IGES celebrated the opening of a new office for its Regional Centre in Bangkok (BRC) and hosted a ceremony at the Pullman Bangkok Hotel G, on Friday, 19 January 2024. The ceremony was attended by approximately 50 representatives from various Thai ministries, including the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MONRE), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Ministry of Labour, along with representatives from embassies, development agencies, and research institutions. Notable attendees included The Agence Française de Développement (AFD), the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT), the British Embassy, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), the Embassy of Japan, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI), the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), the Klik Foundation, the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI), the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).
BRC was established in 2011 to strengthen the functions of the project office in Bangkok, which had been operating since 2003. Since its establishment, the centre has been actively engaged as a hub for networking and collaboration with diverse stakeholders in the Asia-Pacific region, focusing on priority issues: climate change adaptation, climate change mitigation, environmental safeguards, sustainable consumption and production, global environmental outlook, and sustainable city development. Kazuhiko Takeuchi, president of IGES, welcomed all participants and shared the history of BRC, which has been providing practical solutions and capacity building to translate policies into action on the ground. He emphasised IGES’s commitment to further strengthen partnerships and cooperation to accelerate initiatives toward a sustainable society in the Asia-Pacific region.
BRC also held a tree planting and donation ceremony* at Lumpini Park to pay tribute to the late Dr. Peter King, an esteemed former IGES senior fellow and a prominent environmentalist, who passed away in October 2023. Dr. King had been dedicated to BRC activities for nearly 20 years since joining in 2005, making significant contributions to IGES
IGES and BRC will continue to address critical issues in the Asia-Pacific region, working towards a sustainable future through collaboration with diverse stakeholders.
Bangkok Regional Centre (BRC): https://www.iges.or.jp/en/about/research-units/regional-centre-bangkok
Access information of new office: https://www.iges.or.jp/en/about/access/bangkok
*IGES planted 9 trees and donated 500 trees to the "One Million Trees for Bangkok’s Green Space and Clean Air" campaign initiated by the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA). It aims to increase public awareness on global warming solution, expand urban green spaces and tackle PM2.5 air pollution in Bangkok