Over the last five years the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and Murdoch University, Perth have joined hands in promoting environmentally sound technologies, particularly among prospective users in developing countries and countries with economies in transition

The original aim of this study was to serve as an input for the Regional Preparatory Conference of Latin America and the Caribbean for the World Summit on Sustainable Development, which took place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on 23 and 24 October 2001. The substance of the present document, in which an overview of the sustainable development situation in the region since the Rio Summit is offered for consideration by governments, is largely drawn from national processes and subregional meetings. These meetings, unprecedented in processes of this type, have intensified the countries' participation and enabled them to identify the main stumbling blocks and the prospects for a future platform of action. One major contributor to the process has been civil society, through its participation in national sustainable development councils and in meetings held at subregional events, which have provided an opportunity for the region's main groupings to air their views.

The Regional Workshop on Protecting Coastal and Marine Ecosystems from Land-Based Activities in the Asia-Pacific, held in Toyama, Japan, was a follow-up activity for the implementation of the Regional Programme of Action for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the East Asian Seas from the Effects of Land-based Activities. This workshop was the fourth in a series of regional consultative meetings on wastewater management. These meetings are jointly organised by the GPA Coordination Office and the Regional Coordinating Units of the UNEP Regional Seas Programme.