Hanoi, Viet Nam
13 to 15 May 2015
With the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) expiring, 2015 is a crucial year to further progress the global framework for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) launched at Rio +20 in 2012.
The proposed SDGs are not merely a second round or iteration of the MDGs – but are more ambitious and comprehensive. With regard to environmental protection, it is timely for the GMS countries to consider how they can apply lessons learned from implementing MDG 7 on environmental sustainability for realizing and localizing environment-related SDGs. Countries will need to build regional capacity for tracking progress on SDGs and find means to enable the SDGs to become a pathway for enhancing natural capital in the subregion.
Connected by the Mekong River, the six GMS countries share many similar sustainable development challenges as well as opportunities but they lack a regional collaboration mechanism to guide the countries in national SDG implementation. Establishing a policy framework for regional cooperation to enhance natural capital in national SDG implementation will be a priority topic for discussion during the workshop.
Representatives from the GMS countries, Vietnam government agencies, and international and national organizations gathered to share best practice experience for scaling up successful efforts for natural capital-related SDG implementation and monitoring, and explored solutions to overcome institutional barriers.
The event was organized by Viet Nam’s Institute of Strategy under the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MONRE). Supporters included the Hanns Seidel Foundation (HSF), the Asian Development Bank-led GMS Core Environment Program, the United Nation’s Environment Program, and the Global Environment Facility (GEF) through its Project for Ecosystem Services (ProEcoServ).
Workshop presentations and other materials are available below for download.
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Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar
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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.
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NEWS RELEASE
XIENGKHOUANG, LAO PDR (2 April 2013) – Senior agriculture and environment officials from the six Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) countries met today to discuss environmentally sustainable agriculture and natural resource management in the region.
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