H.E. Dr. Andrew McAlister (left), Canadian Ambassador to Thailand, addressing the conference.
AIT-CIDA SEA-UEMA held regional conference on 'UEM Applications for Improvement of the Urban Environment'
AIT and the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) Southeast Asia Urban Environmental Management Applications (SEA-UEMA) Project recently held a regional conference on 'UEM Applications for Improvement of the Urban Environment.' The two-days conference was held at the AIT Conference Center on February 25-26, 2004.
Prof. Jean-Louis Armand (left), AIT President, addressing the conference
The conference was opened by H.E. Dr. Andrew McAlister, Canadian Ambassador to Thailand, and Prof. Jean-Louis Armand, AIT President. Prof. Mario Tabucanon, AIT Provost, delivered the welcome address to the participants at the opening. Mr. Bob Odeh, Senior Project Manager, Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), and Prof. A.T.M. Nurul Amin, Project Director, SEA-UEMA Project, AIT, jointly introduced the project to the conference participants.
The conference - organized by the CIDA-AIT Southeast Asia Urban Environmental Management Applications (SEA-UEMA) Project under the Urban Environmental Management (UEM) FoS, SERD - was attended by 145 participants, of which 72 were from 8 Southeast Asian countries (Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, and Thailand). Most of the Asian participants are AIT alumni who graduated from UEM FoS.
H.E. Dr. Andrew McAlister (fourth from left), Canadian Ambassador to Thailand, and Prof. Jean-Louis Armand (third from left), AIT President at the conference opening. Also seen from left are: Dr. Pritam Krishna Shrestha, SEA-UEMA Project Manager; Mr. A.F. (Bob) Odeh, Senior Project Manager, CIDA; Ms. Thongkorn Hiranraks, Development Officer, Canadian Embassy in Bangkok; Prof. Mario T. Tabucanon, AIT Provost; and Prof. A.T.M. Nurul Amin, SEA-UEMA Project Director.
Despite some of the participants represented prospective partner institutions of the project, the participants were involved in carrying out the activities of the project such as demonstration projects and joint action research in the three UEM sub-sectors. They then joined a network in the three subsectors that the project established. The network members in the future will benefit by being invited to professional training programs/ workshops/ seminars that the project will be conducting and also by an exchange of professional UEM information between themselves and with the project.
The conference purpose was to launch the project, which seeks to attain improved implementation and sharing of sound urban environmental management policies and practices in the three key urban environmental sub-sectors (water and sanitation, solid waste, and air pollution). The goal of the project is to contribute to the improvement of urban environmental conditions in Southeast Asia (SEA).
Thematic presentations - followed by a panel discussion that related the participants to the SEA-UEMA project - were made on the following three UEM sub-sectors:
- 'Challenges in Water Supply and Sanitation Sector Development in Asia: The Future Perspective' by Prof. Chongrak Polprasert, Dean SERD, AIT;
- 'Solid Waste Management: Issues, Challenges and Interventions in Southeast Asia' by Dr. Virginia W. Maclaren, Associate Professor, Department of Geography, University of Toronto, Canada and Director, WASTE-ECON Project (Vietnam, Cambodia, Lao PDR); and
- 'Air Pollution: Issues, Challenges and Interventions in Asia, including Southeast Asia' by Dr. Supat Wangwongwatana, Deputy Director General, Pollution Control Department, Thailand.
In addition, a presentation entitled 'Incorporating Gender Equality in UEM' - addressing the cross cutting theme of the project gender equality - was conducted by Dr. Kyoko Kusakabe, GenDev Studies, SERD.
As the project targets the urban poor men and women as the primary beneficiaries, Prof. A.T.M. Nurul Amin, Project Director and Coordinator of UEM FoS, SERD, AIT, spoke on the linkage between 'UEM and Poverty.'
Participants to the Regional Conference on UEM Applications for Improvement of the Urban Environment. Seated in front of the participants are H.E. Dr. Andrew McAlister, Canadian Ambassador to Thailand, and Prof. Jean-Louis Armand, AIT President.
Presentations were made by the Project Team members on the five components of the project, which are UEM Graduate Education, Alumni Demonstration Projects, Joint Action Research, Sub-sector Networks and Professional Support Programs, and Application of Applied Research Results and Lessons Learned.
A video on Mr. Maqsood Sinha's successful story in reducing solid waste in Bangladesh was also shown so as to inspire participants for Demonstration Projects and Joint Action Research. Mr. Sinha is an AIT alumnus. The video presentation was followed by working group sessions on each of the project components. Each group made presentations giving suggestions to the project team regarding the activities of each component.
Conference participants poses for a group photo in front of the AIT Conference Center
To cap the conference, Dr. Tariq Banuri, Director of the Stockholm Environment Institute, Asia Center, delivered an inspirational speech on 'Seven Habits of Successful People.'
The Project Director, Prof. A.T.M. Nurul Amin, and the CIDA Senior Project Manager, Mr. Bob Odeh, delivered the closing remarks. Participants were invited to partner with the project for the successful implementation of the project activities.
The conference concluded with three groups of participants visiting three different sites related to good practices in the three sub-sectors in Thailand. These site visits included: Water and Sanitation - Khlong Sawan; Solid Waste Management - Chonburi; and Air Pollution - Pollution Control Department, Bangkok.