RECOGNISING that in line with the outcome of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, which provided the impetus for sustainable development, ASEAN should promote the principles contained in the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development and- actively implement Agenda 21;

CONSIDERING that economic growth and environmental management are inseparable and crucial to sustaining and further improving the quality of life of the people of ASEAN;

REALISING that international and regional cooperation and efforts are necessary to support the national and regional implementation of Agenda 21;

FURTHER REALISING the necessity to strengthen and enhance regional cooperation in the management and control of transboundary movements of hazardous wastes into and within the ASEAN region; and

CONSCIOUS that ASEAN member countries share common environmental aims and objectives and that the state of the environment lies ultimately in the hands of the people of ASEAN themselves;

WE, THE ASEAN MINISTERS FOR THE ENVIRONMENT, HEREBY AGREE:

1. To adopt and implement the ASEAN Strategic Plan of Action on the Environment to attain the following objectives:

   1. to respond to specific recommendations of Agenda 21 requiring priority action in ASEAN;

   2. to introduce policy measures and promote institutional development that encourage the integration of environmental factors in all developmental processes both at the national and regional levels;

   3. to establish long term goals on environmental quality and work towards harmonised environmental quality standards for the ASEAN region;

   4. to harmonise policy directions and enhance operational and technical cooperation on environmental matters, and undertake joint actions to address common environmental problems; and

   5. to study the implications of AFTA on the environment and take steps to integrate sound trade policies with sound environmental policies.

2. To declare 1995 as the ASEAN Environment Year to highlight ASEAN environmental issues and cooperative programmes, and to stimulate awareness of these issues among the ASEAN populace; broaden the participatory process in the area of the environment in ASEAN; and stimulate regional activities in the area of the environment.

3. To adopt a set of Harmonised Environmental Quality Standards for ambient air and river water quality and implement the needed measures to attain these standards by the year 2010.

4. To strengthen cooperation among ASEAN countries to ensure the effective implementation of the decision of the Second Conference of the Parties to the Base Convention.

   
   Done in Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei Darussalam, this
   Twenty-sixth Day of April
   in the year One Thousand Nine Hundred and Ninety-four.