Introduction (E)

and Viet Nam—was prepared to provide a perspective on environment and natural resource management issues confronting countries along the Mekong River and to recommend a set of approaches to address these issues. The report is based on national baseline studies—Country Environment Reviews (CENRs) undertaken by Asian Development Bank (ADB). Governments in the region, policymakers and development practitioners may find the report, in whole or in parts, useful. The objectives of the CENRs were to assess the trends and impacts of environmental problems in these countries and to provide a strategic framework for improving national environmental management within the context of their development priorities. The report is aimed primarily at enhancing the sustainability of their environments through improved resource management and focuses on issues pertaining to forest and policy issues; biodiversity and protected parks; water resources; coastal and marine resources management ; urban and industrial pollution and energy use. ENVIRONMENTS IN TRANSITION is organized in four chapters. Chapter 1 provides an overview of the basic characteristics of the four countries. Chapter 2 analyzes and describes the extent of environmental stress and emerging problems. Chapter 3 provides the policy and institutional framework for improvements and interventions. Chapter 4 summarizes the environmental action and priority needs for their resolution and it also sets out a strategic framework and recommendations for addressing the key issues identified in each country. The recommendation for priority environmental program and policy initiatives are summarized under four sets of matrices for each country and are illustrated in the Appendix. Each of these action plans constitutes the development framework for the major environmental subsector and presents opportunities for development assistance. Cambodia, Lao PDR, Thailand, and Viet Nam— countries of mainland Southeast Asia—not only share common borders, but also resources and environmental impacts varying in intensity and magnitude. These countries play hosts and are repositories of the earth's diminishing habitats, now under threat. The Mekong Basin has arguably the most diverse biotic and cultural landscape in the world today. The residual impacts of the Indochina conflict coupled with the extraordinary pace at which economic development has been taking place over the last decade has meant that the contradiction between economic growth and environmental protection, and between winners and losers on both sides of the equation , are exposed to an extraordinary and volatile degree (Bryant and Parnwell 1996). These countries while sharing a number of attributes, represent a diversity of aspirations, …