MCED2005 Side Event: Multistakeholder Forum for an Equitable and Environmentally Sustainable Society
Message from the Asia-Pacific:
A New Era for Sustainable Development and a Knowledge Network

This event was sponsored and organized by the Ministry of the Environment, Japan and the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES) in collaboration with UN/ESCAP and UNEP with assistance from ADB and UNU. In addition, the organization of the event was fully assisted by Dr. Kim Myung-ja, APFED Member from the MCED2005 host country, Republic of Korea, as well as the Member of the National Assembly of this nation. She is also an APFED member.

More than 120 participants including MCED key persons attended Opening remarks: Dr. Kim Myung-ja, Korean National Assembly Member, Mr. Kwak Kyul-Ho, Korean Minister of Environment, and Dr. Kim Hak-Su, ESCAP Executive Secretary The event was attended by one hundred twenty five participants, including Mr. Kwak Kyul-ho, Minister of the Environment, representatives of the international organizations, such as Mr. Kim Hak-su of UNESCAP and Mr. Kaus Toepfer of UNEP, heads of research institutes in Asia-Pacific region and APFED members, including its Chairperson Mr. Ryutaro Hashimoto.

"The challenges facing the Asia-Pacific region remain as daunting as ever, but these challenges could be turned into opportunities." Ms. Yoriko Kawaguchi, former Minister of the Environment of Japan Official launch of APFED Final Report In the event, APFED Final Report was formally launched. The Final Report was presented by Ms Yoriko Kawaguchi, former Minister of the Environment of Japan, together with the background and deliberation history of APFED. Klaus Töpfer, UNEP Executive Director also summarised the background and outcomes of APFED, highlighting its contributions to building partnership among multistakeholders. Dr. Klaus Töpfer, UNEP Executive Director

A knowledge-based network linking strategic research institutes in the region The presentation was supplemented by the panel discussion among APFED members chaired by Emil Salim, Association for Community Empowerment, Indonesia, through which fundamental message of APFED final report, as well as salient points of its Recommendations were shared by the participants. The side event also discussed next steps forward to put the APFED Recommendations into practice, among which the importance of creating a knowledge-based network linking strategic research institutes in the region was emphasised.

(From L to R: Dr. Emil Salim, Dr. Rajendra. K Pachauri, Dr. Yoon, Suh-Sung, Prof. Sanit Aksornkoae, Prof. Kimio Uno)

Adoption of Appeal to MCED 2005 In concluding the event, the participants adopted an "APFED Appeal to MCED2005" which consolidated the crucial components of the APFED message, associated with the highlight of its recommendations with particular relevance to the MCED main theme, "Achieving Environmentally Sustainable Economic Growth". presentation of APFED Appeal draft: Prof. Akio Morishima, Chairman of the Board of Directors, IGES Closing remarks: Mr. Ryutaro Hashimoto, former Prime Minister of Japan/ APFED Chair

Message from APFED to MCED Reporting on the Side Event at the Ministerial Segment, MCED 2005 Seoul, Republic of Korea, 28 March 2005 Delivered by Akio Morishima, IGES "The participants of the side event shared the view that the linkage between a non-governmental forum like APFED and an intergovernmental forum like MCED would be a very encouraging development to all the stakeholders, who are committed themselves to multistakeholder partnership for sustainable development in Asia and the Pacific. APFED is firmly committed to continuing to function as a multi-stakeholder forum where knowledge and ideas essential for promoting truly sustainable development in Asia-Pacific are actively discussed and exchanged. AFPED would like to take every possible opportunity to seek further collaboration with all stakeholders, such as governments, civil society organisations, the private sector and international organisations, in shaping follow-up actions to its recommendations. We appeal to all interested stakeholders to work together with us for realizing a sustainable Asia-Pacific." Report at MCED Ministerial Segment on 28 March, 2005 Text14KB / PPT400KB