Innovation from the Asia-Pacific toward Sustainable Development
-Initiatives on Science & Technology for Improved Environmental Policy-

The Ministry of the Environment, Japan and the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES), in collaboration with the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA), the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Asia-Pacific Network for Global Change Research (APN), held a side event entitled "Innovation from the Asia-Pacific toward Sustainable Development -Initiatives on Science & Technology for Improved Environmental Policy-" on 27 August at the Japan Pavilion in Ubuntu Village.

This side event introduced Japan's Type 2 initiative "Asia-Pacific Environmental Innovation Strategy Project (APEIS)" and other mutually reinforcing Asia-Pacific initiatives on science and technology for improved environmental policy, and discussed their expected contributions to "environmental policy innovation." The aim of APEIS is to promote informed decision-making for sustainable development through regional cooperation, and it has been launched as a concrete initiative to realize the relevant part of the Plan of Implementation for the World Summit on Sustainable Development.

The event was opened by Mr. Eiichi Yamashita, Senior Vice-Minister for the Environment, Japan, followed by a series of brief presentations on the Asia-Pacific initiatives and an open discussion. Expected interactions and collaborations between scientists and policy makers were highlighted and explored in each of the presentations on concrete regional/international initiatives, guided by a series of key questions: "How to provide regional environmental information to policy makers?"; "Why is innovation required for environmental policies?"; "What are approaches to support environmental policy innovation?"; "How to build scientific capacity of Asia-Pacific countries?"

Invited speakers included Dr. Tsuneyuki Morita, Director, Socio-Environmental Systems Division, National Institute for Environmental Studies (NIES); Dr. Masataka Watanabe, Director, Water and Soil Environment Division, NIES; Dr. P. R. Shukla, Professor, Indian Institute of Management; Mr. Yoshihiro Natori, Project Leader, IGES; Dr. Walter Reid, Director, MA; Mr. Warren Evans, Director, Environment and Social Safeguard Division, ADB; and Mr. Martin Rice, Secretariat, APN.