Asia's relentless demand for energy raises great concerns over energy security and combating climate change. As part of the solution, ADB is funding projects that help countries develop clean energy through renewable power and energy efficiency. This publication features 10 clean energy stories that reduce greenhouse gases as well as improve lives for the poor.

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ADB

Economic growth has multiplied the environmental challenges faced by the People's Republic of China but has also created opportunities, by increasing available funding for environmental management and conservation. At the nexus of these countervailing trends, policy makers have been experimenting with new approaches to environmental management under the broad heading of "eco-compensation". Many of these are market-based, particularly payments for ecosystem services; an emerging policy debate is regarding the extent to which beneficiaries should pay, and the providers should be compensated, for the provision of natural resources and environmental services to promote sustainable, balanced growth. This paper synthesizes the findings of the International Conference on Payments for Ecological Services convened in Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region in September 2009 to support eco-compensation programs in the country.

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ADB

ADB's Pacific Climate Change Program will address climate change-related technical and financing needs and support the planning and implementation of the climate responsive national development plans of Pacific developing member countries. Using innovative financing mechanisms, the program will build on and enhance efforts to-date by a variety of development partners, and will work with regional and national agencies and local communities to create and promote knowledge, skills, and practices in climate change-related fields.

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ADB

The People's Republic of China (PRC) suffers from some large-scale land degradation problems, posing a significant threat to the lives of local residents and to the future economic welfare of the nation. The dryland areas of the western PRC, which cover approximately 40% of the country's land area, contain some of the most severely degraded land in the world. With only about 7% of the world's farmland and 6% of the world's annual water runoff, the PRC must feed 22% of the world's population.

The PRC government, with the assistance of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Global Environment Facility (GEF), has established the PRC-GEF Partnership on Land Degradation in Dryland Ecosystems in 2002 to address land degradation issues, reduce poverty, restore dryland ecosystems, and conserve biodiversity through an effective integrated ecosystem management (IEM) approach. The IEM provides an integrated planning approach within which the PRC government can develop legal, policy, institutional, and socioeconomic systems required to support the sustainable utilization of dryland ecosystem resources.

This publication prepared by the Agriculture, Environment, and Natural Resources Division of ADB's East Asia Department summarizes the lessons learned during the Partnership's establishment (2002-2009) as well as the Partnership's future directions.

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ADB

This report summarizes the current state of water pollution and water pollution management strategies in the People's Republic of China (PRC). It also provides specific recommendations for implementing market-based policy instruments, such designed to mitigate water pollution and its negative effects. Market-based instruments such as water quality trading, fees and taxation, and private-public partnerships, have been tested internationally and in the PRC, and may be used as guide in implementing positive environmental policy reforms in the country. Success with such instruments provides a blueprint for developing more sophisticated water pollution control strategies using policy innovations to achieve greater benefits at lower costs. The Asian Development Bank is providing technical assistance to aid the government in its quest to identify the best possible options for ensuring clean water for its citizens. Experiences gained in the PRC can be relevant to practitioners in the other developing countries as well.

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ADB

This paper takes stock of developments in Asian and Pacific countries as they prepare to take advantage of emerging financial incentives for forest conservation created through the "REDD+" (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation, as well as through sustainable management of forests and forest carbon stocks conservation and enhancement, in developing countries) approach for reducing carbon dioxide emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, and other actions that conserve and enhance forest carbon stocks. The paper contributes to the active dialogue on how best to organize for good knowledge management and coordination in Asia and the Pacific for implementing the REDD+ approach.

Countries of the region, and especially those of Southeast Asia, have the potential to significantly contribute to mitigating global climate change through forest conservation with incentives provided through REDD+ payments. Current REDD+ arrangements and actions in the region are reviewed along with the extent to which existing multilateral and bilateral REDD+ support mechanisms are allocating their time and resources to support countries of the region. Asian and Pacific countries are receiving considerable support, and coordination is improving as all try to use the new REDD+ incentives to address the major drivers of deforestation in the region.

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ADB

Policy makers in the People's Republic of China have been experimenting with new approaches to environmental management, resulting in a wide array of policy and program innovations under the broad heading of eco- compensation. Many of these are market-based instruments, particularly payments for ecological services - currently an emerging policy debate regarding the extent to which beneficiaries should pay, and the providers should be compensated - for the provision of natural resources and environmental services to promote sustainable, balanced growth. These proceedings are a collection of papers presented at the International Conference on Payments for Ecological Services convened in Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region in September 2009 to support eco-compensation programs in the country.

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ADB

The third Sustainability Report highlights how ADB's efforts, in line with Strategy 2020: The Long-Term Strategy of the Asian Development Bank, aim to improve the lives of the poor in Asia and the Pacific and to ensure that economic growth is sustainable in the long term.

This report covers the region's significant environmental, social, and economic challenges, and ADB's responses, both through our operations and our corporate footprint.

The appendix links the Global Reporting Initiative’s G3 indicators with the text of the report and other pertinent sources. The current report responds to and presents information on more of the G3 indicators than did the previous two reports.

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ADB

The theme for this meeting is "Supporting nationally owned Green Economies to achieve the MDGs and respond to climate change." It will run from the 16th to the 18th of February 2011, in Austria.

Visit the meeting page
http://povertyenvironment.net/pep16

To better respond to the increasing and numerous requests for innovative training in environmental law, UNITAR’s International Law Programme (ILP) opens a new series of its e-Courses on International Environmental Law (IEL) which are scheduled from 7 February to 3 April 2011.

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http://www.unitar.org