NEAT Working Group on“Towards Building a Sustainable Society in East Asia”

Final ReportTokyo
6th August 2019

1. Background
In East Asia, regional cooperation and integration have been promoted, as seen inthe cases of the establishment of ASEAN+3 (APT) in 1997, East Asian Summit (EAS) in 2005,
and ASEAN Community in 2015, focusing on the fields of economy, finance, education,disaster prevention, etc. in particular. Especially, economic mutual dependency has
deepened as East Asia observed a rapid economic development, which promoted theformation of supply-chain within the region. In the meantime, as the integration
progressed, the negative side effects of it including various trans-border threats are
spreading regionally and globally. Such threats can only be dealt with the multilateral
cooperation, because it would make a major impact politically, economically and socially,
therefore no single country is able to combat alone.
Then, what is the global/regional challenge the East Asia is facing today? That is tosay, whether we could build a sustainable society and continue the development
accordingly, with the Sustainable Development Goals in mind. The “sustainable society” isgenerally defined as the society in which the natural environment is appropriately
preserved, and the development is conducted to fulfill the needs of the current generation
while not passing down the cost to the future generation. In East Asia, the building of thesustainable society and its development is being disturbed by the severing environment
issues, and various related issues are surfacing.
For example, disaster risks originating from the climate change are rising in Asia,and the ocean is polluted by 8 million ton of disposed plastics annually, posing a serious
threat to the marine bio-ecosystem. What makes those issues challenging to tackle
originates from the lack of region-wide information sharing platform, or of anenvironmental education, hence the lack of a multinational cooperation scheme.
Under the framework of the ASEAN Plus Three (APT), Meeting of the Ministers ofthe Environment has been held once a year since 2002, and twice since 2015. The ASEAN+3
Marine Plastics Debris Cooperative Action Initiative that aims to promote environmentallyfriendly management of plastic wastes and of 3Rs –Reduce, Reuse, Recycle- was proposed,
which was widely welcomed at the APT Summit Meeting last year.
In a case of Indonesia, the understandings to the environment cycle weredeepened thanks to the environment education given to the youth of the community andfemales, so they turned to organic farming or growing various products in small units. The1

community businesses were further supported with micro-financing, and it generated thecash revenue for those who sell the manufactured farm products (e.g. chocolates, vegetablesnacks, etc.), helped decline the number of females and younglings moving out of the city,while in return increasing the number who moves in and remains to stay. In Japan, ‘recycle
stations’ have been placed in the cities to promote habitants-led collection of recyclable
products and the environment education. It is observed that the activities related to therecycle station has let not only the reduction of the wastes, but also made the area friendly
for senior citizens, single-parents, or children living in poverty to live in, resulted in having
strengthened the social capital of the area.
Such good-practice can be adopted in other countries, too, though it still remains
to be an example within that area due to lack of measures to analyze it or of information
sharing platform. While APT framework has ASEAN Working Group on Environmental
Education (AWGEE), providing a platform for a mutual reference on the environment
education practiced in the member countries, yet it has not given a function to collectregion-wide data of good-practices or to transfer know-hows to abroad. Based on suchcircumstance, building of a rapid response scheme particularly in the environmental issues
is inevitable to further promote the sustainable development in East Asia.

2. Objective
This Working Group examines the possibilities of developing a new approach aswell as constructing the network of cooperation on the environmental issues in particular,such as ocean plastic pollution, building of ‘Smart City,’ the environment education, while
utilizing the current existing schemes, to further develop a sustainable society in East Asia.
The WG was expected to identify the major challenges, examine possible areas to improveor further develop and prepare recommendations to the APT Summit from the standpointof Track II diplomacy.

3. Challenges
Given such backgrounds, how shall we consider the possibilities of developing a
new approach as well as of constructing the network of cooperation especially on theenvironmental issues, such as ocean plastic pollution, building of ‘Smart City,’ the2environment education, while utilizing the current existing scheme, to further develop asustainable society in East Asia, to further promote the sustainable development in theregion? In the upcoming Working Group, we would like to propose to discuss (1) how shallthe member states of APT cooperatively tackle the ocean plastic pollution to further
promote the sustainable development of the region, and deepen such notion as aregion-wide, collective one, as well as to enhance and strengthen the measureinternationally; (2) how shall APT members promote its cooperation and enhancement inbuilding ‘smart city’ concept, and the regional environment education; (3) what kind ofsystem would be created based on a cooperative network to tackle the environmental
issues regionally, to achieve a sustainable development.

4. Discussions at the Working Group meeting
25 experts from APT countries and the sponsoring organization, the Japan Forumon International Relations (JFIR), took part in a working group meeting in Tokyo on 6August 2019 which was organized in a keynote address and three sessions.
In Session I “Promoting the Cooperation and Enhancement in Building ‘smart
city’ Concept, and the Regional Environment Issues,” the idea of "smart city" is notnecessarily commonly shared among East and Southeast Asian nations, but this concept isclosely related to various Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), especially SDG 4 (Ensureinclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities forall), SDG 7 (Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all),SDG 11 (Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable), andSDG 13 (Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts). It also points tosome technological elements to suggest the integration of energy, transport and industry
managing by the Internet of Things (IoT) and artificial intelligence (AI), by promoting
renewable energy resources, the electrification of local communities, and integrated water
and waste management schemes, etc. The notion of smart city should go beyond theboundary of the city to include rural communities seeking a fair, resilient, livable,family-minded and environment-friendly society.
In Session II, “Cooperation on Tackling the Ocean Plastic Pollution,” each member
countries have been conducting efforts of improving waste management, including
promoting 3R (recycle, reuse, reproduce), introducing quality environment infrastructure3

for final disposal treatments of the plastic debris, enhancing public awareness throughinformation sharing. On the other hand, these are not enough to reduce marine plastic
debris, because there is lacking a sense of reducing plastic products. We should takeadditional ways to reducing plastic products, such as to invent alternative materials ofplastic which can be biodegradable with economic reliability, and to promote the change oflife style from using one-way plastic products to multi-time use plastic products, and theinfrastructure developments (e.g., public water supply). In addition, change of minds andattitudes of ordinal persons are necessary. Therefore, enhancing public awareness of plastic
pollution should be targeted for our action and we should to try to change activities ofdaily lives and economic activities relating plastic pollutions.
In Session III, “Further Development of a Sustainable Society in East Asia,” thedefinitions and agenda of “sustainable society” include very wide aspects, such as
wellbeing dimensions of environment, human aspects and economic dimension. In a morenarrow sense, it is often considered as reducing pollution of air and water (includingocean), improving sanitation and waste water management, reduction of CO2 emission anduse of renewable resource, more efficient farming technique, and efforts of reducing
consumption aiming to 3-R (reduce, reuse, recycle) oriented society, etc. To improve thesituations towards sustainable society, there are several pillars of efforts such as: (1)formation of effective plan and goals improving environmental situations (such ascountry-based SDGs), (2) improvement of infrastructure of reducing waste (improvementof water supply/waste management, etc.), (3) increase of the awareness of the people topreserve clean environment, eliminate waste and needless consumption, and to takeactions to promote sustainable practices.

(4) improvement of poor governance relating to

the environmental issues (such as the lack of responsibility and accountability). In thediscussions, the differences of the situations and the level of technology among member
countries were also mentioned, but we are sharing the common agenda and importance ofthe joint actions and intra-regional cooperation to tackle the common challenges.

5. Policy Recommendations
In East Asia, various problems caused by severe environmental issues arehindering the construction of a sustainable society and the development that follows.
Therefore, it is necessary for East Asia to promptly act on the environment issues, such as4

combating ocean plastic pollution, and building of smart cities. The following are key
policy recommendations:(1) To create the information-sharing platform for smart cities and ocean plastic wastes in
ASEAN+3 and to share the examples of best practices to promote a sustainable society
among member countries.
(2) To galvanize all the stakeholders such as public officers, entrepreneurs, industrialists,financers, civil society organizations (CSOs), and local people to participate in planningand building a smart and sustainable society.
(3) To build smart cities by incorporating local culture and traditional wisdom into theblueprint of a sustainable community.
(4) To educate all generations to be aware of health and environmental impacts of plastic
debris and to enhance environmentally friendly practices in daily life.
(5) To promote additional interdisciplinary researches to precisely grasp current situations
and future impacts of the marine debris, by using scientific methods and sharing the resultswith reliable data.
(6) To create new market-based mechanisms of effectively reducing waste and promoting
alternative material usages.

[END]

5List of Participants
Brunei
Ian MAIDIN
Second Secretary, Embassy of Brunei

Yuzilawati ABDULLAHAssociate Researcher, Centre for Strategic & Policy Studies, Brunei Darussalam

Cambodia
Dyakanal SOPHALTechnical Officer, Department of Hazardous Substances Management,
Ministry of Environment

TROEUNG Monich
Deputy Chief Bureau of ASEAN Plus Three and East Asia Summit,
Department of General Department of ASEAN,
Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation
China
XUE Xiaopeng
Vice Dean of International Studies, Dalian University of Foreign Languages
Indonesia
Shofwan Al Banna CHOIRUZZAD
Executive Secretary, ASEAN Study Center, Universitas Indonesia
Japan[WG Members]*Director of the WG

INADA Juichi*
Professor, Senshu University

OHTA Hiroshi*
Professor, Waseda University6ISHIKAWA Satoshi
Professor, Tokai University

ONODA Hiroshi
Professor, Waseda University[The Japan Forum on International Relations]
WATANABE Mayu
President, JFIRITO GoDirector and Director of Research, JFIR / Professor, Meiji University
YANO Takuya
Director and Research Coordinator, JFIRKIKUCHI Yona
Director and Senior Research Fellow, JFIR
TAKEDA Yuki
Research Fellow, JFIR
LaosSulathin THILADEJ
Director of Research Division, Institute of Foreign Affairs
Souksavanh VICHITTAVONG
Director of International Cooperation Division, Institute of Foreign Affairs
Bounphieng PHEUAPHETLANGSY
Academic officer of Research Division, Institute of Foreign Affairs
Malaysia
Calvin Kah Weng CHENG
Researcher, Economics, Trade & Regional Integration,
Institute of Strategic & International Studies
MyanmarKhin Maung LYNN
Joint-Secretary 1, Myanmar Institute of Strategic and International Studies

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Philippines
Marife Magno BALLESTEROS
Vice President, Philippine Institute for Development Studies
Singapore
Sarah TONG
Senior Research Fellow, East Asian Institute, National University of Singapore
ThailandKullapa SORATANA
Assistant Professor, School of Logistics and Supply Chain, Naraesuan UniversityVietnam
NGUYEN Thi Bich Ngoc
Senior Research Fellow, Institute for Foreign Policy and Strategic Studies,
Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam
NGUYEN Le Ngoc AnhFellow Researcher, Institute for Foreign Policy and Strategic Studies,
Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam

In Alphabetical Order of Country Name8