Independent technical review panel : United States-Asia Environmental Partnership

Section II of this technical review of the USAEP program makes a case for its involvement in East/Southeast Asia and describes the development of HPEs in the region and their effect on its environment. Section III discusses USAEP's dilemma in choosing, among the large number that exist in Asia, the environmental problems and countries on which to focus its efforts. Section IV describes the Incentives-Based Industrial Strategy (IBIS) to encourage environmentally-safe industrial growth, and includes examples of the IBIS model. Conclusions are drawn in Section V. Given its severely limited resources, it would behoove USAEP to address clearly defined problems in a few "core" countries; in this way, the Program could ensure a few important long-term environmental improvements. Successes in "core" countries could be disseminated through regional networks. Specifically, USAEP should build on the best of its past contributions, focusing on a clean technology revolution in urban/industrial areas, utilizing the IBIS approach. The strategy, which is not a short-term, quick payoff activity, will probably require a 10-year commitment on the part of USAEP and its Asian partners. If it adopts the IBS strategy, USAEP will need to make major organizational changes, including a smaller central body with improved analysis and performance monitoring capacities, and program tracking, documenting, and assessing mechanisms; the devolution of authority to country or regionally based field offices; Asian involvement in program design; the integration into IBIS of program subcomponents such as Professional and Organizational Development (POD) and the "tech reps" system; and the use of best available U.S. and Asian leadership.