Countries Environment Project Links News&Events Business Publications

TDA Workshop Outcomes

1. Five provincial governors/vice governors signed a MOU (Memorandum of Understanding) in Vladivostok on 30 August 2001. In the MOU, the five governments pledge to undertake a range of steps that will facilitate the eventual implementation of the SAP. Among these are:
   · establish provincial mechanisms for regional cooperation on transboundary biodiversity (BD) and international water (IW) protection and the promotion of green investment (GI) in Northeast Asia;
   · establish provincial level TumenNET committees that are empowered to facilitate integration of BD, IIW and GI issues into provincial development planning;
   · organize annual meetings of TumenNET governors to review progress related to BD, IW and GI;
   · to make available appropriate counterpart resources for any future project activities related to SAP formulation and implementation.

   Note: 2 governors from Jilin Province and Inner-Mongolia Autonomy Region, China participated fully in the final negotiations of the text, but did not sign due to objective facts.

2. The TDA workshop also discussed specific technical issues related to environmental protection in the 4 TumenNET zones: Tumen River Basin Zone, Mongolian Plateau Zone, Daurian Steppe Zone, and Supra Regional Issues. Group discussions focused on the identification of current and future problems (gap analysis) and on constraints to SAP implementation. The key issues were prioritized and a preliminary stakeholder identification carried out. The results were submitted to the TDA writing team for further analysis and adoption into the TDA report.

3. The TDA writing team was established at the last day's meeting, zonal managers and key authors were selected for each project zone and a ½ day refresher training in TDA methodology was provided. The TDA outline and timeline were discussed and agreed at the end of the day.

4. Draft zonal TDAs will be ready by late October 2001 and they will be presented to extended local stakeholder meetings in the four zones to seek community input. Following necessary revisions, the Russian Lead Agent FEBRAS will then prepare the final TumenNET-TDA for national government clearance by late 2001.