ASIA PACIFIC PEOPLES' FORUM ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

Held November 25-26,
prior to the Asia Pacific Regional PrepComm to the WSSD; Phnom Penh, Cambodia

This Forum was organised by the NGO Forum on Cambodia, the Cultural and Environmental Preservation Association, Tebtebba Foundation and Third World Network, in partnership with and financial support from Heinrich Boell Foundation, Germany and World Wildlife Fund Thailand in partnership with Danish 92 group a financial contribution of Oxfam America, and the Forum Syd Sweden.

Prior to the Asia Pacific Preparatory Meeting held in Phnom Penh, Cambodia end of November 2001, the Asia Pacific Peoples' Forum on Sustainable Development was held two days prior to the official meeting, on November 25-26, 2001.

The general objective of this Forum was to bring together representatives of various peoples' organizations, networks, major group formations, and NGOs from the Asia Pacific region to do their own evaluation of how far the sustainable development agenda, agreed upon in Rio in l992, has been implemented both by governments, intergovernmental bodies and also by major groups.

The specific objectives were as follows;

1. To provide a venue for the presentation of evaluation or situation reports from the various major groups and peoples' organizations in the Asia Pacific Region on how Agenda 21, Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, Convention on Biological Diversity, and Climate Change Convention have been implemented;
   

2. To identify successes and failures and highlight major obstacles and barriers in achieving the objectives set forth in Rio in l992;
   

3. To come up with recommendations on what should be priorities for a program of action for sustainable development, in the light of globalization, for the next ten years which could be the basis for continuing campaigns; and
   

4. To formulate a plan of action for the preparatory process and the World Summit on Sustainable Development itself.