The Metropolitan Environmental Improvement Program is a pilot program aimed at finding innovative solutions to the environmental problems in Asian cities. In 1989, the World Bank and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) established MEIP to help selected metropolitan regions design and implement practical solutions to rapidly growing environmental problems. The program promotes participation of concerned sectors of society to improve governance and to leave in place a process that is locally-anchored and sustainable. In phase one, five national governments endorsed the program and activities began in Beijing, Bombay, Colombo, Jakarta, and Metro Manila. In 1993, Kathmandu joined MEIP and the program moved into its second phase, becoming a constituent partner of UNDP Urban Management Program for Asia and the Pacific (UMPAP). The third phase of MEIP, 1996-1998, will receive principal support from the Governments of Belgium and the Netherlands, and AusAID. The program will expand to Vietnam and secondary cities in the Philippines, Indonesia, and Sri Lanka. This brochure highlights the environmental challenges of development that each MEIP city faces and innovative measures designed to meet these challenges.
