USAID RDM/A Regional Environment Office Weekly Report Week Ending October 19, 2007

Piped Water for the Urban Poor in Sri Lanka. Instead of sharing public taps, previously underserved families in Negombo, Sri Lanka, will be receiving piped water straight to their homes by the end of November. With technical support by USAID Environmental Cooperation-Asia (ECO-Asia), the community initiated this innovative pilot project on October 12, 2007, with the installation of the first water pipes and valves. The Municipal Council of Negombo (NMC) and the National Water Supply and Drainage Board (NWS&DB) are subsidizing the cost of the service connection, while the Meril J. Fernando Foundation provided a grant to cover some infrastructure costs. ECO-Asia worked with NMC earlier to train leaders in this poor area to form a community-based organization to organize families to assist with installation to encourage payment for services. The NMC and the NWS&DB, with ECO-Asia assistance, will use results of this pilot project to plan and implement replication in other locations in Negombo.

New Website Promotes Environmental Compliance for Slaughterhouses in the Philippines. Slaughterhouse operators in the Philippines who once lagged behind other sectors in complying with pollution control measures now have a new platform to share ideas and access updated information to ensure their operations meet wastewater discharge standards. The website is part of a project to establish compliance assistance centers (CAC) in Asia which USAID is supporting through the Asian Environmental Compliance and Enforcement Network (AECEN) with technical assistance, grants and by facilitating regional exchanges. Launched on October 15, 2007, the website, http://www.slaughterhousecac-phil.org/ , kicks off a systematic compliance assistance program which is an AECEN-supported joint initiative between the Laguna Lake Development Authority (LLDA) and the National Meat Inspection Service (NMIS) of the Philippines. Other compliance promotion efforts include orientation on the CAC, training and exposure of industry members to relevant environmental policies, and presentation of options in reducing pollution loading into the Laguna bay.

Outlook for Asia’s Forests is Full of Challenges. The International Conference on the Future of Forests in Asia and the Pacific: Outlook for 2020 was organized by the Asia-Pacific Forestry Commission last week in Chiang Mai, Thailand and covered a number of topics: emerging environmental challenges facing forests in the region, progress with improved forest and biodiversity management and the challenges of illegal logging and trade. Representatives from the RDM/A’s Responsible Asian Forestry and Trade (RAFT) Program participated in the plenary panel that summed up key issues arising form the conference and highlighted the importance of: 1) improving forest governance in order to attract responsible forest sector investment 2) meeting the needs of the rural poor and, 3) addressing the challenges of reducing emissions that result from deforestation.

Thailand Launches Innovative National Campaign to Replace Standard Incandescent Lamps. On October 9, 2007, Thailand became the world’s first developing country to formally launch a campaign to phase out incandescent lamps. The Thai Ministry of Energy and the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT) unveiled a national campaign to stimulate demand for the energy-saving compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs). Using an innovative lottery scheme through the national postal service, the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand will give away 800,000 CFLs nationwide over the next 3 months in Bangkok and 76 provinces, about 10,000 lamps per province. At the same time, EGAT is cooperating with lamp suppliers and retail stores to make high-quality CFLs available to Thai consumers at the bargain price of 55 Baht (US$ 1.60) for the next three years. The CFLs must pass performance and safety standards established by EGAT, last a minimum of 6,000 hours, and are warranted by suppliers for a period of one year. The government expects that the campaign will motivate the people to use CFLs to replace existing incandescent lamps and save 1,500 million kWh/year and reduce CO2 emissions by 0.7 million ton/year. USAID’s ECO-Asia Clean Development and Climate Program worked with EGAT during the establishment of its quality testing scheme for the CFLs to ensure that the test specifications and CFL lifetime requirements were harmonized with those of other agencies and countries in the region.

USAID Promotes Cleaner Coal in Asia. Technical experts from ten countries met in Vietnam this week to examine the most effective ways to mitigate climate change by improving the efficiency of coal power plants. Exploring state-of-the-art technologies, 64 workshop participants examined plant design, coal quality, and materials. After the workshop, participants learned more about operational issues during a study tour to model power plants in Japan. The workshop and study tour were co-sponsored by the Asian Development Bank, USAID, and Electricity Vietnam. JPower Ltd. and Chubu Electric organized study tours to their power plants in Japan.