Yunnan PRC

Land use is constantly changing in the Greater Mekong Subregion. At the same time, land use planning processes are often poorly informed, risking decisions that may lead to social and environmental costs that outweigh intended benefits.

Environment officials from the six GMS countries met in Jinghong, PRC, to share biodiversity conservation experiences and to plan initiatives for increased cooperation in transboundary areas.

The GMS Core Environment Program has been working with China's Yunnan Environmental Protection Department (YEPD) since 2006 to pilot biodiversity conservation initiatives in the province.

Senior environment and forestry officials from Yunnan and Guangxi met with representatives from the other five GMS countries to exchange experiences and lessons from biodiversity conservation work in transboundary landscapes.

The People’s Republic of China practices “eco-compensation” to promote environmental protection and restoration. This study examines the theory, practice, and legislation governing this in selected ecological areas.

Biodiversity corridors have been introduced in threatened tropical areas of Yunnan province, People's Republic of China, with ADB support. The program is ensuring the survival of rare plant and animal species, while eco-farming practices provide local communities with sustainable livelihoods.

This film highlights the environmental challenges facing China's Southwestern province of Yunnan as well as ongoing efforts to protect the unique biodiversity in the province's Xishuangbanna prefecture.

Livestock farms in Jiangxi Province, People's Republic of China, are converting pig waste into clean energy. This is helping to manage an environmental threat, contribute to the national energy grid, and boost the incomes of farmers.

In Nanjing, People's Republic of China, a $240-million project improved the water quality of the Qinhuai River, dredging the water way of sludge, constructing sewage pipelines and pumping stations, and transforming flood-prone villages into scenic wetlands.

With support from the Global Environment Facility (GEF), the GMS Core Environment Program is strengthening regional collaboration to manage key transboundary biodiversity landscapes in the GMS.

Government and development partners met in Kunming to discuss current work and future priorities to strengthen transboundary collaboration for the Mekong Headwaters transboundary landscape under the CEP-led GMS Forest and Biodiversity Regional Support Project.

Nestled in the central Hengduan Mountains of Yunnan Province and bordering Sichuan and the Tibet Autonomous Region, Deqin County is the northernmost part of the Mekong Headwaters landscape.

Biodiversity conservation in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) is conducted under the framework of the National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (NBSAP), 2011–2030. The PRC has initiated ambitious conservation targets under its NBSAP and requires all provinces to prepare provincial-level BSAPs.

Increasing Investments in Natural Capital in the Greater Mekong Subregion

The Natural Capital Dialogue brought together senior GMS government officials, international experts and a wide range of stakeholders to discuss the significance of natural capital in the context of inclusive and sustainable development in the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS). Occurring ahead of the 4^th GMS Environment Ministers’ Meeting (EMM4), the Natural Capital Dialogue presented an important opportunity to draw public and business sector attention to the need to increase investments in the Subregion’s natural capital.

Theme: Investing in Natural Capital is Investing in Youth

Overview

As emphasized in the Future We Want outcome document from Rio+20, youth are “custodians of the future” and have an essential role in helping achieve sustainable development. If engaged and empowered, GMS youth have the potential to drive the changes needed to ensure a sustainable future for their own and future generations. 

Every three years, environment ministers from the six Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) countries gather to take stock of environment challenges and opportunities, and set the direction for regional responses under the GMS Economic Cooperation Program.

Theme: Designing mechanisms and building partnerships for the strategic planning and management of transboundary and other biodiversity landscapes

Overview

Biodiversity landscapes constitute a large proportion of the natural capital remaining in the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS). They are a rich repository of globally important biodiversity, including many endemic and endangered species, and provide vital ecosystem services. This wealth of natural capital underpins the subregion’s security in terms of energy, food, and water. Seven of these landscapes cut across international borders. These transboundary biodiversity landscapes (TBLs), which are the focus of the GMS Core Environment Program, lie in juxtaposition to the GMS economic corridors, providing both challenges and opportunities for their effective management and conservation.

Theme: Investing in Natural Capital: Public Private Cooperation for Future Prosperity in the Greater Mekong Subregion

Overview

The Fourth GMS Environment Ministers’ Meeting emphasized the need to strengthen collaboration between governments, development partners, business sector, and civil society in order to find ways to maintain and enhance the region’s natural capital stocks. A key step was the need to strengthen collaboration and coordination between businesses, government, and/or civil society in ways that are demonstrably good for business, local livelihoods and for the protection and enhancement of the subregion’s natural capital. In this context the Natural Capital Business Forum engaged the businesses in their capacity as a beneficiary of public sector investments as well as the investors in economic activities associated with natural capital.

The final review meeting on PRC of Yunnan Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (YBSAP) was held in Kunming, Yunnan, PRC, from 6-8 November.

More than 120 representatives from environmental protection authorities in Yunnan were trained on how to implement Yunnan Biodiversity Conservation Strategy and Action Plan (YBSAP). The training was organized by Yunnan Environmental Protection Department (YEPD) with support from ADB.

Transboundary biodiversity landscapes in the GMS are rich in natural capital, but are increasingly under threat from development and climate change pressures, leading to environmental degradation and more vulnerable local communities.

This animation describes the work of CEP in securing natural capital in the GMS.

ADB’s Sanath Ranawana (and CEP project officer) was a panelist at the Forests Asia Summit on May 6 2014 in Jakarta, Indonesia. During the ‘Investing in Landscapes for Green Returns’ panel, he discussed the role of public financing to support environmentally friendly private sector investments in Asia’s landscapes (3:35–13:25).

This book is first in a series of a three-volume publication on the environments of the poor, and contains selected papers on Southeast Asia, East Asia, and the Pacific from a conference organized in 2...

Overview

This training is a five-day intensive program designed to enhance understanding of energy and transport practitioners on issues and challenges which arise from climate change. It is a collaborative learning program in partnership with GMS Phnom Penh Plan (PPP) for Development Management.

This animation describes the work of CEP in securing natural capital in the GMS.

ADB  SPEECH- 4 December 2013

Welcome remarks by ADB President Takehiko Nakao at the Second Asian Judges Symposium on Environment:
Natural Capital and the Rule of Law held in Manila, Philippines on 2 December 2013

An Asian Judges Network on Environment was officially launched at the Second Asian Judges Symposium on Environment to be held in Manila, 2 to 5 December.

This animation produced by the James Hutton Institute explains why Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) schemes are attracting increasing interest as policy mechanisms to improve conservation and achieve sustainable development outcomes. PES initiatives aim to reach mutually beneficial agreements between providers and users of ecosystem services, entailing a reward mechanism for ecosystem managers for maintaining or improving the provision of the services valued by beneficiaries.

This ADB book provides an energy outlook for the region up to the year 2035 to help identify policy, social, infrastructure, and technology issues that must be addressed to meet future energy needs of ...

The ADB annual Asian Development Outlook, generally launched in April, presents an analysis of developing Asia’s recent economic performance plus its prospects for the next 2 years. This Update s...

This ADB report examines prospects for ADB to ramp up efforts in the region for greater utilization of demand-side energy efficiency, the most cost-effective source of energy supply. The report further...

The GMS Working Group on Environment met on 25 October in Beijing, PRC, to review CEP's 2012 implementation progress and upcoming priorities. All the meeting documents and presentations are listed belo...

This brochure overviews the Core Environment Program; covering the development context, history of the program, areas of work and some major program results. Please find the brochure in Burmese, Chines...

The North-South Economic Corridor (NSEC) – linking Kunming to Bangkok, Kunming to Hanoi, and Hanoi to Nanning – is one of the flagship investments under the GMS Economic Cooperation Program.

In recent years, the border region around the Golden Quadrangle, involving PR China, Lao PDR, and Thailand, has received attention for potential tourism development. There is increased tourism development in the Xishuangbanna area and in Northern Lao PDR (both ecotourism and cultural tourism) and this area has been designated as a key development priority under the GMS Tourism Sector Strategy.

Hosted by PRC’s Ministry of Environmental Protection, the 18th Annual Meeting of the Working Group on Environment endorsed an 18-month work plan for CEP.

The Xishuangbanna biodiversity conservation corridors pilot site is located in southern Yunnan and stretches down to the border with Lao PDR. Of the eight corridors identified, CEP has focused activities in two (Nabanhe to Mangao and Mengla to Shangyong), the latter of which includes a transboundary nature reserve that is home to a wild elephant population.

A report documenting the achievements of the Biodiversity Conservation Corridors Initiative (BCI) from 2006-2011. It includes impacts and lessons learned, coverage of the eight pilot sites in Cambodia,...

This policy brief draws on current research to overview the anticipated climate change impacts in the GMS, particularly those relating to air pollution. In its key messages, the brief highlights ten ad...

This paper was produced by the by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) with support from CEP.  It explores a range of topics, including prospects for China's reforesta...

A report on the first environmental performance assessment (EPA) conducted in Yunnan Province, PR China. The assessment covers seven environmental concerns: land degradation, threats to biodiversity, i...

The forest of the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) nurture a remarkable biodiversity and provide resources vital to human welfare and the region's economic prosperity. But these same forests are fragmenting and disappearing under pressure from rapid economic development, land conversion, and overuse.

Conserving our Natural Heritage introduces the GMS Core Environment program, a joint action plan by Mekong countries to improve environmental management and promote sustainable development across the region.

A 2007 status report on six pilot sites of the Biodiversity Conservation Corridors Initiative (BCI) implemented by the Core Environment Program (CEP). The report covers background information on each o...