USAID RDM/A Regional Environment Office Weekly Report Week Ending June 27, 2008

USAID Supports International Symposium and Sets Regional Agenda on Women and Urban Water. As part of the International Symposium on Women, Water, and Waste held on June 25-27, 2008 in Manila, Philippines, the USAID Environmental Cooperation–Asia (ECO-Asia) program hosted a roundtable with 20 experts from Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Philippine and Sri Lanka to develop a regional strategy on gender mainstreaming and promoting women’s advancement in the urban water services delivery. ECO-Asia will use the strategy to develop “twinning” partnerships between women’s groups in the region on addressing gender differences to ensure more sustainable urban water and sanitation services. Jointly organized by the Philippine Women’s University and ECO-Asia, over 200 people gathered for the symposium to share best practices on building women’s leadership roles and implementing gender balance in water and sanitation projects, and mainstreaming gender in community sanitation initiatives.
 
 ASEAN-WEN Foils Reptile Smuggling Operation. On June 23, 2008, Thailand’s Customs Department arrested two wildlife smugglers at Suvarnabhumi Airport, seizing more than 1,000 snakes and turtles destined for China. Police Colonel Subsak Chavalviwat, Senior Liaison Officer with the USAID- State-supported ASEAN Wildlife Enforcement Network (ASEAN-WEN) Program Coordination Unit, briefed the media on the seizure, the largest by Thai authorities this year. The Customs Department recovered hundreds of protected Malayan box turtles and yellow-headed temple turtles. Suvarnabhumi Airport Customs participates in the USAID-funded "Sold Out" campaign, which aims to educate the public on the impacts of trade in endangered species.
 
"Dramatic" Opening to ASEAN-WEN Investigation Course. Patravadi, Thailand’s top theater group, opened the nation’s second intensive Nature Crime Investigation Course (NCIC) with a dramatization of mafia involvement in nature crimes. The NCIC began this week at the Royal Police Cadet Academy in Samut Prakarn Province with participants and observers from Vietnam, India, and the United Nations Inter-Agency Project on Human Trafficking (UNIAP), who were impressed by this forceful reminder of the far-reaching impacts of nature crimes. USAID provided logistical support and two senior US Fish & Wildlife Service officers led the the two-week ASEAN-WEN NCIC, which brings together Thai police, judges, prosecutors, and defense attorneys to improve measures to detect and arrest the criminal networks plundering the region's forests.
 
Philippines Sharpens Enforcement with Wildlife Trade Regulation Training. On June 24, 2008, 60 wildlife enforcement officers gathered in Manila for a three-day Wildlife Trade Regulation Training Workshop designed to boost law enforcement capacity to stamp out the illegal wildlife trade in the Philippines. This ASEAN-WEN workshop, which was organized by the Protected Areas and Wildlife Bureau of the Philippines Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) with support from USAID, promoted greater inter-agency cooperation against wildlife crimes and brought together officers from the Philippines DENR, National Police, National Bureau of Investigation, Customs, Coast Guard, Ports Authority, and industry bureaus.
 
Indian Industry Signs on to USAID-supported Regional Plan to Protect $7 Billion Lighting Market. The Electrical Lighting Component Manufacturers’ Association (ELCOMA) of India has signed on to a regional agreement that will establish standards for energy-saving compact fluorescent lamps (CFL) in an effort to rid the Asian market of shoddy energy-saving lights. ELCOMA signed the agreement, called the “Manila Compact,” on June 20, 2008, which will develop CFL quality performance ratings, a system for product labeling, and a regional database that allows consumers to identify which CFLs meet quality standards. The Indian-owned multinational manufacturer Havells Sylvania also signed the agreement. CFLs have potential sales of $7 billion annually in Asia, and at least $1 billion in India, based on current usage and market projections. To date, Zhongshan Opple Lighting of China, Energy Mad lighting of New Zealand, lighting councils from Indonesia, the Philippines, and Australia, and the world’s three largest lighting companies­Philips, OSRAM, and General Electric­have all signed the Manila Compact. The system is being supported by USAID through its ECO-Asia Clean Development and Climate Program and the Australian Government as part of the Asia-Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate.