CTA Round Letter to TumenNET Councillors and
Friends of TumenNET
Letter # 2
Beijing 25 January 2002
Dear Friends,
Some time has passed since I last wrote to you and much has happened since,
so it is high time to give you an update. As promised I try to keep this to
an average of 2 letters a year - I know how busy we all are¡
The TDA, the Transboundary Diagnostic Analysis, is almost complete.
Thanks to the tireless efforts of the Far Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy
of Sciences (FEBRAS) in Vladivostok, and our zonal task managers - Dr Tsogtbaatar
in Ulaanbaatar, Prof Zhao Shidong in Beijing and Dr Rhee Deok-gil in Incheon
- we look towards publication by early 2002.
Those of you who know him will be delighted to learn that Academician Valentin
Sergienko has recently been appointed Chairman of FEBRAS. A well deserved
promotion, Valentin, and proof that rewards follow quickly when you work for
TumenNET¡
We plan to translate the TDA into Chinese, Korean, Mongolian and Russian, to
better reach local stakeholders. An impressive environmental resource atlas
of ca 40 maps will accompany the TDA, making it a resource document of considerable
value for environmental managers, policy makers and educational institutions.
An interactive CD-ROM will enable you to zoom in on areas and run your own micro
GIS. So look out for this product!
The TumenNET Governors MOU is currently being amended to reflect its
most recent expansion. In January of this year the Chinese Government granted
the application by Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region to formally join the TumenNET
activities. Gangwon Province in the ROK too joined the project last November,
and TumenNET now comprises a total of eight provinces in the 4 member countries.
Awareness activities in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea will
commence shortly and Pyongyang has selected an impressive range of SGP project
for tranche I funding. The best news is that the TumenNET input of $35,000 will
be matched by $42,000 in counterpart funds! This is a great success of Dr Badarch's
mission to Pyongyang earlier this month.
The report of the fact finding mission to Musan Iron Ore Mine in North
Hamgyong Province has been accepted and we are now talking to donors from industry
and government to help us fund the next step, the technical pre-feasibility
study for which we will shortly seek expressions of interest.
The second TumenNET Council Meeting, hosted by the Ministry of the Environment,
was held in Sokcho, ROK on 29-30 November. More than 50 high powered delegates
attended and debated progress and the future of the TumenNET. Please visit our
website for more information on this important meeting http://www.tumennet.org/news&events/news.html
Sokcho marked the transition from the science to the policy phase of TumenNET
and saw the launch of the Strategic Action Program (SAP) component. All
countries have now set up National SAP Task Forces - multidisciplinary committees
with strong representations from the private sector, the NGO community and provincial
governments - that are headed at senior government level and empowered to influence
national policy. The first regional workshop will be held in Seoul on February
19/20.
Sokcho also saw the launch of the green investment drive. TumenNET and
the Federation of Korean Industries (FKI), signed an agreement to cooperate
in the protection of transboundary biodiversity and international water resources
and the promotion of green investment. The first cooperative project is likely
to be Musan Iron Ore Mine, but there may well be other projects in future.
The evaluation of tranche I of the small grants program has been completed
and we have made the necessary adjustments for tranche II. Visit http://www.tumennet.org/news&events/news.html
to read the summary report. Calls for tranche II are expected this week, so
please watch out if you are eligible! If in doubt, visit your national TumenNET
website.
Our outreach program is starting to bear fruits and we have made contacts with
Environment Australia and the Japanese Ministry of Environment
for cooperation on Strategic Environmental Impact Assessments (focus on offshore
oil/gas), migratory birds and other issues.
All of the ten TumenNET websites are now on-line and we invite you to visit
them. You will find plenty of up-to-date information on a range of environmental
and project management issues in English, Korean, Russian, Chinese, and Mongolian.
Feedback, as always, is of course welcome!
On housekeeping matters, please note that the Tumen Secretariat and we have
moved - really just around the corner - and we are now located in apartment
5-2-42 of the Tayuan Diplomatic Compound in Chaoyang, Beijing. Our telephone
number remains as is - as do our emails - but we have a new fax number
6146. Gillian Pereira, our finance manager, has left us on promotion to
another UN job in Iraq - good luck in your new assignment Gillian! Ms Katja
Jalava from Finland has been appointed the new finance officer.
Help us spread the word - and visit our TumenNET websites regularly!
_____________________
Gunther Mau
Chief Technical Adviser
| 
