The project area covered by the TDA is huge and diverse. It straddles 5 economies that are at different levels of development, ranging from centrally planned- to market oriented socialist- to transition- and to OECD level economies. Pepoles in the area represent every shade from nomadic herders to highly urbanised societies and there is no common language in the region.

Geographically, the area spans more than 2,500km from east to west (longitude 105 to 130 degrees East) and 1500 km from South to North (latitude 35 to 50 degrees North) and encompasses steppe, mountain/river and coastal ecosystems.

In such a diverse area it is important to be as location-specific as possible so as to maximise impact and long-term sustainability of the TDA Four zones were identified:

                       -                Jilin Province CHINA
                       -                Primorskii Krai, RUSSIA
                       -                Rason Economic & Free Trade Zone, DPRK
                       -                North Hamgyong and Ryanggang Provinces , DPRK

Mongolian Plateau Zone

Daurian Steppe Zone

Supra-Regional Zone

The Far Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences (FEBRAS) in Vladivostok was the contracted Regional Lead Agent for this project component. Production of the TDA documents followed a multi-phase approach and tried to stimulate and introduce gradually increasing levels of stakeholder involvement.

The initial TOP Workshop (target oriented planing) in November 2000 agreed on a range of priority sectors that were of transboundary significance for the protection of biodiversity and international waters in the region. Countries agreed on timing, layout and management structure for the TDA process and nominated national task force members.

At the next stage countries prepared National Reports that described in detail priority environmental issues in the immediate project areas and regional groups of specialists prepared eight Regional Sector Reports.

Based on these inputs, the outline of the regional TDA was discussed and agreed upon at the Vladivostok TDA Workshop in August 2001. This workshop marked the transition from scientific analysis to policy formulation and for the first time provincial governors and senior staff from national policy departments participated in the various working groups of the workshop.

The first draft of the TDA was prepared by national expert groups that were headed by a zonal task manager. On for each of the 4 zones. Consultants from the regional lead agent FEBRAS provided technical guidance and ensured internal consistency among the four zonal TDAs

The 4 draft zonal TDAs were then subjected to local stakeholder scrutiny in the immediate target areas and were subsequently refined.

Base don these inputs, the regional lead agent FEBRAS then compiled the final TDA and forwarded them to national expert groups for clearance. The final document was produced in the English language in early 2002 and subsequently translated into Chinese, Korean, Mongolian and Russian.

A set of 33 environmental maps, a resource atlas and an interactive GIS complement the TDA and provide a lasting resource for researchers and planners in the region.

DPRK:

National Coordinating Committee for Environment (NCCE)

Mr Kim Yong U

Tel: - c/o Dr Kim Yun-hum, NCCE liaison officer at UNDP Pyongyang

Fax: - c/o Dr Kim Yun-hum, NCCE liaison officer at UNDP Pyongyang