The 5th Annual Meeting ofWater Environment Partnership in Asia (WEPA)
Chairperson’s Summary

1. The Fifth Annual Meeting of Water Environmental partnership in Asia (WEPA) was held on
10 March 2010 in Hanoi Horizon Hotel, Viet Nam. The Annual Meeting was chaired by Dr.
Mitsumasa Okada, the chair of the WEPA Advisory Committee. There were 29 participants
who attended the annual meeting, including 21 participants from 11 WEPA partner countries
and 3 WEPA advisors. The meeting also had participation from Sri Lanka, one of the newWEPA partner candidate countries. The list of participants is attached to this summary asAttachment 1. Participants shared the goal of and exchanged their views on WEPA activities
in the second phase.
2.

The main points of the annual meeting are summarised as below.

Sharing goals of the second phase of WEPA
Mr. Shu Nishi, Deputy Director, Water Environmental Management Division,Environmental Management Bureau, Ministry of the Environment, Japan presented thegoals and overall picture of WEPA Second phase based on Doc. 1 “Water Environment
Partnership in Asia (WEPA) Outline of Activities of the Second Phase” (Attachment 2 ofthis summary). As for the annual meeting, it is suggested that the annual meeting shouldhave more discussion since it is a good opportunity for face-to-face communication.
The participants endorsed the WEPA outline of activities of the second phase. The mainfeatures of the second phase of activities are summarized below.
(1) Overall goal of WEPA continues to be “strengthening water environmental
governance” in each WEPA partner country. By strengthening water environmental
governance, it is expected that efficiency and effectiveness of water environmental
policy planning and implementation will be enhanced.
(2) To achieve the goal of WEPA, the second phase of WEPA (April 2009 – March 2012)
has specific objectives, namely (a) identification of areas need policy intervention
through extended analysis of water environment governance, (b) sharing of knowledge
and finding of options for solution of common and emerging issues on water
environment through discussion; (c) delivery of message from WEPA, and (d)enhancement of knowledge and capacity of partners through WEPA activities.

(3) Policy reports, messages from WEPA, updated WEPA database are the examples ofthe expected outputs of the second phase. Enhancement of knowledge and capacity ofpartners through WEPA activities is an expected outcome of the second phase.
(4) The focal point person should be appointed by each partner country, and he or she isexpected to carry out functions for achieving the objective of WEPA through regularcommunications and commitments regarding WEPA activities.
(5) The number of WEPA partner countries can be increased with the endorsement ofexisting partner countries.
(6) The Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES) continues to be theSecretariat of WEPA. .
3. Work Program April 2010 – March 2014
The work program of WEPA Second phase for each specific goal was explained by Ms.
Yatsuka Kataoka, Manager of the Freshwater Project. The main points of the discussion on
this topic are summarized as below.
(1) Senior Official’s Meeting
In general, the idea of organizing a senior officials meeting was welcomed byparticipants.

In current plan of activities, the senior officials meeting is to be heldin FY2011 (April 2011 – March 2012) and before the Sixth World Water Forum inMarch 2012.
The meeting of high-level officials would bring better recognition and an increase ofimpacts of WEPA activities in each partner country, which help the work of the focal
point persons.
There was a proposal that participation at vice minister level might be appropriate
for the proposed meeting.
The general purpose of the senior officials meeting should be information sharing
and discussion on important topics of WEPA for future actions. The topic of themeeting is very important and needs to be decided carefully.
The WEPA Secretariat is requested to elaborate the concepts of the senior officials
meeting including objective, topics and expected outputs in close consultation of
focal point of each partner country.
(2) Update of WEPA database
An update of the WEPA database contents was raised as one of the urgent actions thatWEPA should take. The WEPA Secretariat has been trying to update the information bysuch means as regular check of web-site of partner organisations, country reports
prepared by JICA-WEPA training course, but there are limitations to how much

information of each WEPA country can be gained through such means. It is requested
that WEPA partner country should provide update information for the WEPA databasewhen there has been any new development.
(3) Earlier notice of discussion topics of WEPA meetings
To prepare presentations with good quality for WEPA meetings such as workshops, it isdesirable to know the discussion topics of WEPA meeting much earlier. It is requested
that the WEPA Secretariat should provide meeting topics for the Japanese fiscal year
2010 (April 2010 – March 2011) at an earlier stage of the fiscal year, in consultation
with the Ministry of the Environment, Japan and WEPA partner countries whennecessary.
(4) Outreach activities
Considering the member countries of WEPA, it is necessary to collaborate with
ASEAN+3 countries which work on the water environmental governance issues.
It is good that the current plan of activities extends WEPA outreach activities not only
to water but also to non-water policy process such as the Conference of Parties(COP) of United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
In addition, it is also very useful for WEPA to provide inputs to key organisations ineach WEPA country on related topics.
(5) Inclusion of “activities” in each WEPA country
WEPA or Ministry of the Environment of Japan should consider implementation of“activities” in each country and share information and knowledge to be accumulated in
actual projects with specific suggestions. Information gained through such activities canreflect the difference in the level of development and water environmental problems ofeach WEPA country and therefore make more effective knowledge sharing possible.
4. Main Points of the 1st WEPA International Workshop – Thematic Session 1The main points of the thematic session 1 on urbanization and water quality control for thesource of water in Asian city were introduced by Mr. Tetsuo Kuyama, Researcher, IGES.
Salient points on the session were summarized as follows.
Rapid urbanization and population increase brought urban wastewater problems in all
WEPA countries, although problems differ from city to city.
In addition to the technical solution, enforcement of wastewater management policy andmanagement tools such as laws and standards is also the issue that WEPA shouldaddress.
Urban wastewater management should be addressed together with urban development
or planning. For example, wastewater from illegal residence near river/water reservoir

cannot be solved solely by wastewater management policies.
5. Main points of the 1st WEPA International Workshop – Thematic Session 2Ms. Yatsuka Kataoka, IGES summarized the thematic session on climate change impacts tothe water environment and adaptation options, with special focus on small group discussion
to identify potential impacts and adaptation options. The list of potential impacts andadaptation options identified through the discussion was summarized in Table 1. As thecommon issues for future discussion on this topics, the following points were presented: (1)identification of observed impacts of climate change on water environment (what haschanged?), (2) estimation of impacts of climate change on water environment (what willchange?), and (3) identification of necessary adaptation options and potential outcomes.
In relation to the theme of the session, the following comments were raised by the WEPA
partner countries.
Climate change issues are the topics that other governmental organization(s) isresponsible for, and therefore it is difficult to address the issue. (RPC)
It is important to share the information and knowledge on the theme which are notproperly addressed. (RPK)Capacity development is most important for this theme. It is good for WEPA or Ministryof the Environment, Japan to explore more support for capacity development on climatechange and water, especially on technical issues. (Cambodia)
It is necessary to combine climate change issues with other water environmental
problems such as urban wastewater management. (Cambodia)
The scope of discussion under WEPA on this topic should be narrowed down to “waterenvironmental issues and climate change”.

(Cambodia)

Wastewater management and climate change related knowledge should be addressed fromthe viewpoint of co-benefit approach under WEPA. Such knowledge is useful and also
will facilitate coordination and network with other ministries related to the issue atcountry level. (Thailand)
Intensified drought is one of the biggest issues on this theme. This issue should beaddressed by demand-side management and therefore water conservation should beincluded in the discussion scope (Malaysia)
Adaptation options for the water environment are also important for forest conservation
and water ecosystem. (Lao PDR)
Case study of different countries on this theme would be useful to share the knowledge
among partners (Viet Nam).

In addition to the JICA training, it is desirable that WEPA conduct pilot studies or provide
policy advice to each country as its capacity development activities. (Viet Nam).
6. New Partner Countries
To extend knowledge sharing by a larger number of partner countries, an increase of partnercountries is considered by the WEPA secretariat with due consideration to the effectivenessof project activities and budget size. In the annual meeting, the participation of Nepal and SriLanka in WEPA as new partner countries was proposed by the chairperson and endorsed by
all partner countries attended.
7. Other matters
The Secretariat asked partner countries to provide their suggestions, proposals and further
comments on WEPA activities. The suggestions/proposals/comments provided by partnercountries will be considered in planning and implementation of future WEPA activities indue consideration of financial and human resources available.

Finalized on 31 March 2010