U.S.-Singapore 2005-2007 Plan of Action for Environmental Cooperation

2008-2010 Plan of Action for Environmental Cooperation

On October 30, 2007, the Governments’ of the United States and the Republic of Singapore adopted this Plan of Action (POA) during a biennial meeting to review status of cooperation under the United States-Singapore Memorandum of Intent on Environmental Cooperation (MOI). This POA revises and updates a previous POA that covered the period 2005 through 2007. The U.S. and Singapore Governments (“the Governments”) will review progress toward achieving the goals contained in this Plan in all of their future consultations to review the status of cooperation under the MOI. The Governments may update and amend the goals and activities set forth in this Plan in future consultations between the Governments on environmental cooperation. Implementation of project ideas described in this POA is subject to the availability of funds.

I. Background

The MOI identifies environmental issues of mutual interest to the Governments, and establishes a mechanism through which the Governments can pursue cooperative efforts in those areas. In it, the Governments also established their intent to engage in cooperative bilateral activities and, where appropriate, in regional activities to promote sustainable environmental policies and practices and effective measures in support of sustainable development (MOI Section 2.1)

The MOI establishes the following types of activities as possible areas of cooperation between the Governments:

a) Strengthening cooperative relationships so as to build institutional capacity to promote environmental management, including through compliance, enforcement, and performance;

b) Exchanging information on environmental best practices of industry, including the application of cleaner processes and technologies and sustainable production practices;

c) Exploring possible avenues for technological cooperation, including research and development and facilitating the transfer of new technologies on mutually agreed terms;

d) Promoting improved environmental protection, including natural resources, through such mechanisms as: incentives for conserving, restoring, or enhancing the environment; energy efficiency and renewable energy; public/private partnerships; endangered species conservation; improved natural resource management; and environmental education.

II. Mutually-identified Goals

In accordance with the MOI, the Governments have identified the following goals to be pursued during the period 2008 through 2010, noting that bilateral and regional efforts may complement each other in many cases:

1) Encouraging the bilateral and regional use of innovative and climate friendly environmental technology and pollution management techniques.

2) Participating in regional initiatives on environmentally sustainable cities and sustainable management and trade in sustainably managed resources, such as fisheries and forests.

3) Further improving capacity to implement and enforce environmental laws, including further enhancing efforts of countries in the region to combat illegal trade in environmentally sensitive goods (e.g., wildlife, ozone-depleting substances, forest products) through bilateral and regional cooperative activities.

Below are illustrative examples of activities related to each goal, taken from activities that are currently underway, in the planning stages, or proposed:

1) Encouraging the bilateral and regional use of innovative environmental technology and pollution management techniques:

· Technical exchanges to share information on air pollution management, focusing on particular topics such as cleaner fuels and technologies for vehicles, remote sensing devices for monitoring vehicular emissions and fine particulate matter (PM2.5).

· Encouraging use of innovative environmental technology in urban water/wastewater/solid waste management by highlighting effective use of this technology in Singapore and United States along with support of efforts to draw potential investors into the region, particularly focusing on water safety.

· Exchanging of information on environmental best practices of industry, including on the application of cleaner, more sustainable and energy efficient technologies and production practices.

· Organising internationally recognised technical conferences on water and development of programmes for PhD fresh water researchers from North America to come to Singapore to pursue post-doctoral positions in universities, research centres or environment and water technology companies in Singapore.

· Continuing to develop the relationship between the Singapore Public Utilities Board (PUB) and the American Waterworks Association, and exploring cooperation related to the PUB initiative to establish a regional training center for utility operation and management.

· Joint collaboration on projects related to water security, desalination, contamination treatment and removal, and use of Integrated Watershed Management planning to protect drinking water sources and to reduce and control land-based pollution sources].

· Technical exchanges with a view of developing capacities on radiological safety and on terrain decontamination capabilities, particularly on response plan to handle recovery phase terrain decontamination for chemical, biological and radiological incidents; technology, approach, methodology, procedures and equipment for carrying out terrain decontamination; procedures for post-incident monitoring of the contaminants; standards for establishing whether the affected area can be declared safe for return to normalcy; management of contaminated water/run-off arising from the terrain decontamination operations; and management and disposal of the contaminated wastes arising from the decontamination operations.

2) Participation by both Parties in regional initiatives on sustainable management and trade in sustainably managed resources, such as fisheries and forests, and environmentally sustainable cities, where appropriate:

· Explore regional collaboration in Asia-Pacific Region to develop and promote regional networks of cooperation in environmental compliance and enforcement by improvement of regional compliance with CITES and the Montreal Protocol, including participation in the ASEAN Wildlife Enforcement Network.

· Participation by both Parties in regional initiatives on sustainable management and trade in sustainably managed resources, such as fisheries and forests.

· Participation by both Parties in regional initiatives and strategies on preventing the spread of potential alien invasive species.

· Participation in the Regional Environmentally Sustainable Cities Programme of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

3) Improving capacity to implement and enforce environmental laws and to combat illegal trade in environmentally sensitive goods (e.g., wildlife, ozone-depleting substances, forest products) through cooperative activities:

· Visit(s) to the United States by Singaporean officials to meet and consult with counterparts engaged in enforcing environmental trade laws, including controls imposed by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) and the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer (Montreal Protocol).

· Technical exchanges on approaches with regards to the prevention of pollution from ships in accordance with Marpol 73/78.

· Workshops on improving enforcement against wildlife trafficking at ports of entry, conducted by necessary experts and inviting participants from the region, including not only Singapore but also other regional ports of entry that could serve as source or transshipment points for illegal wildlife trade.

· A conference or bilateral meeting(s) of officials from relevant government agencies to discuss, among other topics:

o The Governments’ existing laws, policies and procedures relevant to trade (including transit and transshipment) of environmentally sensitive goods.

o Mechanisms for governmental cooperation and measures the Governments should take to improve the control of this trade.

· Exploration of avenues for legal cooperation in the investigation and prosecution of environment-related crime.

· Encouraging cooperation in criminal and civil enforcement of laws related to trade in environmentally sensitive goods, including cooperation in investigating violations, provided that such cooperative activities are in accordance with and subject to domestic laws of each country respectively.

· Technical exchanges on approaches to effective implementation and enforcement of environmental laws, including, for example:

o The use of criminal, civil and administrative enforcement authorities;

o Techniques for conducting inspections of regulated facilities and investigations into possible violations; and

o Voluntary approaches to promote compliance with environmental laws.

o Enforcement and compliance indicators and performance evaluation.

o Laws, policies and approaches to engaging public participation and ensuring public access to information and access to justice on matters affecting the environment.

· Increased participation in the Asian Environmental Compliance and Enforcement Network.

III. Benchmarks

As the Governments more narrowly define cooperative programs, projects, and activities under the Plan, the Governments will identify performance indicators and benchmarks to measure appropriately the progress made in accomplishing or otherwise furthering the goals and objectives of such programs, projects and activities and will facilitate public reporting of that progress. To the degree that the Governments use independent sources of monitoring data and evaluation to assess progress, they should collaborate with those other sources in identifying suitable performance indicators and benchmarks.

IV. Monitoring and Evaluation

The Governments intend to seek and consider input from relevant local, regional, and international organizations, including, but not limited to, ASEAN and APEC, regarding relevant environmental conditions and indicators and views on the utility of cooperation under this Plan of Action. The Governments will also encourage public participation in identifying opportunities and implementing environmental collaboration, and will make information on activities carried out under the MOI available to the public on a regular basis. At their regular consultations under the MOI, the Governments plan to establish benchmarks and indicators in order to evaluate progress made toward meeting the goals established under the Plan of Action.