1st GTI Scientific Workshop for the Tumen River Water Protection Held in Yanji

YANJI, 26 July 2010 – A Greater Tumen Initiative (GTI) Scientific Workshop for the Tumen River Water Protection was successfully held on 26 July 2010 in Yanji, China. The Workshop aimed to promote regional collaboration on water protection in NE Asia and specifically in the Greater Tumen Region, and was part of the GTI project – “Feasibility Study on Tumen River Water Protection”.

The Workshop was co-organized by the Tumen Secretariat and the consulting company COWI, with the support of the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture, China. Around 30 international environmental experts from China, ROK, Russia and Japan as well as the representatives of United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) participated in this event.

 

A number of topics pertinent to NE Asian environmental issues were discussed during the workshop, including environment cooperation in the GTI region, international experiences in water protection issues, consultation on the Tumen River Protection Project, and the management of the Tumen River basin.

“The results and recommendations produced by the experts during the Workshop will be utilized by the GTI in its further implementation of the Tumen River Water Protection Project”, said Nataliya Yacheistova, Director of the Tumen Secretariat.

The GTI member countries, China, Mongolia, ROK and Russia, identified the environment as one of the key sectors for cooperation in the GTI Strategic Action Plan 2006-2015, and established the Environmental Board at the 9th GTI Consultative Commission Meeting in Vladivostok, Russia in 2007 as the implementing mechanism for environment cooperation.

The Tumen River, a 521 km-long river rising in Changbai Mt., flows along the border regions of China, DPRK, and Russia, then into the East Sea. In 2007, the GTI member governments approved the GTI project - “Feasibility Study on Tumen River Water Protection”, aimed at improving the water quality and protecting the Tumen River from environmental degradation through multilateral cooperation among river basin countries with the support of UNDP.