United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)
 
 
 
Chapter 2 : Policy Responses and Directions
 
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Environmental Information
 
Information for environmentally sustainable development planning and management is a major concern in developing countries in the Asia-Pacific region. Assistance is provided by UNEP/EAP-AP to developing countries to improve the availability of reliable environment-related data for environmental assessment and sustainable decision making. UNEP/EAP-AP is helping to formulate an assessment framework and to lay the foundation for the use of a standard SoE database in the region. This database will support SoE reporting as a basis for policy formulation, priority setting and action planning. With associated countries in South Asia, Greater Mekong Sub-regions (GMS), South East Asia and the South Pacific, UNEP/EAP-AP has formulated a programme to service environment and natural resource information networking among database custodians in order to facilitate co-operative international assessments related to shared resources.
 
Environmental Economics
 
The ADB and the government of Norway, together with Harvard University, have developed a set of environmental indices for monitoring environmental changes. The study involved a systematic evaluation of the cost of impacts on the environment by calculating how much it would cost to restore an environmental situation. It put forward the development of a Cost-of-Remediation (COR) index for ADB’s developing member countries in the Asia-Pacific region. The second major index developed by this study, the Environmental Elasticity (EE), responds to the need to maintain awareness of changes in the environment as an economy develops. It aims at measuring the change in environmental quality relative to change in economy over time (ADB, 1996). 

The SACEP Strategy and Programme (SPR-1, 1992–96) includes regional co-operation in environmental impact assessment and cost benefit analysis, and in environment and development as one of the 15 priority subject areas (SACEP, 1992).
 
Economic Instruments
 
Table 2-1 shows the status of economic instruments which are currently used to promote environmental conservation within the Asia-Pacific region. (see table 2-1) 
 
 
 
  
 
 
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