Ministers and policy makers from East Asia have pledged in Japan to raise investment in sanitation and hygiene, especially for the poor, and in schools and health care facilities. They formulated these commitments in a declaration adopted at the East Asia Ministerial Conference on Sanitation and Hygiene (EASAN 2007), held from 30 November to 1 December 2007 in Beppu, Japan. Co-organised by the Water and Sanitation Program (WSP), UNICEF and WHO, the two-day conference brought together more than 135 delegates including ministers and senior government officials. The Conference outcomes served as an input for Asia Pacific Water Summit, which immediately followed EASAN.

A week earlier, on 21 November 2007, government leaders attending the Third East Asia Summit (EAS) signed the “Singapore Declaration on Climate Change, Energy and the Environment” in which they reaffirmed their commitment to “enhance access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation and promote integrated water resource management through initiatives such as […] the International Year of Sanitation 2008”.

Web site: EASAN 2007

Related publications:

• WSP-EAP (2007). Economic impacts of sanitation in Southeast Asia : summary. PDF file
• Robinson, A. (2007). Universal sanitation in East Asia : mission possible?. WSP-WHO-UNICEF. PDF file

Contact: Yosa Yuliarsa, WSP-EAP, wspeap@worldbank.org

Source: WSP, 30 Nov 2007 ; Xinhua, 1 Dec 2007

Tags: on-site sanitation, sanitation