• Excellencies co-chairs, Dr. Eang Sophalleth Minister of Environment, Cambodia, and Ms. Fatima Yasmin, ADB Vice President

• Excellencies Ministers of Environment of the Greater Mekong Subregion and Heads of Delegations 

• Esteemed Delegations, and representatives of Development Partners, UN Agencies, Private Sector, and Civil Society.

The Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) countries are in varying stages of economic development, but they all share a common characteristic of being a hub of growth and urbanization. The region plays a significant role in the global supply chain and is also blessed with abundant natural resources and biodiversity. However, the GMS countries are confronting escalating development costs associated with their heightened vulnerability to the triple planetary crisis of climate change, pollution, and loss of biodiversity. 

Energy consumption in the GMS countries has been growing intensively as their economies develop, driven mostly by residential and industrial sectors. Demand is forecasted to increase more than three-fold by 2050. Most of the subregion’s consumption is sourced from fossil fuels with a diverse and growing complement of renewables across GMS countries, namely, hydropower. Greenhouse gas emissions per capita in the GMS have more than doubled since 2001 and are increasing at a faster rate than in any other region, because of dependence on fossil fuels mainly to meet energy and transport demands and continuing deforestation and land use changes. 

Examples of UNDP intervention in GMS

UNDP is actively present in the GMS. UNDP partners with governments through the UNDP Climate Promise to promote integrated approaches for just transitions to cleaner energy, circular economy, nature-based solutions for healthy life-support ecosystems, as well as derisking green investments and access to finance. 

For instance, in Cambodia and Lao PDR, UNDP has been promoting with partners a bottom-up approach to enhance integrated water management and climate resilience in vulnerable urban areas of the Mekong River Basin.  Also, UNDP deployed solar-irrigation technologies for low-carbon agricultural and green value-chain development in rural Cambodia and Myanmar. In Thailand, UNDP is supporting low-carbon growth in cities through an electrified urban transport system to reduce air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions associated with transport.

Combatting plastic pollution is a high priority for the countries in the GMS. UNDP supports GMS countries in developing their national regulatory frameworks (such as national circular strategies, ERP mechanisms, and national action plans), supporting negotiations on the proposed binding instrument, and implementing solutions for improving production and consumption behaviors. It also supports innovation and entrepreneurship through regional innovation challenges to source new solutions, such as the innovation challenge for ending plastic pollution in ASEAN countries. 

UNDP collaborates with governments to expand nature and carbon financing prospects. In the GMS, UNDP supported Viet Nam to access the Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP) for developing its national energy finance framework to speed up energy transition and enhance access to climate finance. In Cambodia, UNDP has been working with the Royal Government on innovative financing and has supported the Credit Guarantee Corporation of Cambodia (CGCC) in the creation of the first green facility for derisking green investments. In addition to work on carbon taxes and incentives, UNDP launched in 2023 a High Integrity Carbon Markets Initiative and is working with countries, including in the GMS, to establish robust principles and guidelines that ensure high integrity across all types of carbon markets. 

The GMS region has abundant natural resources, such as forests, wetlands, mangroves, and arable land that account for 20% to 55% of the subregion's wealth. These natural resources suffer from a historically heavy reliance and are under significant development pressures threatening the integrity of the ecosystems and life-sustaining systems. UNDP has been working closely with GMS countries to ensure the long-term sustainability of these resources. For instance, UNDP supports the GMS in ensuring policy coherence between the National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans (NBSAPs) and the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). UNDP has also been supporting the UN REDD+ program in 5 of the GMS countries for reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation through conservation, sustainable management of forests, and enhancement of forest carbon stocks. 

These are just a few examples of our work to emphasize the critical role of environmental sustainability in the economic and social development of the GMS.  

Potential Future Partnerships and Cooperation

At UNDP, we believe in partnerships. As the saying goes: “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together”. 

The GMS Economic Cooperation Program Strategic Framework 2030 (GMS-2030), endorsed and adopted at the 7th GMS Summit of Leaders hosted by Cambodia in September 2021, provides the roadmap for joint work as it aims to address environmental and climate change challenges in the GMS. It prioritizes the promotion of green technologies; protection of ecosystems and key ecological processes; climate resilience policies; and disaster-risk management, recognizing the essential role communities play as stewards of natural resources. 

As such, four (4) priority areas are most relevant to accelerate implementation and can constitute a roadmap for harmonizing national initiatives and leveraging joint efforts among development partners and national authorities in the GMS, namely:

1. Climate and Disaster Resilience, including Loss and Damage, namely through promoting multi-disciplinary interventions with a whole-of-society approach, such as green infrastructure, access to knowledge and finance for affected communities, and capacity building on adaptation at the sub-national level for both government and local stakeholders. 

2. Low-carbon Transition, particularly accelerated transition to clean energy, energy efficiency, and carbon financing, especially in compliance markets such as UNFCCC’s Article 6 and voluntary carbon markets. 

3. Pollution Control and Circular/Green Economy through promoting and accelerating technology transfer to realize responsible production and consumption (SDG12) and transform the linear economy into a circular economy.  Considering that the GMS region is a production hub to supply global markets, greener production in GMS will have greater impacts that will also support market competitiveness in the EU and other responsible markets, bringing higher returns to the production chain.   

4. Nature-based Solutions. For example, discussions are ongoing between UNDP and ADB on innovative financial instruments, particularly for the Tiger Range Countries as an outcome of the high-level conference organized by Her Majesty the Queen of Bhutan in April 2024.  The Tiger range Countries include China, Lao PDR (locally extinct), Myanmar, Thailand, and Viet Nam in the GMS. Through such collaboration, the risk appetite of institutional investors can be matched, making nature-based solutions more viable and scalable.

All the above have complementary national as well as subregional and cross-border dimensions to be considered. 

Finally, our joint efforts cannot be complete without the four cross-cutting issues, including social inclusion (youth and gender, among others); green and digital technologies; innovative financing; and private sector engagement.   

Thank you for your attention. I wish you fruitful discussions and meeting outcomes.