WRITTEN QUESTION No. 1994/98 by Anita POLLACK to the Commission. EU/Asia environmental measures
Date: 1998-06-30
Institutions: European Parliament, POLLACK
Subjects: India, South Asia, bilateral relations, environmental cooperation, environmental policy, exchange of information, management of resources, sustainable development, urban area

C 13/132

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

18.1.1999

Therefore that Directive does not apply to plans as described by the Honourable Member to extend publicly-
owned land for the purposes of logistical activities.

If actual projects deriving from this plan were to be put into practice it would be appropriate to establish whether
they are covered by the abovementioned Directive.

(1999/C 13/186)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1994/98

by Anita Pollack (PSE) to the Commission

(30 June 1998)

Subject: EU/Asia environmental measures

What specific measures is the Commission taking to develop environmental capacity-building in the government
sector in the countries of South Asia?

Answer given by Mr Marin on behalf of the Commission

(27 July 1998)

A number of actions to help develop environmental management capacity for South Asian governments were
launched by the Commission in the past years. More are however needed. The Asia-EcoBest project was
launched in 1997. Designed to operate in South and South-east Asia, for both the private and the government
sector, it serves to build environmental capacity in the Asian countries and to facilitate environmental co-
operation between Europe and Asia. Elements of the project seek to facilitate a greater involvement of
government, and therefore the development of the capacity to manage the environment, by promoting the
transfer of Community best practice in the field of the environment and sustainable development. This is
expected to lead to stronger bilateral ties between South Asian countries and the Community and the further
development of environmental co-operation at the policy level, with corresponding improvement in overall
performance in the longer term. Asia-EcoBest operates through RIET (www.riet.org).

The Asia-Urbs programme (www.asia.urbs.com) covers South and South-east Asia. It targets European and
Asian local authorities and helps the joint implementation of projects in the field of urban environment
improvement. Its main aim is to provide local operators with a better knowledge of the conditions needed to
empower a sustainable urban economic development. Private and public partners on both sides will promote
durable and sustainable activities. The programme should have an important and beneficial bottom-up effect on
the capacity to develop urban environmental policy at central government level. Asia-Urbs is also expected to
bring about a considerable sharing of environmental expertise across a range of local authorities in different
regions. This will reduce the need for an extensive, central government-inspired urban environmental policy,
given that the latter is likely to take longer to develop than the urgency of some of the problems in the mega-cities
and other conurbations will allow.

Environmental co-operation with the Indian government has lagged behind the development of co-operation in
other areas for a variety of reasons, including the lack of emphasis that India has placed on a bilateral
environmental dialogue. The Commission has started to map out the priorities for bilateral co-operation on
environment and sustainable development with India. These are expected to feature the development of capacity
at government level. The weaker focus on the Indian government(cid:146)s environmental capacity building contrasts
with the actions the Community has financed in the environment field (reforestation, watershed management,
rehabilitation of degraded lands, shared forest management, energy, alternative energy and energy efficiency).