The 4th ASEM Environment Ministers’ Meeting focused on the theme, “Sustainable Water and Forest Management“.
The availability and access to clean water is increasingly threatened by overuse, misuse and pollution, while forests have been cut and burnt at unprecedented scale. In recent years, estimates for deforestation and forest degradation were shown to account for 20-25 percent of greenhouse gas emissions.
The Meeting provided the member countries timely opportunity to exchange views on appropriate policies and best practices encourage and facilitate further cooperation and raise public awareness of scarcity of water and forests.