystems; and strengthening Asia’s environmental cooperation with the global community.
The Goldman Environmental Prize was established in 1990 by San Francisco civic leader and philanthropist Richard N. Goldman and his late wife, Rhoda H. Goldman. It has been awarded to 133 people from 75 countries. Prize winners are selected by an international jury from confidential nominations submitted by a worldwide network of environmental organizations and individuals.
Note to reporters: Additional information, including press materials, detailed biographies, and photos for Syeda Rizwana Hasan and Yuyun Ismawati, is at www.goldmanprize.org.
Chris Plante, Director of Environment Programs at The Asia Foundation was interviewed on the “City Visions” radio program in San Francisco. The show, “Water Worries: Balancing the Water We Need with the Water We Have,” aired March 2. Listen to the show online. KALW (91.7) is a public San Francisco radio station.
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To Kim Lien, a Program Manager of The Asia Foundation in Vietnam, was quoted in a recent Agence France-Presse story on the effects of booming industrialism on Vietnam’s environment. Read the full story, “‘Cancer village’ the dark side of Vietnam’s industrial boom.”
Read Lien’s full piece on the situation from In Asia, The Asia Foundation’s blog: “In Vietnam: A Race to Save the Dying Rivers.”
Irresponsible mining practices have polluted the rivers of Mongolia. The Asia Foundation, through its landmark environmental project, “Securing Our Future,” is helping to influence the development of mining in an environmentally responsible way for the benefit of all Mongolians.
An important element of the program is teaching simple water quality monitoring techniques, which can be performed by students. Earlier this year, Mongolian teachers visited the U.S. to learn how to engage their students in the scientific process and teach water quality monitoring in schools. The teachers are learning experiential techniques which are still relatively uncommon in Mongolia.
One of their newest tools, made possible through The Asia Foundation’s support, is a series of illustrated educational posters about a river’s ecosystem.
See the posters:
Read more about the Mongolian teachers’ visit to the U.S.
Asian Scholars to Participate in Berkeley’s Environmental Leadership Program
With increasing attention on critical global environmental concerns, improved coordination and dialogue between key stakeholders and decision makers will be essential in international efforts to safeguard natural resources. The Asia Foundation, the premier non-profit organization devoted to Asia’s development since 1954, has awarded two fellowships and a travel grant to three Southeast Asian environmental professionals to attend the Beahrs Environmental Leadership Program (ELP), a three-week summer certificate course in Sustainable Environmental Management conducted by the Center for Sustainable Resource Development of the University of California, Berkeley. The Beahrs’ ELP course brings together environmental leaders from around the world to study under UC Berkeley faculty and specialists and share best practices among peers.
“Asia’s environmental leaders will play a critical role in promoting sound global environmental management in the coming decades. We’re very pleased to be able provide three of Southeast Asia’s emerging leaders with the opportunity to experience a world-class, multidisciplinary educational program in sustainable environmental management,” said Chris Plante, The Asia Foundation’s Director of Environment Programs.
Recognizing the complex economic, social, and political challenges facing environmental professionals, the Foundation has identified scholars from the neighboring countries of the Lao PDR, Thailand, and Vietnam to participate in the Beahrs ELP. Each Fellow has demonstrated commitment to his or her field and will bring a unique perspective to the natural resource and environmental management discourse.
Since 2001, the ELP has graduated 190 environmental leaders from sixty-two countries. For more information about the Beahrs’ ELP course, see http://beahrselp.berkeley.edu. The course began on Sunday, June 24.
Many Cambodians are locked into a cycle of poverty owing to a lack of effective policy and poor natural resource management. The Asia Foundation, a non-profit organization devoted to Asia’s development since 1954, announced today a collaboration with the Multi-Donor Livelihoods Facility, funded by the Department for International Development (DFID), the Danish International Development Agency (Danida), and New Zealand Aid (NZAID) for a two-year, $7.5 million program in Cambodia to foster greater participation by civil society groups in local policy and budget decisions especially as they effect natural resource management.
The Foundation’s program, Civil Society and Pro-poor Markets (CSPPM) will boost citizens’ influence in local decision-making regarding exploitation of natural resources. This will help to ensure that local communities are the chief beneficiaries of local resources, and that those resources are managed sustainably. The program will be implemented in 13 provinces, mainly in the northeast and south of Cambodia where natural resources are at greatest threat of depletion.
“In many parts of Cambodia, productive interaction between civil society organizations and commune officials is rare, meaning that local policies can sometimes lack a true local perspective. We hope to help address this shortcoming and foster better natural resource management in Cambodia,” said Roderick Brazier, country representative of The Asia Foundation.
In implementing CSPPM, The Asia Foundation will collaborate with local and international partners, including Buddhism for Development, the Center for Social Development, Oxfam UK, Care International, Concern International, Wildlife Conservation Society, and Ockenden International.
ABOUT THE ASIA FOUNDATION CAMBODIA
The Asia Foundation first opened its office in Cambodia in 1955. In 1989, after a break of more than 15 years, the Foundation resumed program activities and reestablished its representative office in Phnom Penh in 1993. Through grants of technical assistance, The Asia Foundation supports local Cambodian nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) to push for progress in governance, human rights, and economic reform, three areas central to democracy and broad-based development in Cambodia. The Foundation supports a wide range of strategies to mobilize the political will and build the institutional and human resource capacity necessary to address these issues including research development, cooperation among domestic and international actors, and increased citizen access to information. Through its efforts to build the capacity of Cambodian NGOs, the Foundation has supported programs in every province and has extensive experience in rural Cambodia, including the most remote regions of the country.
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