Public Participation in Social and Environmental Impact Assessment and Basin Pollution Control Project launched its Inception Workshop in Nanjing on 4~5 June 2009.
More than 30 participants were present at the workshop including representatives from MEP, ACEDP PCO, provincial and local EPBs, Nanjing University, local NGOs, Women Federations, Nanjing Institute of Environmental Science etc.
The joint project team, comprising Nanjing Institute of Environmental Science and Australia’s IDSS Pty Ltd held the two-day workshop in a participatory way. It started with the opening ceremony followed by three small group discussions on the key project activities with the assigned group leader each. All the discussion results were recorded during the meeting and will be incorporated into the final Inception Report, which will be submitted to the PCO by early July. The Project Result Framework was presented by the team leader and, discussed and principally agreed by all the relevant stakeholders.
One of the key components of the project is training in Australia during September/October 2009. It will provide Chinese environmental managers with an opportunity to learn Australian practices of public participation in water pollution control and social environment impact assessment, identify new partners and enhance existing partnerships between and among Australian and Chinese environmental agencies and institutions. Participants will include delegates from the Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP), Nanjing Institute of Environmental Science, provincial/local Environmental Protection Bureaus (EPBs) etc.