Brief Introduction ofWater Environment Partnership in Asia(WEPA)WEPA Secretariat
Institute for Global Environmental Strategies1

What is WEPA?

Water Environment Partnership in Asia (WEPA)
 WEPA is an initiative proposed by
the Ministry of the Environment,
Japan (MOEJ) in 2003 at the Third
World Water Forum, and it became
official in 2004;

Republic of WEPA aims to improve water
environmental governance in theregion with full support of MOEJ.
WEPA operates in a 5-year cycle
and the fourth phase started inApril 2019;
 WEPA currently consists ofpartners in 13 Asian countries.
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Issues and Measures for Improving Water Governance in Asia
 There are two main reasons why water environment conservation in Asian region
has not been achieved - (i) Low compliance with effluent standards (ii) Effluent
standard-based approach is not sufficient enough to improve water quality
 Measures need to be taken according to each factor.
Main issue
Water environment conservation in the Asian region has
not been achieved.
（Env. water quality standards have not been achieved.)
Domestic and industrial effluent standards arenot complied with.
Effluent standards are notappropriate.

Effluent standard-based
approach is insufficient.

Measures
Measures tocomply withstandards

Review and improvementof effluent standards,
Application of temporary
effluent standards

Introduction of a total
pollutant load control
system (TPLCS)
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Key points for improving water governance Cooperation among stakeholders:

WEPA is facilitating policy dialogues among different stakeholders
in its Action Programs.

 Monitoring and improvement efforts through PDCA:WEPA, at its 4th Phase, is promoting capacity enhancement ofgovernment officials to ensure compliance with regulations toachieve water quality environmental standards.

 Partnerships among countries:

WEPA has been facilitating knowledge exchange and dialogues
among 13 member countries, thereby building capacity.

4Priorities and Activities of the 3rd and 4th Phase (2014-)
Priority of the 3rd and 4th Phase: Actions for the Solutions
Framework of the Activities
Identifying and addressing critical issues
through sharing experiences and providing
technical support

Facilitating knowledge exchange anddialogues, thereby building capacity
Group workshops

Annual Meetings

Bilateral Dialogues
Action Program

Facilitating cooperation with international organizations and donor agencies

Outreach
Webdatabase

WEPA Outlook+ Other Publications

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http://www.wepa-db.net/database.html

Inputs to international conferencessuch as the World Water Forum
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WEPA’s Contributions
to Contributions toWEPA’s
Improve Water
Governancein Asia
Improve
Water Governancein Asia
 WEPA contributes to raise
the awareness and build
technical capacity toformulate appropriate
policies/regulations
 WEPA supports thecountries’ compliance with
their regulations
 WEPA encourages policy
coherence througheffective cross-sectoral
coordination

Efficiency toEffectivenessof policies &regulations

maximize thebenefits ofwater andsanitation
services WEPA produces, regularly
update and timely shares
relevant data & information
 WEPA facilitates theimplementation ofinnovative and goodpractices through WEPA
Action Programs

Multi-stakeholder
engagement
 WEPA adopts a multi-stakeholder approach to facilitate policy dialogues,
networking, and capacity building for a variety of stakeholders.
 WEPA also facilitates the science-policy interface to contribute to better watergovernance Monitoring & Evaluation: Establishment of autonomous water environment
administration through the PDCA cycle6