CIFAL Jeju Builds Capacities on Sustainable Waste Management in the Asia-Pacific Region

30 June 2014, Jeju, Republic of Korea – CIFAL Jeju convened fourteen government officials and civil society representatives from nine countries from Asia-Pacific for a three-day workshop on “Capacity Building for Sustainable Waste Management in the Asia-Pacific Region to Promote Eco-Town Model and Integrated Solid Waste Management”. CIFAL Jeju hosted the event from 24 to 26 June 2014 at Jeju International Training Center (JITC).

Countries represented in the workshop included Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, India, Malaysia, Nepal, Philippines, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. The event served as a platform to build capacities in waste management through eco-town concepts and to share in-depth knowledge and good practices among participants. The event also provided the space for city-to-city cooperation in formulating and implementing waste management strategies and action plans.

The workshop was led by the experts on integrated solid waste management and eco-town models Dr. Sun Kyoung Shin from the National Institute of Environmental Research (NIER), ROK; Ms. Akiko Doi from GEC, Osaka, Japan; Dr. Mushtaq Ahmed Memon from UNEP IETC, Osaka; and Professor Jeong-In Kim from Chung-Ang University, ROK. The lectures focused on key topics including Korea’s national strategy for waste management; Osaka city’s strategy on solid waste management; green growth policy of Korea; and Penang city’s waste management.

The workshop was highly dynamic, including group discussions on the implementation of waste management strategies, collaborative exercises to formulate ISWM to transform cities and towns into eco-towns, city-to-city exchanges, and action plan preparations and presentations. Furthermore, participants had the opportunity to do site visits to explore best practices in waste management.