SatuDunia, Jakarta. Experts from across Asia will meet in Thailand next week to identify key challenges in sustainable development and ways to address them. They will explore how natural resources will be affected by new trends such as the rise of China and India; the global food crisis; rising energy prices and the biofuel revolution, urbanisation and the impacts of climate change.
_____________________________

The International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) is holding the meeting on 26-27 August to seek advice on its next five-year strategy.

Since its creation in 1971, IIED has been at the forefront of efforts to secure a sustainable planet by promoting policies that both protect the environment and enhance people's livelihoods and wellbeing.

"The world is changing fast," says James Mayers, head of IIED's Natural Resources Group. "IIED is seeking advice to identify the new challenges and changes taking place in society and the natural world. This will help us to decide our priorities for the years ahead and the tools and tactics we should use to promote sustainable development."

IIED is calling on experts from the region to help determine what issues the institute and its partner organisations should address in the coming years. While IIED works on a range of issues, from climate change and human settlements to agriculture and sustainable markets, this meeting will largely focus on natural resources and the livelihoods that depend on them.

It will look at the root causes of unsustainable development and ways to tackle them, as well as identify the real drivers of change and how to affect them.

Experts from Bangladesh; Bhutan; Cambodia; Indonesia; Japan; Philippines; Sri Lanka; Thailand and Vietnam will attend the meeting, which will be held at RECOFTC, an international organisation based in Bangkok that works on issues relating to people and forests.

Experts include staff from IUCN Asia; the South Asia Co-operative Environment Programme; Bhutan’s Royal Society for Protection of Nature; Earth Council Asia-Pacific; UNDP Regional Centre in Bangkok; Asian Coalition for Housing Rights; Oxfam GB in Indonesia; WWF Greater Mekong; and the Global Environmental Forum.
The meeting will end with a press briefing to share the main outcomes and give journalists an opportunity to ask questions.

The briefing will be held in RECOFTC’s China meeting room Kasetsart University, Bangkok 10903. Directions: http://recoftc.org/site/index.php?id=25

Please inform Ms Wallaya Pinprayoon at RECOFTC in advance if you would like to attend the briefing:
Tel: 02 9405700 ext.1249
Email: wallaya@recoftc.org  
For pre-meeting or post-meeting interviews: contact James Mayers, head of IIED’s Natural Resources Group on +44 (0)131 226 7040 or james.mayers@iied.org